The Congress-led UPA, that was somewhat cornered with an aggressive Opposition on the warpath over the coal scam, the missing files relating to it, as well as the economy, appears to have bounced back to some extent with two crucial pro-poor laws on food security and land acquisition clearing both Houses of Parliament.
While the Land Acquisition Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday night, the Food Security Bill had got through the Upper House on Tuesday night. Both had earlier been approved by the Lower House.
Along with these, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday also passed the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill 2011, which aims to create a regulator for the pension sector and extend coverage of pension benefits to more people. The Pension Bill had been hanging fire since 2005 when it was first introduced in Parliament. It was again reintroduced in 2011.
Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P. Chidambaram had been pushing hard to get economic reform bills through. The finance minister had signalled that if the Pension Bill was not passed, global investors and the corporate sector would feel that the government was not taking adequate steps to stem the ongoing economic crisis. All these three bills were, incidentally, passed with the active support of the BJP, the main Opposition party.
While 131 members voted in favour of the Land Bill in the Upper House, only 10 opposed it. The bill, as passed in the Upper House, will now be sent to the Lok Sabha to approve the amendments adopted in the Rajya Sabha.
The force and spirit behind these two key measures was Congress president Sonia Gandhi, with the support of her son Rahul, the party’s vice-president.
While the Food Bill aims to give a right to food to almost 67 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people, that comes to around 800 million, the Land Bill gives landowners and their families fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. The Land Bill replaces the “archaic law” enacted during the British Raj, in the 19th century.
Riding high on the Food and Land Bills, the Congress may now try to revive its “garibi hatao” plank that was once made famous by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Replying to the debate on the Land Bill on Wednesday, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said it was “not aimed at any electoral gain — but is the need of the hour”. The minister said for the first time rehabilitation of farmers was introduced in the bill, and added that it had a separate section for dalits and tribals. “This bill
says land can be acquired only after the consent of a gram sabha”, Mr Ramesh pointed out. On the forceful acquisition of land, the minister noted that “provisions for compensation and rehabilitation for farmers cannot be reduced. Also, there is no provision to forcefully take land from farmers”. The bill, he said, “will make sure that acquired land is not left unused”.
The minister said: “The best thing to do would be to follow a middle path so that the government is happy, and so are farmers.”
The minister said in his view “no multi-crop irrigated land should be acquired”, but then Kerala and Punjab opposed such an amendment as all land in these states are multi-crop irrigated. “Hence we will leave it to states to decide whether such land can be acquired”. He also said states had been given “full flexibility in the law”, and that they have the “right to decide on some aspects”.
Initiating the debate, BJP member Vinay Katiyar stressed the need to ensure that farmers had the right to appeal, and demanded adequate compensation for them. “As land is the main source of livelihood for farmers, it is necessary to take 100 per cent consent for acquiring farmland for any purposes”, he said.
In response to BJP member Ravishankar Prasad’s concern over the “misuse” of farmland fo special economic zones, the minister clarified that “the laws made through this bill will be applied to SEZs”.
Said CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury: “We want to move in a direction where land will be finally owned by the tiller. What is required is not narrow visions or bitter acrimony. What is necessary is collective action for a better India.”
Opposing the bill, Trinamul MP Derek O’Brien said it “fails to provide a modern land acquisition mechanism to protect farmers’ rights”, and went on to say that the measure is “not good or farmers, not good for industry and not good for the country. We do not support the bill”.