Land to be acquired only for development projects, Govt to own land: Amit Shah

BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday said canards were being spread against the Land Acquisition Bill which was not anti-farmer.
“It is not an anti-farmer bill…In fact, it will benefit farmers and poor living in villages. The ownership of land acquired for development projects will remain with the government. Not an inch of land will be given to corporate,” Mr. Shah said at Aaj Tak’s Manthan programme organised to mark one year of Narendra Modi government.

“The government will take land only for development projects. The land acquired will be used only for development projects like hospitals,
schools, water and power projects that would benefit villagers and poor people living in remote places,” he said, and added that the
Central Government was trying to convince opposition parties to agree
them to support the Bill.

Talking about one year of Modi government, Mr. Shah said it has been a clean and transparent government with not a single charge of corruption against it. “From the ‘zero loss’ theory of previous Congress-led UPA government we managed to get over Rs.1-lakh crore from spectrum auction. Similarly, we have managed to get over Rs.2 lakh crore from auction of coal blocks. Our first Cabinet meeting cleared formation of SIT on black-money issue, while we have passed a law to curb blackmoney. Trust of people and bureaucracy on government has been reaffirmed…These are some of our achievements in first year,”he pointed out.

Mr. Shah said Mr. Modi was leading ‘Team India’ where all Chief Ministers are important members of his team. “NDA government has been strengthening India’s federal structure…He has not only involved all Chief Ministers from the initial stage of policy formation in Niti Aayog but also increased fund allocation to state to give them
financial power and freedom,” he noted.

Taking a dig at the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government, he said in one year the Modi government has been able to bring down number of stuck projects from 14 % to 6 % which is a remarkable achievement. Mr. Shah also said Mr. Modi’s Make in India programme would bring foreign investments and technology to India that would lead to job creation and increase India’s growth.

On Pakistan, Mr. Shah said Indian forces were aptly retaliating to all firing incidents along international borders and the situation in J&K has largely been peaceful due to aggressive stand of the Indian forces. He also said the PDP-led government in Jammu & Kashmir was working as per the common minimum programme and results would start
coming soon.

The BJP President also said his government was working for development and growth of poor by launching social security schemes and enabling their financial inclusion. On forthcoming Bihar elections, he said his party would get full majority. On women’s reservation bill he said several parties to vehemently opposed to it and the BJP was trying to convince them so that the bill could be passed in Parliament.