-Express News Service   The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the invocation of emergency clause by the Mayawati government to acquire private land for the construction of a district jail without hearing objections raised by the aggrieved land owners. “The series of events shows lethargy and lackadaisical attitude of the state government,” a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu observed against the manner in which the state government...

-Live Mint   Finally, a serious roadblock in the country’s march to industrialization may be removed soon. The Union ministry of rural development has unveiled a draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill. Once a law, LARR could potentially end arbitrary land acquisitions under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Any well-functioning market gives clear signals and prices are market-driven. The 1894 law with its ill-defined “public purpose” clause...

Not a comprehensive draft, says Medha Patkar The first major opposition to the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 will be in the form of a three-day dharna here beginning on Wednesday by the project-affected people. Various peoples' movements under the banner of SANGHARSH have decided to stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar protesting the new draft and demanding that the government come up with a comprehensive National...

-The Indian Express   The Punjab and Haryana High Court pulled up the Haryana government on Monday in connection with the acquisition of land for development of Sectors 58-63 in Gurgaon, which includes the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Ullahawas village. The case is slated to come up for hearing again tomorrow. Last week, the Haryana government had submitted that it would reconsider the acquisition of over 850 acres of land in Gurgaon,...

Vicky Nanjappa goes through Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde's explosive report on illegal mining in the state and reveals damning figures of corruption. A jaw-dropping Rs 12,228 crore worth of iron ore was illegally exported in a a span of four years (2006-2010), says Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde in his report released a couple of days back which led to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's exit. According to the report, which...