Farmers' leaders meet Jaitley on land bill

The Finance Minister assured the farmers that a solution to the issue will be found to the satisfaction of farmers

Farmer leaders from different organisations including NDA ally Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana today met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanding restoring the consent clause in the land bill and a white paper on the status of land acquired so far.

Intensifying efforts to take farmers' concerns on board, Jaitley assured them the government does not want to 'snatch' their land and that a solution to the vexed issue will be found "to the satisfaction of farmers", the delegation members said.

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the minister concerning various aspects of the bill, which the government claimed was arrived at after consulting more than 65 farmers' bodies.

"There should be no land acquisition without seeking farmers' consent. The compensation has to be minimum four times of market price of land. Irrigated land should not be acquired. We are ready to give land if it's meant for national security, but in other cases, we won't give it.

"He (Jaitley) has assured us that Government too doesn't want to snatch farmers' land. He also assured us to find out a way in which farmers are satisfied," Lok Sabha MP and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president Raju Shetty told reporters here after the meeting.

The All India Kisan Co-ordination Committee, the umbrella union of 65 farmers' outfits, insisted that the government retain a clause of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act under which land not utilised for five years for the purpose for which it was acquired was to return to the original owner.

They also asked the government to come out with a white paper on status of use of land acquired from farmers during the past 60-65 years for various projects.

The bill, which proposes various amendments including removal of the consent clause, a key feature of 2013 Act brought by the UPA-II government, is currently being discussed by a Parliamentary Joint Committee, which has met thrice so far.

Former BJP Kisan Morcha leader and Advisor to DD Kisan channel Naresh Sirohi said the government has agreed to consider "most of the demands" of farmers and senior ministers will hold deliberations on their main demands.