Parliament Live: Lok Sabha passes Land Acquisition Bill

10.05 pm: Lok Sabha passes Land Acquisition Bill The Lok Sabha today passed the Land Acquistion Bill intended to bring uniformity in land purchases by the government across the country for industrial purposes. The bill was tabled today morning by Union Minister Jairam Ramesh amid chaos. Rahul Gandhi on the passage of the bill said, “I am happy that the Land Acquisition Bill has been passed.” 7.50pm: Lok Sabha takes up clause by clause voting on The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 7.12pm: Tried to take all on board, says Jairam Ramesh “Ten political parties gave me their suggestions in writing. I made an attempt to meet them in person and attempted to come at a consensus,” Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said. “I have tried to take everyone along be it NGOs, states, political parties, the corporate world and tried to maintain a middle path,” Ramesh said. Not agreeing with BJP chief Rajnath Singh that there is no appellate authority, the minister said, “All orders can be appealed against at the appropriate authority and even at the courts.” Ramesh assured the House that the urgency clause will be applicable only in the scenario of national security and defence issues. “Retrospective clause is very well-defined in the bill,” the minister said negating Singh’s argument. Ramesh also said the bill will strictly adhere to stipulated time limits despite all odds. Due to opposition from Punjab, Haryana and Kerala, the Union minister said it was not possible to ban industrialisation on multi-crop irrigated farm land although a certain limit has been set to acquisition. The minister said that the chief ministers of Maharashtra and West Bengal wanted the facility of land bank to be made available as per the bill. “As per the suggestion of the Standing Committee we have decided to return the land to the owners if they remain unused for five years after acquisition,” he said. Ramesh also told AIADMK’s M Thambidurai that the Centre can legally acquire land as it is mentioned in the Concurrent List. “The intention of the Centre is not to forcefully acquire land. Hence, there is the facility of seeking 80 percent of affected people’s consent for private projects and 70 percent of the affected people’s consent in PPP projects,” Ramesh said. On amendments, the minister said, “I met all parties and leaders who have put forward their amendments. Two amendments were from Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, 13 from Standing Committee and rest from others. I also request the individual members to take back their amendments as most of them have already been incorporated.” However, Ramesh admitted that no deliberation on the Walk Board angle as raised by Asaduddin Owaisi was taken. “Asaduddin Owaisi delivered a googly. I admit that we have not discussed this matter. This is a serious matter and I shall get back to Parliament after discussion with my junior colleague,” the minister said. 6.45pm: Asaduddin Owaisi brings forth Wakf Board point “Where are the norms in the bill that explains how land will be acquired belonging to the Wakf Board?” asks Asaduddin Owaisi. 5:50 pm: Lalu Prasad bats for the farmers Lalu Prasad said land problems even caused the Mahabharata. He says it is very important to protect the farmers from private interests because land is their life blood. “Not only should farmers get compensation for land, their children should also get jobs in industry.” 5:00 pm: Regional parties pat themselves on the back in Parliament They may have said it differently but all the regional parties came out in support of their own state policies while debating the Land Acquisition Bill. Ranging from the DMK to the NCP, MPs stood up to praise their own initiatives and in effect raise doubts about the Land Acquisition Bill. Supriya Sule may have come out looking the best though with a eloquent speech on initiatives in Maharashtra. 4:30 pm: Basudeb Acharya gets heckled by TMC The CPM MP should have expected it but pretended to be surprised when he stood up he was heckled by the TMC. However, he managed to get through his arguments in which he expressed his opposition to the bill. 3:40 pm: TMC and CPM get into war of words in Parliament, disrupt debate TMC’s Sudeep Bandopadhyay speaking in the debate spoke about the Singur agitation and spoke about the land acquisition when it erupted into a war of words between the MPs of the two parties. “Let the Lord forgive them…They have even lost the panchayat elections,” Bandopadhyay said, sparking off another war of words. Finally the deputy speaker was able to restore calm and the debate continued. Bandopadhyay said that while a new bill was welcome there were aspects that weren’t so welcome. “We are completely against the forcible acquisition of land from farmers and land owners,” he said. He said that the government should assure them that this law would not allow it. 3:00 pm: Mulayam joins Rajnath, also objects to clauses of Land Acquisition Bill Mulayam Singh also joined Rajnath Singh in questioning why farmers should lose arable land to other projects. “If a farmer doesn’t have land in villages, can he get his son married off?” asked the SP chief to smiles from his fellow MPs. The Samajwadi Party chief thankfully stuck to only one homily and said that only unfertile land should be acquired for industry. 