Govt will push land Bill for passage in this session: Minister

Government will push for the passage of land bill in this session notwithstanding the opposition to it by many parties, a Union Minister said today but was not sure about its passage.

He dismissed as mere "propaganda" the reports that Government may delay pushing the bill for passage in Parliament following suicide by farmer Gajendra Singh at AAP rally of AAP here.

The minister reeled out figures to show that the suicide by farmers has been "continuing" during the 10 years of UPA rule.

Quoting from media reports purportedly based on figures given by National Crime Records Bureau, the minister said while the land ordinance by the NDA government was brought as late as in December 2014 and "UPA's so-called great bill" had already came in 2013.

"Why 11,772 farmers ended their lives in India in 2013", "why a total of 2 lakh 97 thousand 56 farmers killed themselves in India since 1995".

Giving a clear indication that the government was not going to budge from its stated position on the bill, the minister said since the NDA government has come to power only 10 months ago, "obviously our programmes and policies cannot be held responsible for the suicide of farmers going on or such a long period."

Talking to reporters separately, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu wondered "how can you connect Singh's suicide with land bill?"

He gave a clear indication that the government will seek to counter aggressively the Opposition charge of the bill being "anti-farmer" in Parliament when the bill comes up for discussion and passage in the first week of May.

"We are on a very firm footing on the land bill. Opposition feels that it is a 'Mrit Sanjeevani' (liquid which could bring back life). So they are opposing it. This is a political opposition.

"We want to take the land bill forward. If Congress wants to look at it as 'sanjeevani' for them at the cost of the nation, let them do it and let people see it," Naidu said.

Asked how confident he was about the passage of the land bill, Naidu remained non-committal saying,"let Parliament take a call."

Sources in the government said it was working on some other opposition parties to gather support to pass the bill, it will employ all its ammunition to target Congress on the issue to debunk the charge that the bill was anti-farmer and in anyway connected with the agrarian crisis that the farmers were facing, something which the main Opposition party was seeking to "play up" to corner the government.

They indicated that the ruling dispensation will target the Congress questioning why it did not bring land acquisition under 13 central laws under the ambit of the 2013 land acquisition law and whether it was done to "favour some select industries then".

The government could also argue that the then Rural Development Ministry under UPA had in 2012, circulated to the Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the land Act, a revised draft of the bill hailing it as investor friendly and pro-industry when some other ministers were opposing the original proposals finalised by the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi on the bill.

"They are calling us pro-industry and anti-farmer. Fact is that they had diluted the original proposals finalised by the NAC. All these facts will come into public," a minister said.

Moreover, the UPA land bill was so farmer-friendly and great, why did farmers not vote for Congress in Lok Sabha elections, which happened the very next year in 2014.

"They are now quoting M S Swaminathan report and asking why we did not implement it so far. The fact is that the Commission appointed in 2004, had given its report in 2006. Why did the UPA not implement it till 2014," the minister said.

Government is of the view that there was a vast chunk of landless farmers, who were not at all affected by the bill. When Parliament debates the land bill, the government could also highlight how BJP government in many states have taken steps like reducing interest on agriculture credit to farmer.

"Real issues, which affect the farmers are the need for a comprehensive crop loss insurance, lack of cold storage and agriculture not being remunerative. We feel interest on agriculture credit rate should be further brought down," the minister said.