Alpha Ideas

Swaminathan Aiyar wrote a great article recently on the Land Acquisition Bill.He called it a ” Luddite proposal that threatens all economic development.” But there was one aspect he missed in the article- this Bill is likely to be a vote getter and could be a game changer for the UPA Government in rural India.

Why?Because the draconian clauses of the Bill ensure that it would be very difficult to acquire land of any significant size for any industrial/developmental activity.

This will necessarily boost the bargaining power of farmers and hence farmland prices will be headed one way-UP

For some reason, this bill reminds me of this great excerpt from Yes Minister

“There are times in a politician’s life when he is obliged to take the wrong decision.Wrong economically,wrong industrially , wrong by any standards-except one.It is a curious fact that something which is wrong from every other point of view can be right politically.”