-The Asian Age   The draft Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill being vetted by the Union law ministry maintains the 70:30 formula — a private developer has to acquire at least 70 per cent of the land, the remainder to be done by the government. This goes against the National Advisory Council proposal that the government acquire 100 per cent of land, while West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s stand is that...

The Union rural development ministry has retained in the draft of an amendment a partial government role in land acquisition for private investors, vetoing the diametrically conflicting views of Mamata Banerjee and a panel headed by Sonia Gandhi. The draft finalised by the ministry to amend the land acquisition act has stuck to the 70-30 formula under which the private investor is expected to buy at least 70 per cent of...

Land is contentious. With urbanisation and demand for non-agricultural use, coupled with lack of employment and skills for those in small-holder and subsistence-level agriculture, this is understandable. In western Europe, especially in Britain, and more especially in England, land markets were freed up before the Industrial Revolution and access to education and skills became more broad-based. We haven't introduced reforms that enable people to move out of agriculture, or diversify...

West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee moves closer to keeping her promise to return to ‘unwilling' farmers the land given to Tata Motors. WITH the passage of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got one step closer to keeping the promise made to the people of Singur that she would reclaim the land allocated to Tata Motors and return it to “unwilling” farmers (that...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government's programme of redistribution of the land to farmers which acquired by the previous government for Tata Motors' Nano car project at Singur in the state. The apex court asked the Calcutta High Court to decide within one month the legality of Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development (SLRD) Act which enables the state government to take back the land and...