Pressure building, BJP-led govt ready to change land law and look ‘pro-poor’

Senior BJP leaders including party president Amit Shah met this evening at Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence to discuss the Bill and other issues that are expected to come up in Parliament during the Budget Session which began today.

BJP sources said the government would table the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, even as activists led by Anna Hazare began a two-day sit-in in New Delhi on Monday, demanding the withdrawal of the ordinance.

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“The Lok Sabha is the biggest panchayat in the country. Let the Bill be debated there and the government will incorporate the changes if they are beneficial to the farmers,” said a party leader.
Significantly, the government has decided to withdraw three Bills, for which ordinances were issued, from the Rajya Sabha, following its failure in getting them passed in the upper house, and introduce them in the Lok Sabha.

These are the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2014 and The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2014.

The move is significant because this will help the government to get them passed in the Lok Sabha where it has clear majority and call a joint session of Parliament if they are stalled in the Rajya Sabha. According to sources, the government will introduce fresh Bills in the Lok Sabha.

Rural Development Minister Birender Singh is scheduled to introduce the land acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha. He will also table an explanatory statement giving reasons for an immediate legislation.

Meanwhile, the opposition is planning a concerted attack on the government in both houses on the issue of promulgation of ordinances. The Congress has given a notice under Rule 267 for suspension of question hour in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the land acquisition ordinance. The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left parties, SP, JD(U), NCP, JD(S) and INLD — which together command a majority in the upper house — are united in their opposition to the ordinance.

The BJP alleged that the opposition was trying to mislead the country on the Bill. “The law will ensure all-round development of the country, especially villages, which require infrastructure for their development. It will bring power, water, health facilities and education centres to the villages and it will provide jobs to the youth also,” said Sharma.

Sources said the Home Minister assured a delegation of farmers’ representatives from Ekta Parishad that a meeting of the Land Reforms Council would soon be convened to take up the concerns of landless labourers and agriculturalists.

Maintaining that it was the government’s duty to provide facilities to farmers, Sharma said, “Land ordinance is pro-farmer and pro-poor. It will ensure that farmers get the benefits of development.”
Meanwhile, Mines and Minerals Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will introduce The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha.

The motion of thanks on the presidential address will be taken up after the introduction of the two Bills. BJP youth wing president and Himachal Pradesh MP Anurag Singh Thakur will move the motion, which will be seconded by Nishikant Dubey.

Health Minister J P Nadda is scheduled to make a statement in both houses on the outbreak of H1N1 and the steps taken by the government so far.