Union Minister Manish Tewari on Saturday said the Food Security and Land Acquisition Bills are two landmark initiatives taken by the UPA government, and have no parallels in history.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Tewari, the Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana, said it is for the first time in country's history that the poor will enjoy the right to highly subsidised food, and nobody will sleep hungry any more.
Tewari said although the opposition parties "tried their best to scuttle these bills as they thought the Congress will gain from them," the UPA ensured that these bills were passed as they were to benefit over 81 crore Indians.
"It is so shameful that for the petty partisan reasons, the opposition parties tried to scuttle these bills," Tewari, who addressed a number of party meetings in the Dakha assembly segment in Ludhiana, said.
The minister further added that over 81 crore people in the country will be benefited by the Food Security Bill, as they will be provided 35 kg of foodgrains every month at a highly subsidised price.
"It was the dream of Congress President Sonia Gandhi that nobody in the country goes to bed empty stomach, and today that dream is going to become a reality," he said.
Referring to the Land Acquisition Bill, Tewari pointed out "there will not be any forcible land acquisition in the country." He said wherever the land is needed for any private project, consent of 80 per cent of the people concerned will be mandatory.
Besides, he said, land will be acquired at a price that would be four times of the market price in the rural areas, and twice the market price in urban areas.
Furthermore, those affected by the acquisition will get employment, rehabilitation and adequate compensation, he said. "There cannot be a better law on land acquisition than this," he said.
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