AFP
NEW DELHI, APRIL 18
Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government's push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he won't be backing the premier again.Mathur, 64, believes Modi has turned his back on the plight of farmers, many of whom have seen their crops devastated by unseasonal rains since the start of this year.
"I am on the brink of ruin," he said, close to tears, as he tended the wheat growing on his smallholding in Kanjhawala village around 15 miles (25 kilometres) northwest of New Delhi.
"The rain gods don't hear us and Modi has also turned deaf to our cries."
India's poor but powerful farming lobby flocked to Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the general election last May, when the Hindu nationalist premier won the biggest mandate in 30 years.
But anger in rural areas has been mounting over his government's bid to overhaul land purchasing laws, compounding woes over extensive damage to winter crops due to unseasonal rain across northern India.
The government argues the changes are needed to spur development -- from building new cities and factories to more roads and industrial corridors.
But its attempts to push the Land Acquisition Bill through parliament have been stonewalled by a united opposition, which controls the upper house.
While the government has issued a temporary order making it easier to buy land for projects, the changes need parliamentary approval before they can be made permanent.
- Restrictive rules -
The left-leaning opposition Congress party will on Sunday lead a mass street protest against the legislation in the capital before the reopening of parliament, when the government is expected to reintroduce its bill. The new bill overhauls legislation passed by the previous Congress-led government in 2013, which was a key initiative of its decade in power.
It would exempt projects related to defence, rural housing and power, along with industrial corridors, from the requirement that 80 percent of the affected landowners must agree to a sale.
