LUDHIANA, August 31: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting today said that the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill were two landmark legislations which hardly had any parallels in the Indian history or the world. He said, it was for the first time in the history of the country that the poor will have the right to highly subsidised food and nobody will remain hungry anymore.
Addressing a series of meetings in Dakha assembly segment here today, Tewari pointed out, although the opposition parties had tried their best to scuttle these bills just for the partisan reason that the Congress will get the benefit, still the UPA government ensured that these laws were passed as these concerned over 80 crore Indians.
“It is so shameful that for the petty partisan reasons the opposition parties tried to scuttle these bills”, he asserted while asking, otherwise who will like to oppose such a legislation that seeks to eliminate hunger from the country.
The Minister said, the entire nation felt grateful to the Congress president and the UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for bringing in such historic laws which seek to guarantee food to each and every Indian. He said, over 80 crore people in the country will be benefitted by the Food Security Act as they will be provided 35 kgs of food grain every month at a highly subsidised price.
“This was the dream of Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi that nobody in the country should go to bed empty stomach and today that dream is a reality”, he said amidst applause by hundreds of people who had come to listen to him at village Phallewal.
Referring to the Land Acquisition Bill, Tewari pointed out, there will not be any forcible land acquisition in the country. He said, wherever the land is needed for any private project the consent of 80 per cent people is mandatory. Besides, he said, land will be acquired at a price that would be four times of the prevailing market price in the rural areas and twice the market price in the urban areas. Not just that, those affected will get employment, rehabilitation and adequate compensation. “There cannot be a better law on land acquisition than this”, he remarked.
Tewari said, the UPA government was committed to the welfare of the general public. He pointed out, despite the economic difficulties being faced by the country, the UPA government decided to go ahead with these welfare measures which will go a long way in ameliorating and alleviating the plight of the common masses.
During the visit of village Sarabha Mr. Tewari also paid floral tributes to Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha and in village Phallewal one minute silent were observed in the memory of former Chief Minister Punjab S. Beant Singh, whose death anniversary is being observed today. Mr. Tewari addressed the public meetings at Pamali, Saholi, Sarabha, Ballowal, Phallewal, Dhoorkot, Latala, Sohian and Dhollan.
During his visit Sh. Manish Tewari announced grant of about Rs. 40 lac from his MPLAD fund for the various villages of the Dakha constituency. Present on the occasion includes PPCC Secretary Jagpal Singh Khangura, Bhag Singh Dardi, Parminder Latala, Telu Ram Bansal, Ranjit Singh, Balvir Kaur, Manmohan Singh Narangwal, Deepak Khandoor, Satwinder Jawaddi, Rajiv Raja, G.S Mand, Shampy Bhanohar and other dignitaries also present.