Showing posts with label arvind panagariya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arvind panagariya. Show all posts

Friday, July 17, 2015

Land Bill पर लफड़ा क्यों हो रहा है?

मोदी का Land Acquisition
Indian Farmers And The Land Bill
Biju Janata Dal And The Land Bill
Land Acquisition Bill: The Details

मोदी इतना अच्छा काम कर रहे हैं। मैने अपने लाइफ में ऐसा इंडियन PM नहीं देखा। अभी दुनिया का सबसे पॉपुलर पॉलिटिशियन मोदी है। सबसे आगे। नंबर एक। थोड़ा तो गर्व करो विपक्ष वालो। विपक्ष के हैं लेकिन हैं तो भारतीय। मैं तो कहता जमीन मांग रहे हैं तो दे दो। Trust के आधार पर। ये मोदी Deng Xiaoping और Lee Kuan Yew टु इन वन हैं। ऐसा दिख रहा है। And neither of them had to deal with the enormous messiness that is the Indian democracy. चीन में कभी कोई Land Bill पास करने की जरुरत पड़ी ही नहीं। वहाँ तो आंय टांय बोलो तो गोली से उड़ा देते हैं।

आजादी के बाद ४० साल जनसंख्या वृद्धि दर भी २-३% और आर्थिक वृद्धि दर भी २-३% ---- तो देश जहिं का तहिं रह गया। वो तो फैक्ट बात है। आंकड़ा है ओपिनियन नहीं। ये बन्दा जो जनसंख्या वृद्धि दर को १% से कम और आर्थिक वृद्धि दर को १०% से उपर का रास्ता दिखा रहे हैं, तो थोड़ा cooperate करो, और नहीं तो अमित शाह गिद्ध दृष्टि डाले बैठा हुवा है, एक एक स्टेट लेता चला जाएगा वो। बोलता कम है वो।

इसी तरह लैंड बिल का विरोध होता रहा तो अमित शाह बिहार और उत्तर प्रदेश दोनों ले लेंगे ---- ऐसा लगता है। अगर ऐसा हुवा तो राज्य सभा में तख्तापलट।



Bihar CM Nitish Kumar opposes land bill at NITI Aayog meet
Kumar said "substitution of term 'private company' by term 'private entity', removal of the consent clause, exemption from social impact assessment and special provisions for safeguarding food security in the process of land acquisition and relaxation in the time limit for return of the unutilised acquired land are not in public interest." ...... Modi today reached out to parties appealing them not to come in the way of prosperity of farmers, saying the deadlock over the land acquisition Bill is seriously impacting rural development. ...... Modi said, "The political deadlock over land acquisition (law) is seriously impacting rural development, including the creation of schools, hospitals, roads and irrigation projects." ...... Meanwhile, Kumar requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to honour the commitment made by him in his budget speech when he proposed special assistance to Bihar as given to Andhra Pradesh.
If Land Bill blocked, states to seek own
The second governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held mainly to discuss the pending Land Bill, turned out to be a chastising experience for the government as all the nine Congress-ruled states boycotted it, while Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Delhi voiced objections to several clauses of the legislation....... Chief ministers J. Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu, Akhilesh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and Naveen Patnaik of Orissa also did not attend the meeting. ...... They opposed the “dilution” of provisions of the original Land Acquisition Act of 2013 regarding the consent of farmers and exemption from social impact assessment. ....... Notable among those present were Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Even Punjab, ruled by NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal, cautioned that farmers’ and landowners’ consent should be taken while acquiring land. Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said that the social impact assessment clause should apply to all acquisitions. ....... The chief ministers present at the meeting raised the issue of allowing them the freedom of amending state laws on land acquisition in their respective Assemblies, which could be later cleared by the Centre. The main basis of the states’ argument was that due to the delay in acquiring land, the development process had been severely affected. ...... though the CMs present at the meeting were all for arriving at a consensus on clearing the bill, at the same time they said that the wait for a consensus could not be an endless one, and therefore if there was a roadblock then the states should be allowed to make amendments in their respective state laws.
'Bring Your Land Bill, Or Let Us Pass Our Own,' States Say at PM's Meet
PM Modi has spent significant political capital trying to push the land law through Parliament, and Mr Jaitley's comments raised the possibility that if he is unsuccessful again in the coming Monsoon Session, he might devolve the issue to states. ..... PM Modi has made the reform a central plank of his economic agenda, and told the meeting that a lack of land for roads, housing and industry was crimping economic growth. ...... In his first year in office, PM Modi has made life easier for Indian businesses by cutting red tape, but Opposition protests have slowed his efforts at structural economic reforms he says are needed to make India a leading global economy. ...... "If they give up on this, it will be a huge setback for industrialisation, and for planned urbanisation," said Mohan Guruswamy, president of Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think tank. ..... In the Parliament session due to begin on Monday, July 21, the government also plans to pass the GST Bill, the biggest tax overhaul since Independence, and may introduce labour bills aimed at job creation.


