A tactical retreat

The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the existing land law is yet to wrap up its deliberations but the likely outline of its recommendations is clear after ruling party MPs moved six amendments all of which mark a sharp u-turn by the Modi government. Immediately after taking over as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had got an Ordinance passed that had drastically altered the spirit of the UPA’s Land Acquisition Act. He was convinced that the UPA land law had made it impossible to buy farm land for setting up industries and developing infrastructure. The changes were needed, it was argued, to jumpstart $300 billion of stuck projects and thereby usher an era of extraordinary development and job creation. Modi had even sold this chimera during his visits abroad.

Unable to push through the amendments in the Rajya Sabha, the government issued a series of Ordinances to keep the changes alive. But the UPA's land law was too politically correct to be drastically overhauled because it sought to make land acquisition humane, consensual and generous. The corporate world had cheered the Modi-inspired changes; on the other hand, there was a groundswell of protests all over rural India. The rural class felt more estranged after a spate of farmer suicides and the government's bid to drastically alter foodgrain procurement norms 

The Modi government had made changes while introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha. But the Opposition and several NDA allies remained unhappy because the land law remained capricious and prone to misuse by corporates close to the government in power.  The BJP still has its political antenna sharply tuned. Having lost the Delhi elections, Modi and Amit Shah can politically ill afford to lose in the largely agrarian Bihar. Some believe this is a tactical retreat for Modi till the BJP gets a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Though it will be counted as a huge setback, the retreat may make it possible for the government to arrive at a working understanding with the Opposition and secure cooperation in approving other crucial economic bills.