The West Bengal govt's role as a non-market intermediary in an essentially private land transaction is questionable The West Bengal government has passed a new legislation that transfers the land back to those who refused to accept the compensation that they were offered during the acquisition of their lands for the Tata Nano factory. The Tata group has promptly gone to court claiming that this is an unconstitutional Act. Surely one...

Ensuring food security to all is one of India’s top policy agendas today. Given a large mass of poverty in the country, it is not surprising and no one would perhaps disagree with the need to achieve this as soon as possible. But the varied policy instruments that can be used towards achieving this goal draw sharp differences among the stakeholders. What is food security? The World Food Summit of 1996...

The government is returning to a 1970s mentality. This mentality used a presumptive distrust of citizens as an excuse for enhancing state power. It sought accountability, not through intelligently designed transparency norms, but greater discretionary power in state officials. And finally, it sought to curb citizens’ freedoms, not by directly assaulting them, but by embedding them in a structure of regulation that deters free expression. This mentality connects three recent sets...

The government's move to make tax evasion a criminal offence has drawn strong criticism from former policymakers and commentators, who say if such a move is implemented it will hurt economic activity, undo years of tax reforms and increase harassment. A panel headed by Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman Prakash Chandra, which held its first meeting on Thursday, will examine the proposal. The proposal appears to have been made because...

Roadblocks Ahead     * The MIDC has been winding up its plans to set up SEZs     * As many as 28 SEZ proposals, in the government and private sector, were withdrawn or projects denotified in the last six months     * Farmer protests, land acquisition problems, economic downturn and non-feasible tax regimes are cited as reasons for developers backing out. CM Prithviraj Chavan too exercises great caution. *** Mandated to create industrial opportunities in...