Land bill gave me sleepless nights: Minister

GURGAON: Union rural development minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said on Saturday that he spent sleepless nights thinking about the plight of farmers before he introduced the land bill in Lok Sabha in the last week of February.
Singh, a former Congress leader, said he was new in BJP and therefore couldn’t go against the party’s ideology. He, however, added that after nine amendments during debate in the Lok Sabha, the bill was now fine and there was nothing anti-farmer in it and will help in the progress of the country.
Singh, who introduced the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in Lok Sabha on February 24, said on Saturday that thinking of the plight of farmers, he could not sleep for two nights before presenting the bill.
“I kept thinking that on one hand are the farmers who are dear to me and on the other are the responsibilities given by the party,” Singh said on the second day of the Agri Leadership Summit. “Being a farmer, I would never let down the interest of farmers,” he said.
Singh said problems of farmers in the country were a matter of concern as most of them were not even able to earn enough to fulfil their basic needs while politicians and businessmen were getting richer.
He said farmers’ interests will not be overlooked by the Union government led by PM Narendra Modi.
Read this in Hindi: लैंड बिल ने उड़ा दी थी मेरी नींद: चौधरी बीरेंदर सिंह