U-turn by BJP could help Land Bill clear House hurdle

A jubilant Congress claimed victory on Monday, when clear indications emerged that the Narendra Modi government, after months of standing firm, had virtually agreed to return almost entirely to the text of the Land Acquisition Act passed during the UPA’s tenure in 2013.

The likelihood of an impending climb-down by the government came at a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Bill when all 11 BJP MPs on the 30-member panel moved amendments, seeking to bring back key provisions of the 2013 Act.

These include provisions relating to consent and social impact assessment (SIA), dropping the section that exempted a special category of projects from the consent and SIA clauses, agreeing to go back on the idea of an industrial corridor, and restoring the clause on penalties for defaulting officers. It also withdrew the expression “private entity,” which was “private company” in the 2013 Act.

The other members on the JPC belong to the Congress (5), the Trinamool Congress (2) and the Janata Dal (United), the Samajwadi Party, the BJD, the Shiv Sena, the NCP, the BSP, the TRS, the LJP, the CPI(M) and the TDP (all one each).

Meanwhile, Trinamool members Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee walked out of the meeting, saying that as the amendments were circulated only in the morning, they had little time to study them. The Trinamool has been seeking the withdrawal of the Modi government’s Bill. With the Assembly elections due in Bihar later this year and its rivals making the Land Bill a key poll issue, the government appears to have decided that discretion is the better part of valour.

Consensus report likely by Aug. 7

The BJP does not want to be described as anti-farmer, with even RSS front organisations and the BJP’s rural MPs warning the party that this was the perception on the ground, regarding the land Bill.

Apart from the Congress that had wanted restoration of the UPA’s 2013 Act, the Left parties, the SP, the JD(U), the BSP, and the BJD were also opposing the amendments tooth and nail. Even NDA partners, the Shiv Sena, SAD and Swabhimani Paksha had opposed several provisions of the Bill.

With the BJP moving amendments that will restore many of the provisions in the 2013 Act, the panel headed by BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia may come out with a consensus report by August 7.

Of the l 15 amendments in the NDA Bill, only nine were substantial in nature and these were opposed by the Congress and other Opposition parties. Six were withdrawn on Monday – three more will be discussed on Tuesday.