Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government’s push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he will not be backing Modi again.
Mathur, 64, believes Modi has turned his back on the plight of farmers, many of whom have seen their crops devastated by unseasonal rains since the start of this year.
“I am on the brink of ruin,” he said, close to tears, as he tended the wheat growing on his smallholding in the village of Kanjhawala about 25km northwest of New Delhi.
Photo: AFP
“The rain gods don’t hear us and Modi has also turned deaf to our cries,” he said.
India’s poor but powerful farming lobby flocked to Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the general election in May lat year, when Modi won India’s biggest mandate in 30 years.
However, anger in rural areas has been mounting over his administration’s bid to overhaul land purchasing laws, compounding woes over extensive damage to winter crops due to unseasonal rain across northern India.
The government argues that changes are needed to spur development — from building new cities and factories to more roads and industrial corridors.
However, its attempts to push the Land Acquisition Bill through parliament have been stonewalled by a united opposition, which controls the upper house.
While the government has issued a temporary order making it easier to buy land for projects, the changes need parliamentary approval before they can be made permanent.
The left-leaning opposition Congress Party are due to lead a mass street protest today against the legislation in the capital before the reopening of parliament, when the government is expected to reintroduce its bill.
The new bill overhauls legislation passed by the previous Congress-led government in 2013, which was a key initiative of its decade in power.
It would exempt projects related to defense, rural housing and power, along with industrial corridors, from the requirement that 80 percent of the affected landowners must agree to a sale.
It also does away with the need for a “social impact assessment” to find out how many people would be affected by the loss of land.
The BJP says these rules are restrictive and deter the investment needed to fuel India’s growth.
Critics, however, have said India’s development should not come at the cost of its poorest citizens.
“The government thinks it owns the resources. This is wrong,” land and environmental law expert Sanjay Parikh said. “Resources ultimately belong to the people. The land must remain with the farmers.”
Modi recently used his monthly radio show to appeal to farmers not to oppose the bill, repeatedly assuring them that acquiring their land would be a “last resort.”
However, the unpopular bill has given a boost to the ailing Congress Party.
Bhupender Rawat, from the non-profit National Alliance for People’s Movements, believes the land bill could inflict serious political damage on the BJP government.
“Farmers are not fools, they can see what Modi is trying to do,” he told reporters. “Modi has been going abroad and telling investors: ‘Come to India, we will give you cheap land and labor.’ The farmers are feeling cheated, and rightly so.”
Many have good reason to be skeptical about the government’s assurances.
Another Kanjhawla farmer, Baljeet Singh, said the government forcibly acquired the deeds to his land in 2005, but had not yet taken possession of it or provided adequate compensation.
“We thought Modi’s government would address our problems, that is why we voted for him, but look what he is doing. We will not back him again,” the 70-year-old said as he smoked a hookah pipe.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese