-The Hindu The new ordinance incorporates the nine amendments adopted by the Lok Sabha. President Pranab Mukherjee signed on Friday the new Land Acquisition Ordinance recommended by the Union Cabinet on March 31, official sources told The Hindu. The earlier ordinance, which could not be converted into law, will lapse on April 5. The government move drew a sharp response from the Congress, which decried the government's "disregard" for parliamentary democracy and Prime...

-The Hindu NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya says farmers can't be fully compensated for crop damage. The Union government will increase the number of work days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from 100 to 150 in places where the recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms have affected crops. The relief package will include cash compensation. In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought recommendations from NITI Aayog on how insurance...

-PTI Jaipur: The Centre has given six months' more time to the States for rolling out the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday. The deadline, which has already been extended twice for implementing the food law, was ending on April 4. Only 11 States and Union Territories have so far implemented the National Food Security Act, which was passed by Parliament in September 2013. "The central...

-The Hindu With the Land Acquisition Bill in the limelight, nobody is talking about the real reforms that farmers need. A major survey finds that almost half the respondents don't want to continue with agriculture. The unseasonal rains over the last few weeks have resulted in enormous loss of crop output across many States of North India. This has shifted attention from the issue of land acquisition to other important problems faced...

-Deccan Herald There have been protests by several organisations of fishermen, including those of deep-sea artisanal fisher folk in several coastal States against the recommendations of an expert committee that reviewed India's marine fishing policy and the existing guidelines for deep-sea fishing in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Union agriculture ministry's Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), through an order on August 1, 2013 constituted an expert committee...