-The Business Standard It will make the coercive powers of the land acquisition law irrelevant, though including it in the central Bill would be unconstitutional The proposal to amend the central Land Acquisition Bill to provide for leasing of land rather than acquiring it is just not constitutionally feasible. Land is a state subject and the Centre cannot legislate on leasing at all. But as an idea it is great and should...

-IANS   An anti-tobacco group on Thursday expressed shock over West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's joke asking people to smoke more, so more revenue could be garnered to compensate investors of the collapsed Saradha financial scam. "This is a great discouragement for those working in the area of public health," said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, executive director, Voluntary Health Association of India. Mukhopadhyay said the West Bengal chief minister announced a 10% tax hike...

-Bloomberg   In all likelihood, Nandan Nilekani's Aadhaar will lead the world. Exactly where it will lead, we'll find out People who grew up in Britain in the 1960s will remember a television programme that built a cult following: The Prisoner. It was about an oddly luxurious detention camp-a kind of Guantanamo Bay by Four Seasons, spa services and brainwashing included. Even if you wanted to, trying to escape was pointless. A...

-The Hindu   Fault lies with States, unfair to blame Centre: CAG source The Comptroller and Auditor-General has found serious lapses in implementation of the UPA's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. In its second performance audit submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, the CAG said employment under the MGNREGS declined, funds were being diverted for other use and possible irregularities related to wage payments occurred. The audit covers implementation of the...

-The Hindu   Kozhikode: An audit report of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has slammed the State government for non-performance and Poor maintenance of records in implementing the scheme from 2007 to 2012. The performance audit report, prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, revealed "delays ranging from four to six years in framing rules.'' "There were significant variations between...