Indian PM Narendra Modi abandons controversial Land Acquisition Bill

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Sunday he will allow an ordinance passed by his government to amend the controversial Land Acquisition Bill to lapse, thus abandoning one of the major reforms of his tenure.

“Tomorrow the land bill will lapse and I have agreed to it,” Modi said during his monthly radio program “Mann ki baat” (From the Heart), referring to the ordinance that was promulgated thrice owing to insufficient support in the Parliament’s upper house.

Modi said he was “willing to accept any suggestion for the benefit of farmers,” adding a bill was underway, with 13 points that would directly benefit the landowners.

“We are doing this so the farmers do not lose,” he explained.

The Land Acquisition Ordinance facilitated the acquisition of private land for defense and energy projects, industrial corridors and rural housing by doing away with two clauses of the existing legislation: 70 percent consent of land owners and social impact studies.

The bill was called “draconian”, “antifarmers”, and “antipoor” by the main political opposition party, Congress, and met with protests by the party and activists and other left parties.

Modi came to power with the promise of “achhe din” or good times for India with a robust economic agenda, following an economic slowdown in the country in 2012 and 2013.