-India Today   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh's pet land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Bill, 2011 has run into major roadblocks in the parliamentary standing committee. Various stakeholders, including farmers' organisations, NGOs and legal experts contend that in its present form, the Bill is an empty shell that exempts 90 per cent major development projects - highways, nuclear plants, mines, SEZs et al-in the name of which, land is being acquired across...

-The Telegraph   Law minister Salman Khurshid today unveiled a slew of Bills to be taken up in Parliament’s winter session to demonstrate the government’s commitment to fighting graft, other than the Lokpal Bill that he said would address the “concerns of the common man”. The whistle-blowers’ bill, sports bill and the judicial accountability Bills are among those on the agenda, the minister told a news conference in the run-up to the session...

Good sections of rural India don’t want NREGA any more, showing the government spending pattern on the scheme. Since a large percentage of the village labourers have moved to the cities, it makes far better sense to develop an unemployment dole for them. The subtext is an accounting arrangement that ensures that like NREGA, the government can keep on rolling out similar entitlement programmes like the proposed Food Security Act, but...

-IANS   The government on Wednesday said it is determined to pass the Lokpal bill as it unveiled its agenda for the winter session of parliament that includes a slew of anti-corruption legislations apart from the ambitious food security bill. Apart from Lokpal, other anti-corruption Bills slated for consideration and passing in the winter session include whistle blower protection bill and judicial standards and accountability bill. Talking to mediapersons, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar...

-The Telegraph   The government has listed the Lokpal bill for discussion and passage during the winter session of Parliament but has failed to line up the land acquisition bill though an unscheduled introduction is not ruled out. Both Bills had gone to House standing committees around the same time after the monsoon session of Parliament, and both hold electoral significance for the Congress. Failure to get the Lokpal bill passed in the November...