-The Hindu   The Uttar Pradesh government's new land acquisition policy, announced in the face of farmers' protests and impending elections, is a significant improvement over existing practices. It is sounder than the amendments to the central Act proposed by the UPA government, which have been awaiting enactment since 2007. Poor compensation calculated on rates based on the pre-development phase, a lack of consultation, and cumbersome procedures have marred the whole...

The Mamata Banerjee government is working on an amendment to the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to enable the return of 400 acres in Singur to farmers who were “unwilling” to part with the land. The proposed Land Acquisition Act (Amendment) Bill 2011, which is likely to be placed in the Assembly after it convenes on June 24, will have three clauses under the head “Section 48A”. The first allows the government...

-The Hindustan Times   About 500 activists of five political parties including CPI, CPM, Forward Block, Samajwadi Party and RJD on Monday courted arrest here protesting against land acquisition for Korean steel company Posco’s $12 billion (Rs 54,000) steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district. “People who have been staying in the area for generations have been termed by the state government as encroachers. The real encroacher is the state government, which...

-The Hindu   Drawing attention to the situation in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa, where villagers are peacefully opposing forcible acquisition of their private and forest lands by the Orissa Government for South Korean steel major Posco's project, a report titled “Tearing through the water landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of Psco project in Orissa, India” was released here on Tuesday. “People have been against industrialisation of their land since November...

Brushing aside protests from a section of landowners, a determined district administration today stepped up its land acquisition drive in Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats. Simultaneously, the authorities also worked out strategies for taking up the drive in the Dhinkia gram panchayat, the nerve-centre of anti-Posco movement. “The land acquisition process was peaceful barring a few cases where people expressed unwillingness but we managed to prevail over them,” said special land acquisition...