NEW DELHI: In a major relief for the Modi regime, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, the farmers’ body affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has significantly diluted its opposition to two most contentious provisions in the proposed amendments to land acquisition law, namely, social impact assessment and consent clause.Bharatiya Kisan Sangh ( BKS ) has not included retention of mandatory social impact assessment (SIA) for land acquisitions in its set of six demands submitted to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) looking into the Bill.BKS also called for the consent of minimum 51% landowners, substantially down from 80% requirement (70% in the case of public-private partnership projects) provided in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, implemented by the previous United Progressive Alliance government.BKS’ climbdown is a major concession from within the saffron ranks to the Narendra Modi government , given that most farmer organisations have been up in arms over the government’s move to do away with the SIA process to ease land acquisition for industrialisation. It provides the government elbowroom to strike a bargain with Opposition parties and pass the proposed legislation in the monsoon session of Parliament. The development is a setback for Congress, which has been leading the fight against the proposed Bill.According to sources, Congress members in the parliamentary panel pushed for BKS representatives to be allowed to present their views before the committee, hoping that a saffron organisation’s objections to the proposed amendments will provide additional strength to the demand to retain SIA and consent clause provisions.The change in BKS’ stand on these two contentious issues is likely to take the sting out of this ploy to mount pressure on the government during deliberations in JPC.PLAYING DOWN CHANGE IN STANCEBKS national secretary Mohini Mohan Mishra , however, played down his organisation’s climbdown. “We have not gone back from SIA,” Mishra told ET in response to a query. “Our objection was more on the quantum of land acquisitions demanded by industry. The government’s amendment has provisions for an authority to ensure that minimum land required will be acquired. It was incorporated into the amendments to the ordinance,” he said.On the question of BKS’ dilution of consent clause provisions, Mishra said, “The moment the government promises to not acquire an inch of land for private entities, the question of consent becomes redundant. The fact that in public-private partnership projects ownership vests with the government also resolves the issues. The 2013 law did not require consent for government acquisitions.” The six demands put forth by BKS include:• Clear definition of rural infras tructure• The legislation should provide that private companies will not control rural infrastructure• Farmers be provided share in profit in case of change in use of acquired land• Provisions should be made for lease/rent of land by farmers for commercial/industrial purposes• Mechanism should be established for immediate disbursal of compensation in the event of land acquisition• Provisions should be made for a minimum 51% consent from landowners for land acquisition.Obviously, SIA is not among its demands. Industry organisations had redflagged several layered SIA provisions as cumbersome and time-consuming. They also opposed the steep consent clause requirement of 80% of landowners.Given the poor investor sentiment, the Modi government had decided to amend UPA’s law to ease the land acquisition process. However, the move ran into rough weather with objections from Opposition and farmer organisations, including RSS affiliates such as BKS.