Narendra Modi has signed two controversial deals during his visit to France - related to Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant and the Rafale aircraft. It appears that both these deals will benefit the French companies, Areva and Dassault, respectively, which will provide the products, more than India. Dassault, specially, would have closed down if this deal was not signed. On the other hand the deal will have adverse impact on the public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited as the contract for domestic production of these aircrafts, after 36 of them arrive in 'ready to fly' condition from France, will probably go to some private company. The story of crippling a public sector unit by promoting the private players will be repeated once again in the country. Narendra Modi has already prepared the ground for this by opening up the defence sector to FDI upto 49% of investment, which the previous government was not willing to accede to. The Russian aircraft Su-30 would have cost about half of Rafale. Rafale has been rejected by a number of countries. It is not clear why Narendra Modi wants to buy three dozen of these when the country possesses the capacity to produce its own Tejas Mk2, an aircraft of same category.
The Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project, located in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, has been stalled for the last five years as there is stiff opposition on ground. The farmers who will lose land or whose farming will be affected in this very fertile region are opposing the projects on grounds of displacement, damage to environment and safety issues. After the Fukushima accident now people know how dangerous it is to have a nuclear power plant in your vicinity. Two Evolutional Pressurized Reactors, each of 1650 MWe, are proposed here initially, with the final target of achieving 9900 MWe capacity from six reactors.
About 1000 hectares will be lost to the plant and a bigger area affected due to radiation.
Pushing undemocratic changes to 2013 Land Acquisition Act
The Ordinance for amending the 2013 Land Acquisition Act was introduced by Modi government in December 2014, and presented as a Bill in February 2015 with some further modification made in March 2015. The amendments have undone almost all positive achievements of the 2013 Act for the sake of easing up procedures for private industry and facilitating 'Make in India' campaign.
The conditions of 70% (or 80%) consent and Social Impact Assessment have been exempted for five areas -- industrial corridors, PPP projects (excluding private hospitals and colleges), rural infrastructure, defence and defence production, and affordable housing. It must be noted that practically any major project of private sector can be included in one of these areas. In addition, the prescription to limit use of agricultural land and to avoid multi-crop land has been removed. This is bound to compromise India's food security. Furthermore, if an offence is committed by a government official or the head of a department, no citizen can file FIR or go to court for the official's prosecution without prior sanction of the government.
By depriving farmers from having any say in the process of land acquisition, the core principles of latest Bill have become similar to the colonial Act of 1894. It is strange that amendments to the 2013 Act are being proposed citing shortage of land for industry, whereas lakhs of acres of unutilized lands are already lying with the Central and State governments. For instance, over 35% of land earmarked for SEZs lies unutilized and lakhs of acres is locked with sick industry.
Shallowness of 'Make in India'
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