Acquiring land is must for development, says Arun Jaitley on Land Bill
“Land is required for every developmental activity, there are no two views about it,” Jaitley said. ..... “Some states have demanded 2013 law to be implemented rigorously before switching to the new act, while others suggested to offer alternative source of income along with compensation for the land,” he added. ...... Jaitley said, “The chief minister of Maharashtra has decided to include the the opition of profit sharing, job guarantee and partnership in developmental projects along with compensation in return for the acquired lands.The states shall be offered flexibility to introduce such amendments suitable to their state in their respective assemblies.” Jaitley also mentioned Punjab chief minister Praskash Singh Badal for offering a suggestion in the NITI Aayog meeting to offer alternative sources of income along with compensation to the farmers whose lands are acquired. ........... Jaitley assured that Prime Minister Narendra Modi who chaired the meet would consider each and every suggestion offered by the states. “PM’s concluding thought was that concerns of all state shopuld be kept in mind,” he added.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar opposes Land Bill at NITI Aayog meet
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das supported the new land bill and termed those opposing it as "obstructionists" to rural development. ...... In the second meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, Das said that if necessary, powers under the act can be delegated to the state governments so that they can acquire land as per their necessity. .... He said the new Act is essential and "very essential and important" in the context of Jharkhand. ..... Strongly backing the new bill, he said it was the right of those living in villages to get uninterrupted, 24/7 transportation link, electricity, water, hospitals and educational institutions and "all this is only possible when the process of acquisition is easy". ..... Das said the new LARR Act is in the interest of the farmers and people living in rural areas as 70 per cent of the state's population resides in villages. ...... He, however, stressed that displacement of farmers or common persons whose land is being acquired should not take place without their rehabilitation..... As per the Act, the state government has framed the rules and also notified them. It has been decided that if land is acquired in rural areas, compensation rate to be provided will be four times more than the market price while in urban areas, it will be two times more than the market price
Land Acquisition Bill not a matter of life or death for me: Modi
People of this country have suffered and remained poor due to shortsighted policies of the Congress," he told ANI.
Nitish favours original land Act of 2013
Nitish Kumar said he was opposing the amendments to the bill because these were "pro-corporate and anti-farmers"....... He said that land acquisition was not merely a matter of compensation but a purely emotional issue for landowners, mostly farmers, in the country
Dangerous gamble over Land Bill
Before the government brings the already twice renewed ordinance on the controversial land acquisition legislation before Parliament to have it converted into a proper law, in case it can muster the courage to do so, it got a taste of the mood of the non-BJP state governments in the country at the NITI Aayog consultation on Wednesday. Chief ministers of the nine Congress-ruled states didn’t bother attending, making their opposition known loud and clear. For those tempted to see political partisanship in the Congress chief ministers keeping away, the leaders of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu also apparently saw little merit in discussing the issue at the Niti Aayog since they have expressed their unease with the changes to the 2013 land acquisition law of the UPA vintage. They, too, stayed away.But what about the chief ministers present as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to hammer a consensus into shape on the contentious subject? Bihar leader Nitish Kumar and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal opposed any dilution of the 2013 law. But even BJP allies like Akali Dal — part of the ruling NDA alliance — and the PDP of J&K advised caution. “Land Bill 2015 has triggered concerns within the farming community” in Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal noted. Some voices said the states should just go ahead with their own land acquisition laws (since land is a state subject) if a consensus at the Parliament-level proved elusive. Possibly, this is the compromise that the Prime Minister could be looking at as he seems to have been pushed into a tight corner. His plight seems