2:50 pm: Congress’ Meenakshi Natrajan says the bill’s not about getting votes Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha, Meenakshi Natrajan from the Congress batted for the bill saying that it highlighted the Congress’ commitment to land reforms. “The bill is not about populism but being done in the interests of society,” Natrajan told the Lok Sabha. 2:30 pm: Rajnath says that farmers’ land shouldn’t be acquired forcibly unless in conditions of natural calamities Singh pointed various clauses in the bill that he claimed would be misused and should not be accepted. There is a clause in the bill which allows for ‘urgent’ acquisition of land which allows the buyer of land to bypass social impact assessment, the BJP chief said. “There should be no condition under which farmers should be forced to sell their land,” he said, to thumping of desks. He pointed to the fact that prices for farmers’ land was unjustifiably low as per the bill. The BJP chief continued to point out various suggestions to individual clauses all of which were met by approval by his party’s MPs. 2:10 pm: Singh says land acquired for non-functional SEZs should be returned Rajnath said that the issue had been pending since 2003 and the BJP government had wanted to pass a bill on the subject but was unable to. “Why did the Congress take nine years to bring this legislation to Parliament?” Singh said. He also claimed that in their hurry to have the bill passed the Congress had introduced a bill that was unable to tackle the issues that mattered. Singh also took on the Congress over the creation of Special Economic Zones and claimed the development was ad-hoc. “The land acquired from farmers has not been used and it should be returned to farmers,” Singh said. 2:05 pm: Sharad Yadav restores calm, Land Acquisition Bill debate begins Finally it is the JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, who comes to the rescue and managed to convince the protesting MPs to wait until tomorrow before their issue could be taken up. BJP chief Rajnath Singh was able to rise and began the debate on the Land Acquisition Bill and began by saying that the bill had failed to tackle issues that concerned farmers. “The bill has missed the point of what it seeks to achieve,” Singh said. He poetically spoke of how the village farmers attached more than a monetary value to their land and pointed to Meira Kumar and said she would also be able to understand the plight of the farmers given she was one herself. Kumar nodded sagely. 2:00 pm: Lok Sabha resumes but Land Acquisition Bill on hold  The Lok Sabha is set to be debated by the Lok Sabha but protests by some MPs seeking a response on a subject prevented the Land Acquisition Bill from being taken up immediately. The MPs, who were shouting about a subject that was incomprehensible, refused to be placated by the Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath who said they could take up the issue tomorrow. “You haven’t even told me what the subject is. How can the government respond to it?” Kumar asked the MPs. “The whole world knows,” was the response she got from one of the MPs. 12:45pm: Rajya Sabha goes the Lok Sabha way, adjourned till 2 pm The Rajya Sabha reconvened and the Deputy Speaker attempted to introduce various bills in the House. A few managed to get pushed through but PJ Kurien soon found the protesting MPs right in front of his desk protesting against his earlier decision. “Dadashahi nahi chalega!” shouted the MPs even as Kurien tried to continue with proceedings as though he couldn’t hear them. After the bills were introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the House was adjourned to meet at 2 pm. However, given the chaos, it looks unlikely too much business will be carried out today. 12:30 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 pm The Lok Sabha has failed to get back to business again and has been adjourned till 2 pm. Will the Land Acquisition bill finally be debated today? Or will Telangana come in its way? 12:15 pm: Govt attempts to fill two posts in JPC, courts controversy The government in looking to fill two posts in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum and ran into some solid opposition from BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who said the government cannot decide who the nominees will be. “The precedent they are setting is a very dangerous one,” Jaitley said. He found an unlikely supporter in Sitaram Yechury of the Left Front who said that logically the vacant positions should be filled by other MPs from the same party as those who had left. Congress’ Rajeev Shukla said the Rajya Sabha should vote on the matter but it was stoutly rejected by the BJP, with Ravi Shankar Prasad saying the easiest solution would be to defer the decision. After hearing a few more views, Deputy Chairperson Rajya Sabha allowed the motion by Shukla to be moved and it was passed. Not surprisingly the Opposition was instantly up in arms and protested, where else, but in the well of the House. After attempting to restore order, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for 15 minutes. 12:15 pm: Land Acquisition Bill tabled in Lok Sabha Amidst all the chaos in the Lok Sabha, the Land Acquisition Bill has been tabled in the Lok Sabha and could come up for debate later today. 