Bharatiya Janata Party gives utmost importance to national interests. That's why it is following the popular slogan 'Nation First.' Till now for the most of the time, BJP was in opposition. But our party acted as a responsible opposition party. BJP always put aside political differences whenever there was an issue of national interest. Now as a ruling party at center and also in many states like Maharashtra, party has given top most priority to development. It is the need of the hour that India becomes a prosperous country to ensure welfare of each of the citizens irrespective of their religion or caste. BJP asked for votes for Lok Sabha election on the agenda of development. People gave a huge mandate to the party on that point.
In order to ensure speedy economic growth, it is necessary to remove roadblocks in economic activities. The Land Acquisition Act passed by earlier United Progressive Alliance government under leadership of Congress party had led to more problems than solutions. So BJP led NDA government at Centre issued land acquisition ordinance to remove the hurdles and to speed up development process. But while doing so, the party followed Modi's slogan 'Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas' and ensured that farmers would not be at loss.
The ordinance ensured some changes in the Land Acquisition Act including removal of consent clause for acquiring land for five areas of industrial corridors, Public – Private – Partnership projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defense. With these changes the mandatory consent clause and social impact assessment is not applicable if the land is acquired for the five purposes mentioned above. Earlier the Act provided for consent of 70 percent of land owners whose land is to be acquired for PPP projects. But the compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement packages are applicable as per the Land Acquisition Act. Certain amendments have also been made to further strengthen the provisions to protect interests of the 'affected families.' For example, for industrial corridors displaced persons will get job as well as previous benefits like two times compensation for urban areas and four times compensation for rural areas.
It should be taken into account why such amendments needed to be made in the Land Acquisition Act. After misrule of UPA for last decade and not so good governance of Congress party for almost entire time period since Independence, the country is lagging behind in many sectors. The most important problem is that still there is significant poor population. In order to bring this huge number of poor people out of poverty, the country needs to speed up economic development. Also, country needs to speedily improve defense preparedness. For both the purposes there is a dire need of quality infrastructure. For the very purpose, land is required. The Land Acquisition Act by UPA created hurdle in making land available for developing infrastructure. The consent clause and social impact assessment provision only ensured that the land would not be available properly, the projects would get delayed indefinitely and ultimately everyone would be at loss – the project affected people and the country at large. As union finance minister Arun Jaitley had reportedly made it clear that such projects are vital to national security and defense of India including defense preparedness and defense production.
We are witness to the fact that since independence many projects have got delayed and their cost has escalated leading to only waste of public money. But the other aspect of this delay is not much discussed. When the land was marked to be acquired by the government for certain project, concerned farmers got helpless as the process of land acquisition was not completed quickly to provide decent compensation neither the farmer could get economic benefits from the land as it was marked for acquisition, as if cursed by the authorities. So, it is important in the interest of everyone concerned that the land acquisition is done quickly, compensation be given immediately and projects are completed in time.
We have waited for a very long time since Independence that our country would become a strong and prosperous country where no one would be poor. Now, we can not wait any more. The five areas for which the clauses which delay projects have been removed are all of national interest. Does anybody believe that rural infrastructure or affordable housing are not of national interests?
Now, it is a time for opposition parties especially Congress party to prove that it also believes in the principle of Nation First. Parliament's budget session starts tomorrow on Monday. BJP alliance does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha. In that house of total 245 members BJP has 46 while Congress has 67. It is clear that the Land Acquisition Ordinance would not be converted into to a law without cooperation from opposition parties. Now is the time for opposition parties to prove that they also believe in the agenda of development. I hope they would help government in passing the important amendments and in ensuring speedy economic development of the country. If they don't, they will have to answer to people of India, who are no more ready to wait for development and prosperity.
No comments:
Post a Comment