After lobbying the Madhya Pradesh government to shelve its ambitious Simhastha project – which aims to permanently acquire thousands of hectares of farmers’ land to build infrastructure for the Kumbh Mela – the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has now urged the Union government to ban land pooling across the country and introduce uniformity in land acquisition laws.
The RSS-affiliated organization on Monday (Dec 1, 2025) said it was concerned about the lack of attention being paid to the interests of villages and farmers affected by land acquisition across the country in the name of development.
In a 15-point memorandum of proposals to be submitted to the central government, the BKS refers to a statement issued by the Indian Agricultural Research Centre, which said that the British Land Acquisition Act of 1894 continued for many decades, and even when a new Land Acquisition Act came into force in 2013, it was weakened by arbitrary amendments by state governments.
BKS also cited findings by India’s Agri-Economic Research Center that pointed to “no or little compensation” for farmers even after the government took over their land, as well as poor planning for their employment and rehabilitation.
The BKS alleged that laws like the “Land Pooling Act” were enacted to trick innocent farmers into obtaining consent on false promises, thereby giving officials free rein to terrorize them.
“There is no effort or action to stop this atrocity. There is no enforcement and there is no control,” it said.
The BKS suggested measures to the government in the interests of farmers and said that the government should get the consent of 80% of the people of the Gram Sabha while making laws or changes. He added that compensation for land acquisition should be four times the actual market value or registered value and that the rehabilitation plan should be fully implemented before taking over the land.
It further said that where displacement of tribal people is necessary, all the villagers should be rehabilitated in one place as a new complete village to preserve their culture, society and social environment. Acquisition of irrigated land for multiple crops should also be prohibited unless it is for an essential public purpose. And that farmers should become shareholders and have a stake in the project.
“Amendments made by various states have removed key provisions. Therefore, the central government with the consent of the state governments and if necessary through constitutional amendments should bring uniformity in the laws across the country. The law should provide for strict punitive measures within a minimum time frame (one year) against officials and employees who mislead farmers or abuse the rules in land acquisition,” BKS said.
Published – 02 Dec 2025 21:45 IST
