Congress senses uproar, defers land reforms bill

BENGALURU: The Siddaramaiah government on Tuesday put on hold the controversial Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2015, fearing the wrath of the Congress high command.
The bill, which proposes to raise the income limit for buying agricultural land from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, was deferred after it was circulated among legislators in the assembly.
Sources said some senior party leaders felt it would send a wrong signal when the Congress is opposing the new land bill of the NDA government at the Centre. The government also sensed stiff opposition from the BJP and JD(S), which are preparing to embarrass the Congress.
Dubbing it a revolutionary bill, revenue minister V Sreenivas Prasad said they would take it up in the next session as it requires a lot of time for debate.
The Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2015, also proposes to empower deputy commissioners of districts to grant permission for the purchase of a certain extent of land for educational, industrial, religious and housing projects. The revenue minister announced the deferment of the legislation.
"The proposed bill is aimed at helping the real estate lobby. It would ring the death knell for farm lands, especially those close to cities and towns. Moreover, the Bill is against the ideology of the Congress which is opposing our land bill at the Centre,'' said BJP members.
Compulsory voting: Taking a cue from Gujarat, Karnataka has sought to make voting compulsory in the upcoming panchayat elections. The Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill 2015, seeking to make voting compulsory in panchayat elections in the state, was passed in the legislative assembly after a heated debate. The same bill also provides for 50% reservation for women in all local body elections. Besides making voting compulsory, it will provide the none of the above (Nota) option. Moreover, the legislation also seeks to fix the term of president and vice-president at all three-tier panchayat !raj bodies at five years.