The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...
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Akhil Gogoi remanded in judicial custody by Sushanta Talukdar
Police directed to admit him in hospital Arrested RTI activist and farmers' leader Akhil Gogoi was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a court here on Sunday, after he spent three days in police custody. But the court of chief judicial magistrate directed the police to immediately admit Mr. Gogoi in the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for treatment of backache and other ailments of which he complained. It directed...
More »CPI welcomes move to return Singur land
-PTI The CPI today welcomed Mamata Banerjee Government's decision to return land to unwilling farmers in Singur and said it was improper for the CPI(M) to acquire farmland for the Tata project. "The decision of returning land to the unwilling farmers of Singur is good. We are always against taking agricultural land and there is no objection in returning the land," CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan said. Criticising the CPI(M) for acquiring...
More »Scared of the spark by Rajinder Sachar
As expected, the government and the team led by Anna Hazare have disagreed on vital points. The question of including the prime minister within the ambit of the lokpal is being falsely blown out of proportion by government apologists. Though the head of the government, the prime minister is only the first among equals. In a democracy, a political vacuum does not arise if the PM finds himself under...
More »Food Security: Messy Jam, But Here’s a Map by Ashok Gulati
Ensuring food security to all is one of India’s top policy agendas today. Given a large mass of poverty in the country, it is not surprising and no one would perhaps disagree with the need to achieve this as soon as possible. But the varied policy instruments that can be used towards achieving this goal draw sharp differences among the stakeholders. What is food security? The World Food Summit of 1996...
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