Land laws must be fair, just, says Manmohan Singh

Speaking at the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration programme, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Land Acquisition laws must be fair, equitable, just, democratic and humane.

"There is a lot of inequality in land distribution, even as it is crucial to the development of rural and urban India. Land reforms need massive modernisation," said the former prime minister.

He was paying tributes to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 31st death anniversary. On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.

Speaking earlier, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said nothing was more important to former prime minister Indira Gandhi than the unity of the country, while the country's integrity is at the stake today.

"Indira Gandhi believed that without empowering the socially backward classes, Unity in Diversity is not possible" said Gandhi speaking at the Indira Gandhi award for National Integration Programme here.

"Today, the country's honour is at the stake, as India's glorious history of Unity in Diversity is in danger due to some communal ideology," she said in apparent reference to the BJP and the RSS.

Calling upon people to fight back to those communal ideologies, Gandhi said: "It is extremely important for everyone to come together and fight to safeguard the unity and integrity of our nation.