Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to farmers across the country on Sunday to assure them that the government's land acquisition bill was not anti-farmer and was aimed only at their welfare.
In a 35-minute address in the sixth editon of his Mann ki Baat radio show, Mr. Modi said the oppostion was misleading farmers by speading rumours and false propoganda.
“I am perplexed to learn about so many rumours spread against the (land acquisition) bill,” the Prime Minister said. He added that under the previous government's law the farmers would have recieved no more compnesation than under the old law which which was enacted 120 years ago. He said his government had fixed this.
“The UPA's land bill was rejected by the States. The State governments communicated their probelms to the Centre. Should I not take this into account? Should I not try and address this?” Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that for any project that the government planned, it would only acquire land that was required and that too, only as a last resort. He said that his government still remained open to changes in the bill.
“Even now, we are saying that we are open to amend the bill. We readily will make changes if the Opposition to parties,” he said.
