“I hope, we do not have to reach that situation (of convening a joint session of the Parliament) and it gets sorted out before that. The present government as far as the constitutional mechanism is concerned has the numbers.
Therefore, we would like to make sure that this landmark reform in India does take place,” Jaitley said. Refraining from giving a time line for convening a joint session of the Parliament, Jaitley exuded hope that the land reforms bill in its new shape would be able to get through the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling party and its coalition partners do not have a majority. However, he pointed out that the BJP and its coalition partners have enough numbers to get the bill passed if there is a joint session of the Indian Parliament.
“We would like to ensure that this landmark reform in India does take place,” Jaitley said in his presentation on ‘India’s Economic Future’ organised by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. “The land law which was approved in 2013, in my view, has hindered the complete development of rural India. Almost 55 per cent of India is rural India,” he said.