Don't make industry a bad word: Govt to Oppn

Says misguided debate on land bill should end

 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asked the Opposition not to create an environment in which “industry and infrastructure” become two bad words.

“The misguided debate must comes to an end. Do you want this country to grow?” Jaitley asked the Congress-led Opposition parties, who criticised the Narendra Modi government’s proposed land acquisition bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Participating in a debate, the finance minister categorically negated each of the Opposition’s arguments. “Are we reaching a stage where industry will be counted as a bad word and India will remain poor for the next few decades?” he wondered. The existing law passed by the UPA-II government has 13 specific categories where owner’s consent, social impact assessment and right to food criterion are not considered while acquiring land.

“We have added five more categories to the existing list of 13. Your (UPA) law does not include national security irrigation. The moment we add irrigation, it becomes anti-farmer to you,” he retorted in Parliament. The UPA law, argued Jaitley, was against India’s security interest because acquiring land for defence projects was not on the exempt list.

“My colleague and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar can come with a file and show it to A K Antony (former defence minister) and Manmohan Singh (former prime minister) how many defence projects are held up for want of land. They, too, know about it,” Jaitley said.