Amid suggestions pouring in from all sides on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the Union rural development ministry officials are deliberating to invoke food security concerns as central theme for the proposed land legislation. The officials are seeking to incorporate success stories of the Forest Conservation Act to ensure that the size of the irrigated agricultural land does not shrink to jeopardise food security.
“Irrigated agricultural land should not be allowed to be wasted by allowing change in land use. We can not hazard food security of the country,” said a top ranking official of the rural development ministry.
The official further elaborated by saying that it could be made mandatory for the states to declare “Class-A, Category-I agricultural land as rural agricultural land, which can not be put to another use for at least 10 years from the time of legislation”. “If there be need regulations on the lines of forest areas may be adopted for rural agricultural zones. We have seen that the forest cover in the country has gone up due to the strict provisions,” added the official.
Senior officials of the rural development ministry are looking for ways to ensure that the irrigated agricultural land is protected given that the government has incurred huge expenses on construction of mega canals and other irrigation infrastructure.
“The projected foodgrains demand by 2020 is of 307 million tonnes and there exists a gap of about 102 million tonnes which need to be bridged to ensure food security. However, the cause for concern is that of the land availability going down. Therefore, strict measures need to be incorporated in the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill,” added the official.
The ministry is particularly concerned at the recent spurt in the conversion of the land use of the agricultural land for the purpose of real estate.