Land bill passed in assembly amid uproar

The state assembly passed the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill 2015 amid an uproar on Wednesday. The amendment paves the way for scheduled caste (SC) land owners to transfer their land by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease to a person not belonging to the SC with the collector’s previous approval.

LUCKNOW: The state assembly passed the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill 2015 amid an uproar on Wednesday. The amendment paves the way for scheduled caste (SC) land owners to transfer their land by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease to a person not belonging to the SC with the collector’s previous approval. Revenue minister Shivpal Yadav moved the bill in the assembly. Terming it a ‘black law’, leader of opposition Swami Prasad Maurya said the bill should be referred to a select committee which would give its report within a month. Lashing out at the state government, Maurya said the Constitution had granted certain protection to the weaker sections to safeguard them against exploitation. In 1981, Section 157-A was included in the UP Zamindari Abolition and the Land Reforms Act 1950 to protect the land rights of the SCs/STs. With this amendment, land sharks would grab the land of the poor, he claimed. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal asked if the state government had done a survey on the economic condition of the SCs before tabling the amendment bill. Suresh Khanna, the BJP legislature party leader, said the SP was trying to flex its muscle by getting the bill passed with a brute majority. Congress members staged a walkout against the bill. The BJP and BSP members rushed into the well of the house. The opposition raised the slogan “Dalit virodhi sarkar nahi chalegi (antiDalit government will not be allowed to function)”. There was a division in the RLD as its leader Dalbir Singh supported the bill while Puran Prakash and Bhagwati Prasad opposed it.