Hitting out at the bill, he termed it as an attempt by the government to acquire land, whose price has been rising, for industrialist 'friends'and crony capitalists.
Amidst strained ties with China, the pre-budget Economic Survey on Monday made a strong case for seeking foreign direct investments (FDI) from Beijing to boost local manufacturing and tap the export market. As the US and Europe are shifting their immediate sourcing away from China, it is more effective to have Chinese companies invest in India and then export the products to these markets rather than importing from the neighbouring country, the Survey said.
The BJP-led government is keen to to get the land bill passed by March.
Thus, the right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (amendment) bill, 2015 as passed by the Lok Sabha still contains major lacuna's in regard to farmer's rights. It is best advised and hoped that the government will send the bill to the parliamentary standing committee for more changes and consultation.
Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday said a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) on crops cannot be brought in a hurry without consulting all stakeholders and urged the protesting farmer groups to have a structured discussion with the government on the issue.
While farmers in Gujarat are rejecting the compensation package, farmers in Maharashtra say they do not wish to part with their land for a project that largely benefits Gujarat.
Maybe Modi could ask a patriarch of the stature of the late G D Birla to flesh out the details of a new company to manage government land privatisation.
rediffGURU Anil Rego answers readers' personal income tax queries.
The bill is unlikely to have a smooth passage in the committee with the Congress party making it clear that "there is no compromise on the land bill."
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.
He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
Faced with stiff opposition on the land bill, the government on Thursday reached out to leaders of opposition parties, including Sonia Gandhi, and activist Anna Hazare inviting them to an open debate on the issue while asserting that the bill was "very much in farmers' interest".
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Centre plans to acquire land and then give it on lease to miners.
Here is the chronology of events in the Ayodhya Ram temple issue.
The prime minister addressed a gathering at Hussainiwala.
The Nationalist Congress Party MLA was caught on camera allegedly slapping Deputy Collector (land acquisition) Abhay Kargutkar, reportedly after a disagreement over compensation to farmers for land acquisition.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was taken ill on Monday, was back in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to attend the debate on Land Acquisition Bill but did not participate in voting the legislation which was being pushed by the National Advisory Council headed by her.
He said that such a campaign will hurt the interests of the country.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night decided to recommend re-promulgation of the land acquistion ordinance incorporating nine amendments that were part of the bill that was passed in Lok Sabha earlier this month.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday the plea of farmers' organisations challenging legality of the fresh promulgation of the land acquisition ordinance by the Narendra Modi-led government.
The private complaint against Yediyurppa alleged that during his tenure as the chief minister from 2008-12, he illegally de-notified 20 acres from land acquisition proceedings to give undue favours to private parties.
Farmer leaders participating in the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation on Friday said the cremation of Shubhkaran Singh, who died amid clashes between Haryana Police and Punjab farmers, will not take place till the Punjab government registers a case against those responsible it.
According to the government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen 'staging camps' or troops bases along this frontier.
The farmers' agitation, spread over months, had halted construction and delayed supply of thousands of residential units.
The Haryana Police on Wednesday fired tear gas shells to disperse farmers from Punjab at Shambhu and Khanauri border points as they tried to move towards barricades stalling their protest march to Delhi.
Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai represented the Centre at the meeting over the farmer unions' various demands, including a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26. The meeting started at around 8:45 pm on Thursday and lasted for around five hours.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and other ministers like to boast that of the 450 SEZs coming up in the country, nearly 120 are in Maharashtra. However, since most of the SEZs are single product or IT SEZ, land acquisition is not much of an issue. But in the case of six SEZs, which are multi-product SEZs and where over 1,000 hectares of land have to be acquired, it is proving to be an albatross around the state government's neck.
'In North India, brother kills brother for a small piece of land. So if the perception goes that the government has come to snatch away land, then the issue can go to any extent.'
Sonia Gandhi alleged it was a mockery of the consensus building exercise by a "myopic" Modi government which was "bending backwards" to favour industrialists.0
The high-pitched election speeches skipped corporate issues, unlike during the assembly polls about four months ago.
A panel of Union ministers held a fourth round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh on Sunday over their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP, as thousands of protesting farmers camped at the Punjab-Haryana border.
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The anger against land acquisition is not only among landowners.
Call it an expectation of revival in the real estate market or improving liquidity, bulge bracket property deals have made a comeback in the country's commercial capital.
Hazare asked parties to unitedly oppose the bill in Rajya Sabha.
The Tiruchi unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is considering four-five companies as candidates for acquisitions, its executive director, A V Krishnan, told Business Standard.
On Tuesday, the government had agreed to refer it to the committee.
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
Anna Hazare, currently campaigning against the Land Acquisition Bill asked for an "open debate" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Scientists are working on conducting various tests for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission and the agency is coordinating with the Navy and others in this connection, he said.
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