RSS-affiliate wants govt to restore consent clause in land bill

With the joint committee of Parliament starting its discussion on the land bill, which seeks to make acquisition easier, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday demanded the government to consider restoring the consent clause among others to address the apprehensions among the agrarian community.

With the joint committee of Parliament starting its discussion on the land bill, which seeks to make acquisition easier, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday demanded the government to consider restoring the consent clause among others to address the apprehensions among the agrarian community.

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh — an affiliate of the RSS — had strongly opposed the first version of the amendment bill cleared by the NDA government.

“We would like the consent clause to remain. The government may consider bringing it down from 80% to a reasonable level that does not hurt the interest of land owner and does not act as an impediment to growth,” said Prabhakar Kelkar, BKS general secretary.

Kelkar said the nine amendments moved by the government to the amendment bill incorporate some key demands of the BKS, but asked the government to walk an extra mile to address the apprehensions of the farming community.

BKS national secretary Mohini Mohan Mishra — who along with other farmers’ bodies had a meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley on May 29 — said a concern remained on the timely payment of compensation to those whose land has been acquired.

The BKS plans to give a detailed representation to the committee. “We would advise the government to make a categorical announcement that big industries would come up only on barren land and not farm land. Such an announcement would give a relief to farmers and help matters for the government,” Mishra said.