One northern Indian state is hoping a new land acquisition policy can calm rising tensions between farmers and industrialists.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati says the changes will remove the government as the middleman in land deals between farmers and private companies.

She says the government would still act as a facilitator but that farmers and companies would negotiate the price directly, allowing farmers to earn more money. The changes will also require major land deals to get the approval of 70 percent of the farmers in the affected area.

Mayawati first spoke about the reforms with reporters on Thursday.

Farmers and industrialists have increasingly clashed in India, where demand for more space and infrastructure is growing quickly as the country's economy expands.

The Indian government has come under criticism for several recent land deals which allowed companies to buy property at deeply discounted rates.

Just last month, Indian lawmaker Rahul Ghandi was arrested after joining farmers protesting a government land-grab in a village in Uttar Pradesh.

The farmers accuse the government of not paying enough for the land where it wants to build a $2 billion highway linking New Delhi to the city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.

In 2008, farmers in West Bengal blocked Indian automaker Tata Motors from building a factory to make its low-cost Nano cars.