Land reforms Bill passed in Council with JD(S) support
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Amid intense protests by farmers, the controversial Karnataka Land Reforms (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 that seeks to take away restrictions on agricultural land buy in the State was passed in the Legislative Council on Tuesday, with the Janata Dal (Secular), which had earlier opposed the Bill, supporting it.
The support of the JD(S) was essential because the BJP, with 31 members, doesn’t take pleasure in majority in the 75-member Council. While the Congress and the JD(S) collectively had efficiently stalled the Bill in the monsoon session after it had been passed in the Legislative Assembly, voting had not been potential because the Council had been adjourned sine die. The passage of the amended Bill got here on a day when farmers had referred to as for a nationwide bandh to oppose change to farm legal guidelines.
Soon after Revenue Minister R. Ashok provided clarification to the considerations expressed over the amendments, the BJP sought passage of the Bill by voice vote whereas the Congress sought division of votes.
Eventually, the Bill was passed with 37 members voting in favour of it and 21 voting towards it. Senior member and JD(S) chief Marithibbe Gowda voted towards the Bill at the same time as different members of his celebration voted in favour. The Congress and the JD(S) have 28 and 14 members, respectively.
“The party had given us discretion to vote and accordingly we voted,” a JD(S) legislator claimed, whereas insisting that it didn’t imply allying with the BJP. The modified stance of the celebration drew criticism later by farmers’ teams and Congress leaders.
Earlier, Chief Minister B.S. Yediurappa stated States comparable to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu didn’t have limitations on land possession like Karnataka. “We have studied the ground situation in these States before proposing this amendment. This will not affect land under irrigation,” he stated.
Mr. Ashok stated the amendments have been being dropped at the over five-decade-old Act to allow modernisation of agricultural practices by permitting these from non-farming neighborhood to return in. He identified that about 11.79 lakh hectares the place agriculture was potential has been left fallow. “Over the last decades, just about 0.87 % of total 190 lakh hectares in the State has been given to industries,” he argued.
Pointing to “failures” of the present Act, he claimed that part 79-A and 79-B, that impose sure restrictions on land buy, inserted by an modification in 1974, haven’t had the specified results. “Though more than 83,000 cases of violation of these provisions with an extent of 1.76 lakh acres exist, not a single acre has been taken back so far,” he stated. The Revenue Minister stated that different provisions, comparable to ceiling on land holding and safety to land owned by SC/ST neighborhood, would proceed.
Congress members in the course of the debate earlier expressed considerations about land-grabbing and lack of livelihood for farmers in the State as restrictions imposed by part 79-A and 79-B have been being eliminated. They additionally identified agricultural land might now be transformed for different functions.
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