PM Modi defends amended Land Acquisition Bill, says land needs to be acquired for economic activity
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replying in the Rajya Sabha to a Motion of Thanks to President Pranab Mukherjee's speech to a joint session of Parliament, defended his government's amended Land Acquisition Bill (Ordinance) by saying that land had to be acquired to give a boost to national economic activity.
In a strong defence of the amended BIll, Modi said, "The law will stay; we will remove the shortcomings. I urge you to help us, and together, we can take India's development ahead. We need to protect farmers' interests together. Please don't spread lies on compensation. Compensation has not been reduced in the amended Bill.
We need to carry on with economic activity, to set up industries etc. Under current law, it is difficult to acquire law."
On the the issue of black money, he said, "We are committed to bringing back black money. If the SIT on black money had been set up during the UPA regime, illegal transactions would have stopped by now. The SIT was not set up then in order to protect some people."
We are giving importance to a Digital India and mobile governance. If we have to create jobs, we will have to promote the idea of Make in India. We will have to focus on infrastructure development," the Prime Minister said.
"Whatever we are doing, let us take it to the ground and take it to the people. Our efforts are in that direction. We should work towards changing lives of the downtrodden.During UPA rule, only 6.5 percent people got 100 days' of work. Development can happen through 'Neeti' and 'Reeti'. When you stay connected to the ground, you realise what is happening on the ground," Prime Minister Modi said.
"Railways and Highways, they are both under the government, but one did not approve project of the other. We have changed that. So far, 660 villages have been adopted under the Adarsh Gram Yojna. We have so far cleared 350 projects. Any new project proposal will be cleared within 60 days. We have ushered in good governance," he stated further.
