Nitish favours original land Act of 2013

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday demanded that original Land Acquisition Act of 2013 be implemented for the sake of farmers' interest instead of passage of the amendment bill of 2015.

"I strongly support and favour the original Land Acquisition Act of 2013 as it is pro-farmer. It should be implementd in the country," Nitish Kumar told media here.

He arrived here after attending a Governing Council meeeting of the NITI Aayog in New Delhi earlier on Wednesday, convened to discuss the land acquisition bill.

Nitish Kumar said he was opposing the amendments to the bill because these were "pro-corporate and anti-farmers".

He said that land acquisition was not merely a matter of compensation but a purely emotional issue for landowners, mostly farmers, in the country.

"Land acquisition should be made with mutual and peaceful consent of farmers instead of using force," the chief minister said.

Nitish Kumar said the Bihar government opposed any attempt to dilute, nullify or tamper with the letter and spirit of the 2013 act in its original form.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar said the Narendra Modi government was "trying to impose the controversial land acquisition bill on farmers through the ordinance route that will prove costly".