The government will meet opposition leaders before the land bill comes up for consideration and passage in Lok Sabha. The Centre is also working on further amendments to dilute some provisions of the ordinance. Parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu, rural development minister Birender Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley are expected to meet senior opposition leaders to negotiate on the contentious land law. The government also circulated an amendment to the land bill which deletes the definition of "private entities" in the bill thereby expanding the scope of acquisition for different private projects.

Yechury reportedly asked for concrete proposals from the government to discuss with the party and asked Naidu to call an all-party meet. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told, "There is no possibility of any compromise. We want a kanoon-wapsi. The new law must be revoked in its entirety." Ramesh said the structure of the law was based on four pillars -- compensation and Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Consent of land owners and Social Impact Assessment. "Those who lose land must be made partners in the economic projects, which would come up in the acquired land. We demanded more clarity on the definition of 'national security' in respect of land acquisition," said BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab. 

Ramesh, a former rural development minister, contested the BJP's stand that the land acquisition law enacted during the Congress-led UPA rule was not farmer-friendly. He said the 2013 law was done in a manner "most democratic, most consultative and most participative" while the BJP promulgated an ordinance, bringing changes "in an autocratic, completely high-handed and unilateral manner."

By Premji