-The Economic Times   The government has amended its landmark Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to ensure that beneficiaries receive wage entitlements under the Act within 15 days through institutionalised channels, like banks and post offices. The amendment to Schedule II of the MGNREGA now makes it mandatory under the law for state governments to ensure that every beneficiary has a bank or post office account and the disbursements...

-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...

Tribal affairs minister K.C. Deo feels the draft land acquisition bill does not adequately protect the Scheduled Tribes’ rights in case they have to be displaced to a non-scheduled area. Deo told The Telegraph he would write to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh about this. “Tribal people enjoy constitutional protection in the scheduled areas. If they are displaced for a certain project and resettled outside the scheduled area, the question is whether...

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 newly-appointed Minister for Tribal AffairsKishore Chandra Deo, in an interview to ET, outlines the government's new strategy that focuses on prioritising addressing rights of tribals and forest dwellers as the pre-condition to development in remote and combating Left-wing extremism. Excerpts: There have been problems with the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, a landmark legislation of the UPA-I government. The problems have been to a great extent on account...