I/III. http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31818&articlexml=Oppn-Joins-Hands-Sends-Mines-Bill-to-Select-11032015001017
Mar 11 2015 : The Economic Times (Mumbai) Oppn Joins Hands, Sends Mines Bill to Select RS Panel New Delhi: Our Political Bureau Blocked Oppn may seek select panels on land, insurance and coal Bills too, delaying govt strategy to call joint sitting to get these passed The Lok Sabha passed the land acquisition Bill on Tuesday but developments in the Upper House, where a united Opposition stalled passage of the mines & minerals Bill, seemed to presage trouble for the government's reformist agenda. The Opposition, which outnumbers the ruling NDA in the Rajya Sabha, forced the government to refer the legislation to a select committee of the Upper House and appears to be planning a similar course of action in case of the land acquisition Bill, Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill when these come up for consideration in the Rajya Sabha.Opposition leaders said they would also press for sending these Bills to select committees. If this technique is successful, it would stall the government's plan to call a joint sitting. A joint session of Parliament can't be called till the select committees submit their reports and the Rajya Sabha takes a final view on these Bills. Till then, the government would have to keep reissuing the or dinances, something unlikely to en thuse investors. The Opposition's use of these par liamentary manoeuvres was on dis play in the Rajya Sabha, which saw a protracted debate on the Mines & Minerals (Development & Regula tion) Bill. A united Opposition, led by Congress, insisted that the pro posed legislation -already cleared by the Lok Sabha -be sent to a select committee of the Upper House while the Treasury Benches wanted the Bill to be put to vote. It became a battle of nerves for both sides with senior leaders from BJP, Congress and CPM citing rules and precedents to buttress their argu ments. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien had to do a tough ba lancing act as he attempted to satisfy both sides. The exchanges were heated, and both sides refused to yield for over two hours on whether the motion to send the Bill to a select commit tee be taken up first or whether there should be a debate on its "Objects and Principles". Kurien had to adjourn the House thrice before a short discussion on the Bill took place. Late on Tuesday evening, Kurien announced the "consensus" deci sion that Leader of the House Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and leaders of various political par ties from the Upper House should hold a meeting on Wednesday morn ing to finalise the names of the select committee members and also the time frame for the panel to give its report to the House. The government used the short discussion to emphasise the benefits of pa ssing the Bill at the earliest.Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said several chief minister ad told him that these amendments will help them financially as well as in creating employment while benefitting tribals. Both sides justified their stands.The Opposition seems to be upset that the government promulgated several ordinances between the winter and the budget sessions of Parliament, bypassing the House, and is making it a practice to try and get Bills passed without sending them to standing committees. Government sources maintain that the attitude of Congress and Left parties will hamper its development and welfare agenda. With the ordinances on which these Bills are based expiring on April 5, the government is in a hurry to get them passed in both Houses before March 20, when Parliame goes into a month-long recess. During the debate on the mines minerals Bill, Jaitley used all his legal skills and knowledge of procedures of the Rajya Sabha to thwart the Opposition demand for referring it to a select committee. Jaitley underlined that the funds collected from auction of mines would go to states. He cited the ongoing coal block auctions and said over Rs 2 lakh crore had been collected from the sale of mining rights of just 32 of the 42 coal blocks. This, he said, had surpassed the notional loss figure of Rs 1.86 lakh crore given by former Comptroller & Auditor General Vinod Rai during the coal scam. Click To Enlarge II/III. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/parliament-live-voting-underway-in-lok-sabha-on-land-acquisition-bill/99/ NATION WEDNESDAY, MAR 11, 2015 Lok Sabha passes Land Acquisition Bill with nine amendments, Congress stages walk out Comments (5)EmailPrint land bill, Lok Sabha, land acquisition bill Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Land Acquisition Bill with nine amendments. Written by Liz Mathew | New Delhi | Updated: March 10, 2015 9:28 pm FOLLOWING amendments that reflected give-and-take and back-channel discussions, the NDA government on Tuesday secured Lok Sabha nod to crucial changes in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which the government says would expedite the pending infrastructure projects as well as reform initiatives. However, in a clear signal that the government's woes on legislative agenda are far from over, the opposition parties, which constitute majority in the Rajya Sabha, said that they would press the government to send the bill to a Select Committee for scrutiny. The main opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, have already said that they would insist on sending the bill to the Select Committee when the bill reaches the upper house. In the Lok Sabha, the new bill, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill (Amendment) Bill 2015, was passed by voice vote after incorporating nine changes moved by the government. Arguing that the bill should be sent to a Standing Committee, the Congress walked out of the Lok Sabha. Read Also: Govt relents on Land Bill, ignores Cong's demand of consent clause Although BJP allies Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Lok Janashakti Party and Swabhimana Paksha had reservations against some provisions in the bill, which was issued as an ordinance in December 2014, a meeting with senior ministers on Tuesday brought them on board. At the meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Rural Development Minister Birender Singh briefed the allies. Naidu, sources said, also talked to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and sought his cooperation. Thackeray told Naidu that his party would support the bill and vote for it in Lok Sabha, the sources added. SAD leader Prem Singh Chandumajra said after the meeting that his party would back the bill. "Our party is on board and will support the bill as the government has agreed to 90 per cent of our amendments," he said. However, during the debate in the Lok Sabha, SAD MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura insisted that farmers' consent be made mandatory for acquisition of land. The meeting was also attended by Ashok Gajapati Raju, YS Chowdhary (TDP), Anant Geete and Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Harsimran Kaur (SAD), Ramvilas Paswan and Chirag Paswan (LJP), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal), Niephru Rio (NPF), Prem Das Rai (SDF) and Raju Shetty (Swabhimana Paksha). Shetty and BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab and Tathagata Sathpaty have moved amendments but did not press for vote on them. Deepender Hooda requested for an amendment that would ensure two per cent jobs for families of farmers affected when private firms acquire land. However, the government rejected the suggestion. During the eight-hour-long debate on the bill, members from the Congress, TMC and JD (S) attacked the government