-The Business Standard   Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has called for fast tracking construction of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in Naxalite-affected districts. He said this will be the single most important rural development initiative that can significantly transform the ground-level situation in these districts. Ramesh said an additional Rs 15,000 crore was needed to complete all PMGSY projects covering areas with a population of 250 to...

The beneficiaries of the land reforms in West Bengal get pushed out of their land under the new regime. MOGHAI MUNDA is dead. No one is there to mourn him but his distraught parents and his young wife who seems to have lost her power of speech. But it is a significant death, even if it is ignored by the ubiquitous media and, therefore, by the world at large. Like the...

The foreword — to the Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 — that says “urbanisation is inevitable” (I.p.1) signifies danger. The Bill, if enacted in its present form, is likely to worsen, and not stop, displacement of tribal, Dalit and other backward communities. The Bill states: “The issue of who acquires land is less important than the process of land acquisition, compensation for land acquired and...

-The Hindu   The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday said the problem of communalism would remain until political parties “eschewed all forms” of communal politics and backed communal violence legislation. Suggesting the need for a law to combat communal violence, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told the National Integration Council (NIC) that the legislation should ensure swift punishment to perpetrators. He wanted the law to provide for compensation and rehabilitation of victims...

• Without a clear definition of ‘public purpose’, the land acquisition bill is meaningless • The bill’s definition of ‘fertile land’ can potentially harm the agriculture sector • Government’s role in defining land will create economic and political problems in future As Parliament debates this month it will, hopefully, move beyond issues of corruption in high places to important economic legislation. Two such pieces of legislation are the land acquisition bill and...