unenviable. It is not just leaders of Opposition parties and some friendly parties, but also leading front organisations of the RSS, the BJP’s ideological fountainhead, that have publicly come out in denunciation of the changes to the 2013 law that the Modi government has sought to push through the ordinance route. It is far from clear if the Monsoon Session of Parliament, to commence next Tuesday, will yield productive discussions in any field given the Prime Minister’s silence on the issue of corruption in high places under the BJP dispensation and the sullen mood of the Opposition on account of this. If the land ordinance can’t be brought to Parliament for ratification, then Mr Modi’s high-stakes gamble would backfire, costing him political capital. In hindsight, it may have been better if he had held consultations with the states before seeking to amend the 2013 law. Many have noted the irony that a piece of legislation passed with unanimity in Parliament after intensive and lengthy consultations wasn’t permitted a chance to be implemented before the Modi government tried to torpedo its key provisions through amendments.
Opposition's monsoon wading
The Congress looks certain to be a lonely warrior in the monsoon session. It will attack a suddenly scandal-jittery BJP but the main opposition party seems to be running out of partners even before the game has begun. ........ The cynosure of all eyes is Congress party President Sonia Gandhi. It's not unexpected, for the event is the iftar she is hosting. The man getting almost as much attention is sitting to her left-Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. ........ What came as unexpected, at least for the party's senior leaders and managers, was the dearth of other non-Congress leaders of significance. Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, J. Jayalalithaa, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee were all conspicuous by their absence. ...... The Lalit Modi scandal, the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, the PDS scam in Chhattisgarh, allegations of a Rs 200-crore scam against Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde-they all seem to be stumbling out of the cupboard. ...... Outside the Congress, the only leader of note who has gone hammer and tongs against Modi on corruption charges is Nitish Kumar. ...... The party is thus zooming in on just two pieces of legislation: the land acquisition and GST bills. ...... All's not lost for the Congress though. Most regional parties share its views about the land bill, which will make it near impossible for the government to pass it in Rajya Sabha, where NDA has only 61 members. Even BJP allies such as the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena have expressed reservations against the bill in its current form, while in a significant U-turn AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa had written to Modi on July 15 requesting him not to go ahead with amendments to the bill. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Lok Sabha leader Bhartruhari Mahtab says his party will extend support if the government agrees to its suggestions. The party has moved five amendments, including one to make people whose land will be acquired partners in enterprises built on those stretches. ......... "The Opposition will not allow the land bill to be either passed or defeated, giving no chance to the government to convene a joint session," says Yechury. ...... On GST, however, the TMC and the BJD stand by the government. According to BJD's Mahtab, the party is not opposed to the GST bill but wants mineral-rich states such as Odisha to be also allowed to impose a 1 per cent cess, a benefit extended to manufacturing states. The bill is likely to be endorsed by the 21-member Rajya Sabha select committee, as the Congress and SP are the only ones opposing it with any might.


Bihar to oppose land Bill at Niti Aayog meet tomorrow
Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya ..... "We can understand the PM wants to help the corporate houses by introducing anti-farmer amendments but

when a renowned economist like Panagariya openly supports the Bill, it creates doubts about his intentions

as well," said a Nitish aide. Panagariya, in his blog posted on the Aayog's website on Monday, has urged the states to

liberalize their land use policy to facilitate industrialization

, a move that he feels would create a win-win situation for landowners as well as tenants. ........ "We agree industrialization is necessary for fast development, but it should not be at the cost of agriculture and poor farmers. What is the need to set up industry on fertile lands? We will not allow use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes unless the project is of high national importance."