for doing away with the consent clause and the social impact assessment in the legislation. "Farmers want the consent and social impact assessment clause in the Bill, but you (NDA government) only hear the voice of corporate boardroom. Nothing can be more shameful than this," Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said. The MP from Assam said the government should not view the farmers as opponents, but as "part of development". The MPs also expressed concern over the food security in case of the government's bill gets implemented. According to former PM H D Deve Gowda, the government feared that it would be difficult to get the consent from farmers. "More robust safeguards should be built so that the poor, the farmers and their rights are not trampled," he said. TMC's Dinesh Trivedi alleged that the government was going against the BJP manifesto. First Published on: March 10, 20156:52 pm III. http://scroll.in/article/712783/Even-Modi-got-into-the-act-to-convince-allies-to-let-controversial-land-bill-pass-through-Lok-Sabha BACKROOM DISCUSSIONS Even Modi got into the act to convince allies to let controversial land bill pass through Lok Sabha NDA's floor managers pull off a victory in the lower house. Steering the legislation through the Rajya Sabha will be more difficult. Anita Katyal Today ยท 09:20 am Photo Credit: Prakash Singh/AFP The National Democratic Alliance government's floor managers and political trouble-shooters won a hard-fought victory in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday when the contentious land acquisition bill was passed after they agreed to amend the legislation to mollify the Bharatiya Janata Party's partners. However, the government's satisfaction over the passage of the land bill could prove to be short-lived as it now faces a stiff challenge in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling alliance is hopelessly outnumbered by the opposition. The ruling alliance got a measure of what is in store for it in the Rajya Sabha when the opposition forced the government to refer the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill to a select committee on Tuesday evening after a prolonged discussion. A similar fate awaits the coal and motor vehicles bills, replacing the ordinances promulgated by the government in the period between the last session and this one. The opposition has argued that the amended bill should be referred to a parliamentary panel for in-depth scrutiny. This is because the NDA government has changed the bill that had been unanimously approved when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power. The new bill does away with the consent clause and the provision for undertaking a social impact assessment. Placating allies Though the opposition had made it clear that it would not allow the government to legislate on the ordinances it had promulgated, the government's first task was to placate its allies, which had also opposed the land bill. Although the BJP has the numbers to pass a bill in the Lok Sabha without any support, it could hardly afford to alienate its allies by ignoring their concerns. So as the debate on the land acquisition bill was underway in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the NDA government's floor managers were busy in hectic backroom negotiations to win over allies who had declared their opposition to the controversial legislation on the grounds that it is anti-farmer and pro-corporate. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu were closeted with members of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena, Lok Janshakti Party and the Telugu Desam Party for over two hours to convince them that the government had taken their concerns into consideration through a series of amendments tabled on Tuesday morning. Naidu even called up Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai to make sure that his party MPs did not vote against the bill. The government pointed out that the amendments would ensure that the rights of farmers are not trampled upon and, at the same time, ensure that land is available for industry and infrastructure projects without too much delay. The changes had also included the proposals it received from Home Minister Rajnath Singh from his discussions with farmer's organisations. The ruling alliance has to get the land bill passed by both houses of Parliament in this session or else the ordinance will lapse. Modi steps in A concerted effort was also made to reach out to parties which are known to be sympathetic to the BJP, such as the Biju Janata Dal and the AIADMK. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally spoken with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to seek his party's cooperation in the passage of the land bill as well as the minerals and coal bills which were tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. On Monday, Modi met with Trinamool Congress head and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. During the discussions, she is learnt to have reiterated her opposition to the land and insurance bills. The AIADMK and the Akali Dal eventually fell in line and supported the land bill, although both parties had publicly opposed the legislation. Akali Dal leaders told Scroll.in that they were persuaded to vote for the lill following their lengthy discussion with Jaitley and Naidu who explained that their proposals regarding safeguarding the interests of the farmers had been factored in while drawing up the amendments. The Akali Dal suggested that the language of the bill be tweaked to underline that the right of the states in deciding compensation and other issues relating to land acquisition is safeguarded. While the Akali Dal had genuine concerns about how this bill would be perceived by the farmers in the largely agrarian state of Punjab, it was also miffed with the BJP over its arrogant attitude towards its allies. "The consultations held today should have actually been conducted before the government amended the land bill but it chose to ignore us," remarked a senior Akali Dal leader. The government was spared the blushes when the Shiv Sena chose to abstain during the vote but the Biju Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samithi walked out during the vote on the amendments. Wary of Anna The Shiv Sena kept the government in suspense till the last minute. A Shiv Sena leader told Scroll.in that it was not possible for their party to support this bill in the light of the campaign launched by activist Anna Hazare in Maharasthra. " Anna Hazare has already begun his padyatra from Wardha...we don't know how it will be received by the people but there is a groundswell of opinion among farmers that their land will be taken away forcibly for the corporate sector," explained a Shiv Sena leader. " We have to do politics in Maharashtra how do we explain our support for a bill perceived to be anti-farmer," he added. The amendments incorporated by the government , which eventually convinced its allies not to vote against the land bill, include provisions for providing employment to at least one member of the affected family whose land is being acquired, restricting the acquisition of land within one km along highways and railway tracks for industrial corridors, and removal of social infrastructure projects from the exempted list requiring the consent of 80% farmers whose land is to be acquired. According to the amendments minimum land is to be acquire for a project, grievances of landowners are to be addressed first in their district and a bank of barren and wasteland be maintained for acquisition for key projects. -- 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]. 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