How serious is Delhi about acquiring land for industry?

THE suicide by an Indian farmer at an opposition rally to protest the ordinance to change the Land Acquisition Act 2013 has put the Narendra Modi-led government in a tighter spot than it was in.

The directive, opposed by the entire opposition in both houses of parliament, sought to change a law passed in December 2013 that for the first time gave landholders a say in the terms under which their land could be acquired for industrial or infrastructural requirements.

The 2013 law, called "Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act", had replaced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, an obsolete colonial law that gave unbridled powers to the government to take over private land, including farmland. Enacted after decades of agitation for a fair law and several years of debate in parliament and the media, the 2013 law was backed by a consensus within all parties including the BJP.