Boycotting Niti Aayog meeting against federalism: Jaitley

New Delhi

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that certain non-BJP chief ministers skipping the Niti Aayog meeting in New Delhi was “against the spirit of federalism”.

“Those who chose to boycott (Niti Aayog meeting) must introspect whether not attending the meeting is in tune with the spirit of federalism,” Jaitley said at a press conference here after the Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded.

Jaitley said 16 chief ministers were present at the meeting.

Nine chief ministers of Congress-ruled states, Mamata Banerjee from West Bengal and Akhilesh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh were among those who boycotted the meeting of Niti (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.

Also missing was Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, but Jaitley said he could not attend because of some other engagement.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who is in the US for treatment, was represented by trusted aide and former chief minister O. Paneerselvam.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were among the attendees.

BJP questions Akhilesh’s absence from NITI Aayog meet

Lucknow

The BJP here on Wednesday questioned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s absence from the NITI Aayog meet in New Delhi, accusing the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state of “politicising development”.

BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said while Yadav was writing a series of letters to the union government with his demands and suggestions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when an opportunity came to deliberate upon it he opted to be absent.

“It is beyond understanding why the chief minister has skipped the NITI Aayog meeting being held today,” he said.

The BJP leader further charged the state government with not being serious about development and federalism, saying had the SP leadership been serious about the matter there would have been far greater participation in the process of discussion and debate as initiated by Prime Minister Modi at various foras.

The UP chief minister has written several times in the past to the union government seeking a larger share in central funds and various other issues.

Mamata, Naveen, Jayalalithaa skip Modi’s NITI Aayog meet

New Delhi

Apart from nine chief ministers from Congress-ruled states, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, Tamilnadu’s J.Jayalalithaa were among the non-NDA chief ministers who skipped the NITI Aayog meet here on Wednesday.

The meet, convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had the land acquisition bill on its agenda.

“Our chief ministers have not gone to attend the meeting of NITI Aayog as the party’s stance on land bill is clear and it is against the legislation brought by the National Democratic Alliance government (NDA),” Congress spokesperson and former union minister R.P.N.Singh told IANS.

Congress has been opposing the land bill in its present form.

All the chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states attended the meeting including Rajasthan’s Vasundhara Raje, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh.

Meanwhile, other prominent opposition chief ministers who attened the meeting were Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Tripura’s Manik Sarkar.

Modi has convened the second meeting of the government council of NITI Aayog on Thursday in which the contentious land acquisition bill is expected to be discussed.

The meeting is being seen as an attempt by the NDA government to break the deadlock over the controversial bill that is facing a strong opposition from the Congress.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment Bill, 2015) has been referred to a joint committee of both houses of parliament under the chairmanship of BJP’s S.S. Ahluwalia.

Jayalalithaa opposes land bill, skips NITI Aayog meet

Chennai

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday expressed her government’s opposition to the land acquisition bill, maintaining certain provisions take away the safeguards required for farmers in the country.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jayalalithaa expressed her inability to attend the second meeting of the Governing Council of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog in New Delhi on Wednesday due to other pressing engagements.

The meeting would deliberate on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, and amendments sought to be brought about by the NDA government.

As the Niti Aayog meeting has to be attended only by the chief ministers of different states, Jayalalithaa sent her speech conveying the state government’s views that are to be taken on record.

She said her government was opposed to Chapter III of Right to Fair Compensation and Tranparencey in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

According to Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu farmers were strongly opposed to the provisions in the bill that empower state governments to exempt specified projects from the ambit of the Act.

Jayalalithaa said the amendment bill’s provisions were hence also unacceptable to the government of Tamil Nadu.

“We believe that the present amendments take away important safeguards that farmers and agriculture require. Hence, I urge the government of India not to press ahead with these amendments,” she said.

As per provisions of Chapter III, consent of 80 percent of the landowners have to be obtained if the land is acquired for private project.

If the land is proposed to be acquired for public-private-partnership projects, then consent of 70 percent of the landowners is to be obtained.

Further, a social impact assessment has to be made and there are limits on acquiring agricultural and multi-cropped land.

However these provisions would not apply to projects in defence and defence production, rural infrastructure including electrification, affordable housing and housing for the poor, industrial corridors, infrastructure and social infrastructure projects, including projects under public-private partnership, where the ownership of the land continues to vest with the government.

IANS