Govt for very stringent laws
Amid no clear consensus emerging on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the Central government is likely to move an “open ended” draft legislation in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.
The draft bill, however, is stated to seek from the state governments and Union Territories to declare “Class A/Category-I, agricultural land, as a reserved agricultural zone, which can not be put to any other use than the agriculture”. Further, the draft bill seeks that “the Land Use Policy may be re-visited for these areas only after about certain period of time say 10 years”.
Taking note of the fact that the shrinking land base for sole agricultural purpose could jeopardise country’s food security initiatives, the draft bill is stated to have mentioned that the reserved agricultural zone should be approximately 40 to 45 per cent of the net sown area. To make laws relating to the agricultural zone very stringent so that they could not be acquired under any pretext, the draft bill calls for borrowing the regulations of the reserved forest areas also, which has so far resulted in increase in the forest cover of the country.
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