After clearing key financial reform legislation, the Union Cabinet is likely to take up the controversial land bill at its Thursday meeting to fast-track execution of the promise AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had made to farmers. The government is keen to pass the land bill in the coming Winter Session of Parliament.
A group of ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar cleared the contentious bill on Tuesday, after finance minister P. Chidambaram lent his weight to the bill, following which other ministers dropped their opposition to certain clauses.
Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are due to officially announce the contours of the land bill on Wednesday, sources said. Mr Ramesh, it is said, had agreed to accommodate the key concern of industry by dropping the move to implement provisions of the bill with retrospective effect. The government will now specify a cut-off date in the land acquisition process for purposes of compensation and rehabilitation clauses. Further, sources said, the consent of two-thirds of land losers will be mandatory for acquisition of land, unlike the earlier provision requiring the consent of 80 per cent of land losers. “The bill is finalised,” Mr Pawar told reporters on Tuesday.