12:00 pm: Lok Sabha resumes despite slogan shouting Despite some aggressive slogan shouting by some MPs, who sound like the Lok Sabha has continued to function as peacefully as it can when there are a group of people shouting throughout. So while we can see the calm treasury benches, its impossible to ignore the shouting opposition MPs who trooped into the well of the House chanting slogans. After attempting to reason with them, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the Lower House till 12:30 pm. 11:00 am: PM says he will make a statement in Rajya Sabha on rupee tomorrow, LS adjourned The Prime Minister told the Rajya Sabha that he would make a brief statement on why the rupee was falling tomorrow and left them with a brief idea of what he would say when he said some domestic factors may have also played a role in the currency’s fall. He did acknowledge though that the current economic condition was one that merited concern. However, in the Lok Sabha, after a charged speech by Sushma Swaraj and other leaders against the government over the rupee’s fall, there was uproar when it was discovered that the Prime Minister wasn’t among them. The BJP raised an uproar over his absence and the House had to be adjourned till noon. 10.30 am: Will Congress ride Food Bill wave and pass Land Acquisition Bill too? Despite scathing criticism, obstructions and the ruling party’s desperation that shrouded the Food Security Bill, the Parliament finally allowed it passage. Reveling in the flush of victory, the UPA has now lined up another populist policy for the House’s approval - Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. “The land acquisition and rehabilitation bill is scheduled to be taken up in the Lok Sabha Thursday,” said a government official. While the government has moved 165 amendments, the opposition has moved as many as 116 amendments to the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, which seeks to replace the colonial-era Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The most important feature of the bill is that the consent of 80 per cent of land owners concerned is needed for acquiring land for private projects and of 70 per cent landowners for public-private projects.

[caption id=“attachment_1068631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Land Acquisition Bill has been Rahul Gandhi’s pet project. Agencies.[/caption] The bill also defines “public purpose” to include: Mining, infrastructure, defence, manufacturing zones, roads, railways, highways, and ports built by government and public sector enterprises, land for project-affected people, planned development and improvement of village or urban sites and residential purposes for the poor and landless and government-administered schemes or institutions, among others. Though the key reform bill has faced reservations from the opposition in the past, government sources claimed there is a general political consensus on the legislation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh have held several rounds of consultations with the opposition parties in the past. But civil society activists have said the legislations will lead to “corporatization” of land. They also say it lacks provisions for rehabilitating the displaced. There has been a fair amount of dissent surrounding the bill too. Like Firstpost politics editor Sanjay Singh noted in his article, the Opposition has several issues with the Bill, but are unwilling to oppose a crowd-pleasing policy and put themselves in trouble. A senior BJP leader told _Firstpost_ , “We know that these bills will have disastrous effects on our economy but then compulsions of electoral politics is such that you can’t be seen to be opposing any populist move, be it caste reservation or food security or land acquisition. That’s a reality we have to live with particularly when we are just about to approach the elections.”

Government sources said they had agreed on two major issues raised by main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of which was an enabling provision for states to introduce a clause allowing leasing of land for projects instead of acquisition. The second major concern put forward by the BJP was ensuring that all owners who had sold their land after Sep 5, 2011, when the bill was first introduced in parliament, also get compensation. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had made a demand pertaining to the right to compensation of tenants who actually till the land. It also wanted 100 per cent consent from all families affected by the acquisition of land. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party supports the United Progressive Alliance from outside, wants that the government should not acquire fertile agricultural land. The bill seeks to address problems of industry regarding acquisition of land for setting up projects, and provides for rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced people. It has provisions like compensation for the owners of the acquired land to be four times the market value in case of rural areas and twice in case of urban areas. Introduced in 2011, the bill was scrutinized by parliamentary panel that submitted its report in May 2012.

With inputs from IANS