-The Hindu If we are going to buy American, why not adopt the American way of giving local bodies the right to refuse entry to super stores in their area There is the United States of America and then there is the ‘idea’ of USA that exists in the minds of significant portions of the middle classes all across the globe. How this looks in real life varies slightly according to the...

-The Indian Express Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed to “live fence” graveyards, dargahs and eidgahs under MGNREGA to protect them. In a letter to National Commission for Minorities chief Wajahat Habibullah, who had requested that boundary walls around these places be built under the employment guarantee scheme, Ramesh suggested that they “be provided with live fencing under the Land Development and Plantation works category of MGNREGA for which provisions may...

-The Indian Express Emphasising on validation of rights of tribals and forest-dwellers over the forest lands, the Supreme Court has said that Naxalism was a result of an oversight of constitutional provisions relating to administration of schedule areas and tribes of the country. “Nobody looks at Schedules V and VI of the Constitution and the result is Naxalism. Urbanites are ruling the nation. Even several union of India counsel are oblivious of...

-The Indian Express Bhubaneswar : Aiming to reach the poorest of poor, the Naveen Patnaik government on Tuesday started Palli Sabhas and Gram Sabhas in 48,000 villages under 6,236 Gram Panchayats through which several developmental projects and schemes such as NREGS, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and old age pension would be executed. The programme termed “Gram Sabha Shashaktikaran Karyakrama” would continue till October 18 and give the grampanchayats a say in selecting the...

-PTI The Group of Ministers, formed to examine certain provisions of the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, has deferred its decisions on the legislation today. "We will decide next time. This week, I am going to Vietnam and I will be back on October 4. After that, we will meet. Three members gave their views. No decision happened today," Agriculture Minister and GoM Chairman Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting. The government had...