-The Times of India AURANGABAD: Over 350 like-minded organizations are set to launch a nation-wide agitation from Monday to protest against the contentious Land Acquisition Bill. Social activist Medha Patkar made the announcement in the city while addressing a gathering of farmers. She said organizations of farmers, traders and fishermen would stage demonstration in different parts of the country and mount pressure on the Union government to stop it from going...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a landmark judgment, the Bombay high court has paved the way for the state to pay higher compensation to farmers whose land it acquires for public projects. The court held that financial constraints or project cost escalations cannot be a reason to shortchange farmers and set aside a government decision to fix a multiplier factor of 1.1 on market rates even though the law says...

-The New Indian Express For now the storm is over. Untimely monsoons, which create much havoc for farmers, became a parliamentary allegory with the Congress raining on Modi's parade over the Land Bill. In spite of all the manoeuvring that will follow, clouds threaten to hang low over the next session too. This is indicated in Sonia Gandhi's decision to take to the streets in protest - a leaf taken from...

-PTI Employers will be liable to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 for failing to implement the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act., Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. "In case of subsequent violations, the amount of fine will be double, together with penalty in the form of cancellation of his licence, withdrawal or non-renewal of the...

-The Indian Express The political discourse over land acquisition has proceeded in binary terms - industry versus farmer, growth versus no growth - thereby obfuscating the real issue at the heart of the land acquisition debate: the fear of arbitrary exercise of state power in reshaping property relations in Indian society. Instead of tweaking the 2015 land acquisition bill with a few amendments here and there to appease political allies and...