-The Telegraph   Children are not safe in school if there is a rally in this city. At least 45 children from a government-run New Alipore school, some of them barely 10 years old, were herded into a Matador van and sent to central Calcutta without their parents’ Consent. Some of them thought their children had been kidnapped when they arrived at Sahapur Mathuranath Vidyapeeth after hearing from people in the neighbourhood that many...

-IANS   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the draft land acquisition bill is a "political bill which strikes a balance between social benefit and economic growth" and gave the "entire credit" for it to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Referring to the recent agitations over land acquisition in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi made "key contributions" in the draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill,...

The UPA government's land acquisition bill was expected to fill gaps in the archaic 1894 act and streamline the process of land acquisition and ensure fair compensation to farmers and landowners. But even before the bill is introduced in Parliament murmurs of dissent are being heard. The Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, piloted by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, has drawn fire from critics for legitimizing purchase of vast tracts of land,...

-PTI   Industry body Ficci has suggested that the proposed land acquisition act should apply to the private companies only if they buy 500 acres of land or more, instead of the 100 acres as suggested in the draft law. "The industry feels the threshold of 100 acres is very low for projects, especially in rural areas and this may only encourage smaller and fragmented holdings particularly in the mining sector. Hence, this...

Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...