Modi backs down on controversial land reform

AFP, NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday announced he was ditching an executive order aimed at making it easier for business to buy land, in a major setback for his reformist government.
Modi said he would let the ordinance lapse on Monday, following large-scale farmer protests led by a resurgent opposition to the reform, which he pledged soon after forming government last year.
In his monthly radio address to the rural heartland, the premier lashed out at what he described as the spreading of false rumours that made farmers oppose the reform.
“We had brought in an ordinance on land acquisition which is lapsing on August 31, and I have decided to let it lapse,” he said.
Modi won a landslide election victory last May on a pledge to reform and revive Asia’s third largest economy, but some of his biggest initiatives have hit roadblocks.
His right-wing government has struggled to pass the land and other key bills in parliament where his Bharitya Janata Party (BJP) lacks a majority in the upper house

Modi backs down on controversial land reform

AFP, NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday announced he was ditching an executive order aimed at making it easier for business to buy land, in a major setback for his reformist government. Modi said he would let the ordinance lapse on Monday, following large-scale farmer protests led by a resurgent opposition to the reform, which he pledged soon after forming government last year. In his monthly radio address to the rural heartland, the premier lashed out at what he described as the spreading of false rumours that made farmers oppose the reform. We had brought in an ordinance on land acquisition which is lapsing on August 31, and I have decided to let it lapse, he said. Modi won a landslide election victory last May on a pledge to reform and revive Asias third largest economy, but some of his biggest initiatives have hit roadblocks. His right-wing government has struggled to pass the land and other key bills in parliament where his Bharitya Janata Party (BJP) lacks a majority in the upper house