[The text of the (concluding two paragraphs of the) forwarding note to a mail, captioned as 'Land Acquisition Bill in Indian Parliament Faces Rough Weather', posted earlier this morning is arguably quite relevant in the present scenario:
While the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha, later today, is almost a given, it is not clear how the ruling party can avoid the bill being shunted to the Select Committee by the Rajya Sabha, where it is in hopeless minority, and thereby frustrating the move to call a joint session of the parliament to pass the bill in any near future. ***It does not look that the strategy of "saam daam dand bhed", which also includes the (vague) offer to modify the provisions of the bill, though only to a limited extent, is going to suffice. In such an event, the macho-man - one with "56" chest", image of Modi is going to be seriously dented. More so, closely following the Delhi debacle.*** (Emphasis in original.) End As the highlighted portion, the very first paragraph, of the news report, at sl. no. II below, shows that the world is watching how effective this Modi, with the constructed halo of a mach-Man about him, eventually turns out to be in pursuing his "business-friendly agenda" in reality.] I/II. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-live-bjp-mps-asked-to-be-present-in-house-for-passage-of-key-bills-2067539 Lok Sabha passes Land Acquisition Bill; tough test in Rajya Sabha Tuesday, 10 March 2015 - 8:00pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD and BJD walked out of the House while NDA ally Shiv Sena abstained as the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by voice vote. The contentious Land bill on Tuesday passed the Lok Sabha test after the government carried out nine amendments to it and persuaded most of its allies to support, setting the stage for its consideration in Rajya Sabha where the numbers are loaded against the government. ***Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD and BJD walked out of the House while NDA ally Shiv Sena abstained as the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by voice vote.*** [Emphasis added.] Another NDA ally Swabhimani Paksha moved an amendment which was negated. In an attempt to placate the opposition and some unhappy allies, government brought nine official amendments and added two clauses to the controversial legislation. Also read: Develop or be damned! Notwithstanding its majority in the Lok Sabha, government reached out to its allies, making last minute calls to their leaders to persuade them not to break ranks. Opposition had moved 52 amendments, which were either negated or were not pressed for by the members. An amendment was moved by The bill is now set for the real test in Rajya Sabha where the NDA is in a minority and opposition is united in opposing it or sending it to a Parliamentary Committee. Even while moving the bill for consideration, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said the government has already incorporated several suggestions, many of them offered by the opposition, and was willing to accept any more suggestions of the opposition if those were in the interest of farmers. The bill is now set to face a major hurdle in Rajya Sabha where NDA is in a minority and some allies are also [still] not on board. II. PM Modi dilutes land bill, wins Lok Sabha vote BY NIGAM PRUSTY NEW DELHI Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:18pm IST (Reuters) - ***India's government rallied its allies on Tuesday behind a land reform bill, setting the stage for a vote in the Rajya Sabha that will test Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ability to pursue his business-friendly agenda.*** [Emphasis added.] Amendments introduced by Modi's party to soften the impact of the reforms ensured the backing of most of his coalition partners and victory in a Lok Sabha vote. But they failed to placate opposition parties, who stormed out of the chamber. Modi, 64, wants to overhaul a land acquisition act passed by the last government which, his backers say, has tied up billions of dollars in infrastructure and industry investments in red tape. Yet although his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a sweeping mandate in last May's general election, it lacks the votes in the Rajya Sabha to put those changes permanently on to the statute book. Modi issued an executive order in December to exempt projects in defence, rural electrification, rural housing and industrial corridors from provisions of the 2013 law requiring 80 percent of affected landowners to agree to a deal. He also scrapped the need for companies to conduct a social impact study for such projects, a process requiring public hearings that can drag on for years. Failure to pass the law in both houses would lead the executive order, or ordinance, to lapse when the current session of parliament ends. That in turn could open the way for Modi to convene a rare joint session of parliament, where his coalition would have a majority on paper, to pass the land law. Strategists from the BJP say the joint session route is viable but caution that it could cause political friction to escalate both inside and outside parliament. Among the changes agreed by the BJP and its allies in the ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, were limiting the breadth of an industrial corridor to 1 kilometre on either side of highways and railway lines. It would also be compulsory to offer employment to one member of a farming family that has to sell its land, and a grievances procedure over land purchases would be established at local level. (Additional reporting by Rupam Jain Nair; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Alan Raybould/Mark Heinrich) -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
