Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday defended the government's proposed Land Acquisition Ordinance and accused the Congress of creating an environment in which the words 'infrastructure and industry' become 'bad words'.
"Don't create an environment in this country in which the two words - Infrastructure and Industry - become bad words. And that is what you are doing," he said in his speech in the Rajya Sabha.
"There are voices saying that the bill is anti-farmer and corporate friendly. When the act was made, a Section 105 was put, and Section 4 of which talked about atomic energy, highways among other things, which required land. In that schedule, 13 purposes were exempted. In that, the government doesn't require consent, social impact assessment... nor does it require consideration for right to food. In amendments, we have added five items to an existing list of 13," he added.
He further said the share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of agriculture is 15 percent and 60 percent of the population shares that percentage.
"So you have to bring people out of agriculture and create jobs in manufacturing," Jaitley added.
The Land Acquisition Act, brought as an ordinance, amends the existing law passed by the former UPA regime in 2013. In the new version, the BJP-led NDA Government has removed the need for obtaining the consent of land-owners and carrying out Social Economic Assessment (SIA) for acquiring land under certain categories.
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The government had earlier on Wednesday said that it was ready to deliberate on opposition suggestions and go the extra mile to prevent any injustice to farmers and to strengthen their hands.
"If there are some lacunae and drawbacks in the Land Acquisition Act, we are ready to deliberate on them. We will not let any injustice happen to farmers. We are ready to go the extra miles to strengthen the hands of farmers," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said in the Lok Sabha.
The Congress party yesterday held a mega rally called 'Zameen Wapsi Andolan' at the Jantar Mantar here to oppose the BJP-led NDA Government's Land Acquisition Ordinance.
"Yeh ek zameen waapsi aandolan hain, ghar waapsi sarkaar ke khilaaf. (This is a protest of bringing back the land against the government which campaigns for home coming)" said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
"Farmers seem to be on one side and industrialists on another. People have to decide who they are with.....NDA government is betraying farmers, (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji has made many promises which haven't been fulfilled till date," added Congress leader Digvijay Singh.
Several other political parties including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Shiv Sena and Lok Janshakti Party are opposed to the Land Acquisition Ordinance.
Earlier this week, social activist Anna Hazare had launched a protest at the Jantar Mantar here, against the amendments in the Land Acquisition and criticized the ruling BJP over its promise of 'achhe din' during the Lok Sabha polls last year.