A recommendation by a Parliamentary panel that government should not acquire land for private businesses was on Friday rejected by two Union Ministers — Jairam Ramesh and Anand Sharma — who said it was “regressive” and that the State cannot “abandon” its role.
Mr. Sharma, the Commerce and Industry Minister, said the “regressive” recommendation will hurt industrial growth and investment and that he will oppose it when the matter comes up before the Cabinet.
”...you cannot take a view which is regressive, which prevents the growth of manufacturing. Virtually it would dampen the investors sentiment,” Mr. Sharma told reporters.
Rejecting the panel recommendation, Mr. Ramesh, the Minister for Rural Development, said, “We must recognise that we are not in a stage of development where government role in land acquisition can be completely eliminated and abandoned.”
A Parliamentary Standing Committee in a report presented on Thursday set tough conditions for land acquisition and said the government should not acquire land for private businesses and underlined the need for a clearer definition of “public purpose” in this regard.
Mr. Sharma said the suggestions are not “acceptable” as it would “stop” manufacturing in the country. “We have to encourage investments especially in manufacturing sector, then only jobs will be created.“
“I have taken on board the concerns of the industry. We will be placing this very firmly before the cabinet because we cannot take any step which infact goes against the original spirit and de-industrialise the country or brings down industrial growth and investment,” he said.
The minister said states have an important role in zoning of the land and they are acquiring land to set up national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs), which aims at creating 100 million jobs in the next decade and increasing share of manufacturing from 16 per cent at present to 25 per cent by 2022.
Mr. Ramesh said the new Land Acquisition Bill, which will be tabled in Parliament in the Monsoon Session, will address the panel’s concerns and not further depress the sentiments of investors in the country.
“The public purpose can at times be met by government organisations and at times these are met even by private companies also. The notion that private companies serve only private interest is not something that I believe in,” Mr. Ramesh told reporters.
Keywords: Jairam Ramesh, rural ministry, land acquisition bill, farm lands, Anand Sharma
This was expected of the Congress. We have government by the people, ostensibly of the people but in reality government for the big business houses. It is not for nothing that Arundhati Roy has said, "We dont have a government. We have a corporate state."
Coming from a BJP MP the recommendations of the House panel headed by Sumitra Mahajan come as pleasant surprise. One only needs to read these recommendations to get an idea of how much LARR 2011 [Land Acquisition , Resettlement and Resettlement bill 2011] is loaded in favor of the corporates’ insatiable hunger for land and the Government of India’s ready keenness to bend backwards to accommodate them. Indian civil society should see that all the recommendations of Sumitra Mahajan panel are accepted. While Sumitra Mahajan wants the government to desist from acquisition or purchase of land on behalf of private parties,the congressmen are already showing their fangs.
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