-The Telegraph   The Mamata Banerjee government today struck at the foundations of a crony real estate network that allegedly flourished during the reign of CPM leader Gautam Deb and was spreading its reach by co-opting operators from the Opposition as well. The government disbanded the authority that had arranged the land for Vedic Village, abolished the Hidco chairman’s quota for distribution of plots and decided to review all New Town land...

-The Times of India   The state government on Monday took yet another step forward in ensuring smooth land acquisition for the mega Posco steel plant in Jagatsinghpur, assuring to fulfil certain demands of a pro-industry outfit having considerable clout in the project area. At a meeting in Cuttack, the revenue divisional commissioner (central range) Pradipta Mohapatra assured representatives of the United Action Committee (UAC) that the government would consider fulfiling...

A state government announces it is going to acquire land for 'public purpose'. The public purpose is to hand over the land to a specific private company. It decides to do so through one of its corporations claiming there is urgency – which helps override any legal objections from the landowners. Everyone in the region and the state government knows who the land is intended for – Posco -- but...

-The Times of India   The district administration's attempt to acquire land for a city centre has run into a major row with farmers refusing to part with their land. On Saturday, an SDM and a police officer, who had gone to the village to sort out the issue, were confined for hours by villagers in Chandauli. They managed to reach the district headquarters in the evening. Though Chandauli district magistrate Vijay...

Allegation that Ansari was killed by Naxalites is a ploy: report NEW DELHI: Debunking claims of the Jharkhand government, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has called for a CBI inquiry into the murder of whistle-blower Niyamat Ansari charging that there was an attempt to cover up the murder. It called for “serious action” against Latehar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rahul Purwar for alleged dereliction of duty and failure to prevent funds...