'Could not sleep before tabling land bill'

Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, who introduced the Land Bill 2015 in parliament on February 24, said here on Saturday that thinking of the plight of farmers, he could not sleep whole night before introducing it.

The minister was in Gurgaon to participate in a three day Agri-Leadership Summit that began on Friday.

Singh said the farmers' plight in the country was a matter of concern and added that the majority of the community was not even earning to fulfill its minimum basic requirements, while politicians and business houses were becoming more and more rich in a short span.

He said a comprehensive change in the present system was required to uplift the farmer community and other communities concerned with farming.

He said that he was new in the party and cannot go against the BJP's ideology.

"I said in the parliament that I am a farmer first and then a minister," Singh said.

He said the farming land must not be handed over to corporate houses or industrialists.

However, he added that after nine amendments during debate in the Lok Sabha, the bill was now fine and there was nothing anti-farmer in it and will help in the progress of the country.

Lok Sabha recently passed the bill.

Social activist Anna Hazare and major opposition parties have been opposing the bill in its present form terming it anti-farmer.