Amidst growing land acquisition rows across the country, the Supreme Court today suggested the government come out with a “reasonable compensation policy” to meet the genuine grievances of land owners. A vacation bench of justices G. S. Singhvi and C. K. Prasad felt if a proper monetary compensation policy was evolved by the government the frequent disputes over acquisition of lands by government would not arise. “We think if the state formulates...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged the government to negotiate compensation with farmers before acquiring land for development purposes because paying a "pittance" caused heart burn. The court told additional solicitor general P P Malhotra to "advise the government to set up a committee to negotiate and fix a settled price for land because at a time when land prices are increasing manifold, the government cannot pay them a pittance"....

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.” This quote by US President Ronald Reagan summarises the significance attributed to facts, figures and data and the need to make them freely available across servers and bandwidths. In this age of internet and mobile networks, the amount of information available to us is far more than...

The agriculture ministry has decided to drastically reduce the number of central schemes after it found that most of its schemes, barring a few like the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), have become redundant. The farm ministry thinks only 10 of the 51 existing schemes should be sufficient to take care of the sector. The total outlay for agriculture schemes is 15,034 crore. "It is true that many of our 51 schemes...

It's early morning in rural Rajasthan and the sun is already burning. Only the brave have ventured out into the harsh, radiating heat. At the dusty Kanpura village, farmers are hard at work, grading their harvest. But the dry, still air is slowing them down. For Jeevan Ram Kharol, selling his produce is the only source of income. Last year, the drought brought him no returns. Now he's hoping the harvest will...