Siddaramaiah says Karnataka land reforms ordinance anti-farmers, seeks withdrawal
Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday attacked the BJP government over changes to land reform act that liberalized farmland ownership, alleging there was a scam bigger than the illegal mining during the previous regime of the saffron party.
The changes effected through a recent ordinance amounted to almost repealing the entire act and the protection to poor and small farmers under it had been taken away, the senior Congress leader said, demanding its withdrawal.
Accusing the state government of behaving like 'agents' of corporates and bowing to the pressure of real estate players, he said the Congress will organize a statewide agitation from the village level, along with farmers' organizations and other like-minded parties, against the ordinance.
Denying the charges, state Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said the amendments were made as the existing act was unique and was in no way useful to farmers and people in general and instead misused for corruption.
Pointing out that Congress legislators had supported the amendments earlier, he expressed surprise over Siddaramaiah criticising the ordinance and ruled out its withdrawal.
The government had on July 13 promulgated the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, bringing in sweeping changes, including easing restrictions on buying of agricultural land and ceiling on the extend of land one can hold.
"The BJP government in Karnataka has made amendments to the land reforms act and brought out an ordinance on July 13 despite stiff opposition from us," Siddaramiah, Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, told reporters here.
"I had initially thought that the government will not come out with the ordinance at a time when COVID-19 is spreading, but the government did," he said.
He termed as 'dictatorial' the government's decision and the day the ordinance was brought in as 'black day'.
"If the government had good intentions it should have brought it (the measure) during the assembly session and also had a public debate on the issue," the opposition leader said.
The ordinance has repealed Sections 79 (A), (B) and (C) from the original Act, and made way for non-agriculturists to buy farmland.
Siddaramaiah further said the present Karnataka government has bowed down to real estate players and corporates and accused the Centre of supporting such "anti-farmer" policies of the state.
He claimed 13,814 pending cases of violation in land use would get dismissed under the latest ordinance and alleged there was a bigger conspiracy behind it.
"This looks like a scam bigger than the mining scam, as several cases or petitions that were pending under sections 79 (A), (B) are dismissed, and they were related to a violation in the use of land worth about Rs 45,000-50,000 crores," he said.
The mining scam that rocked the previous BJP government in the state in 2008-13 was said to be about Rs 35,000 crore.
To a question as to who was behind this scam, Siddaramaiah said, "I have said it is bigger than mining scam which involved specific people, but in this (scam) the whole government itself is in it and has fallen prey to corporate bodies and real estate..."
Pointing out that the government was giving various reasons for bringing in the ordinance, he alleged the real intention was to help corporates and realtors, among others, which is clear from the fact that they have raised the landholding limit to 80 units.
Also, the Congress leader cautioned that the government's move may cause a threat to the food security of the country.
Ashwath Narayan said that the government will not withdraw the ordinance at any cost.
"While there was one kind of act across the country it was different in Karnataka and was in no way useful to farmers and people. Its misuse had led to a lot of corruption, and the amendments are pro-development," the DCM was quoted as saying by his office in a release.
"It is not anti-farmer and some people for their political benefit were making such comments," he added.
The government had earlier said the amendments were aimed at ending harassment of farmers by officials using the curbs in the parent act and also help the state in attracting investments.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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