The new legislation, he said, would be introduced in parliament in the next session likely in July. He did \u201cnot rule out\u201d the possibility of an ordinance laying out the new land acquisition rules till then.
Chidambaram said the government had earlier drafted the law but failed to build political consensus on the issue, which is why the bill could not be tabled in parliament.
\u201cWe must have a new land acquisition act. Consensus building has taken some time,\u201d the home minister told reporters after the meeting of the newly constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) to communicate the government\u2019s policies and decisions to the public through the media.
Chidambaram heads the panel that includes union ministers Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khursheed, Pawan Bansal and V. Narayanasamy.
The home minister said the government had made some amendments to the land acquisition draft bill. \u201cI can say with a fair degree of certainty that there is consensus now. It is the government\u2019s intention to introduce that law in the next session.\u201d
He said the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh \u201cis not a very happy situation\u201d. His comments came as clashes between police and farmers led by political activists continued Thursday, a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was arrested and then released for staging a sit-in in support of the farmers.
\u201cMany villagers, farmers are protesting on the issue of acquisition of land and compensation. Political parties are espousing the cause of farmers and some lives have been lost, that is distressing,\u201d Chidambaram said.
Violence on the issue of farmers demanding higher compensation for their land led to escalated clashes in Greater Noida area leading to four people being killed – three on Saturday and one on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"