Modi backs down on India's controversial land reform

New Delhi

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced he was ditching an executive order aimed at making it easier for business to buy land, in a major setback for his reformist government. Mr Modi said he would let the ordinance lapse on Monday, following large-scale farmer protests led by a resurgent opposition to the reform, which he pledged soon after forming the government last year.

In his monthly radio address to the rural heartland, the premier lashed out at what he described as the spreading of false rumours that made farmers oppose the reform. "We had brought in an ordinance on land acquisition which is lapsing on Aug 31, and I have decided to let it lapse," he said.