In the winter of 2009, Vilam Singh, a young tribal farmer from Chhattisgarh's Kawardha district, applied for 100 rupee-a-day work under MNREGA, the rural job scheme.  One year later, the same below-the-poverty line farmer bought land worth 3.36 crore rupees in another district, Janjgir Champa.  What explains the sudden turn of fortune?  "He did not turn rich overnight. He was simply roped in to act as a front by a power company that...

-The Business Standard   Almost three months ago, the Union Cabinet cleared the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011. For all projects without a public purpose and requiring more than 100 acres of land, the Bill had made mandatory the consent of 80 per cent of the people whose land would have to be acquired. In addition, the compensation for land was pegged at 100 to 300 per cent over the...

The NTPC has changed its stand and decided to scout for land for its power project in Burdwan’s Katwa, taking on an unpalatable task that reflects Trinamul’s clout at the Centre. “We had requested the Bengal government to acquire land for us. Now, we have agreed to acquire land on our own,” a senior official of the central power utility said. The NTPC needs to acquire around 550 acres. Power department sources...

There isn't a single burning, insurmountable issue because of which workers at Maruti's Manesar plant have struck work thrice in the last five months . Sruthijith KK & Chanchal Pal Chauhan report from Manesar that at its core lie accumulated grievances and resentment, and events are adding fuel to the fire A day after workers at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar facility went on strike in June, 55-year-old MM Singh, the company's head...

-The Telegraph   Had it not been for a tub of hot water and a celebrated judge in England in 1949, Bengal’s Singur law may have found itself in legal hot water. Justice I.P. Mukerji, who delivered the Singur judgment, was guided by a 62-year-old English case that dealt with hot water supply by a landlord, according to the order issued on Wednesday. The Calcutta judge used the principle of “purposive interpretation”, which figured...