-The Deccan Chronicle   The approval by the Cabinet of the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation Bill is clearly meant to facilitate the acquisition of land in the mineral-rich districts of the country. Several large projects, including those of the richest non-resident Indian, Mr Lakshmi Mittal (Arcelor), and the South Korean giant Posco have been held up because of serious objections and protests from the affected tribal populations. The bill stresses on...

-The Times of India   The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill, cleared by the cabinet last week, signals that the government`s heart is in the right place. Under its provisions, coal firms must share 26% of their net profits with project area residents, while non-coal miners will have to provide them a sum equal to royalty paid to state governments. No system is in place at present to properly compensate...

-The Telegraph   Had it not been for a tub of hot water and a celebrated judge in England in 1949, Bengal’s Singur law may have found itself in legal hot water. Justice I.P. Mukerji, who delivered the Singur judgment, was guided by a 62-year-old English case that dealt with hot water supply by a landlord, according to the order issued on Wednesday. The Calcutta judge used the principle of “purposive interpretation”, which figured...

The Calcutta high court upheld the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act on Wednesday, saying that it was within the powers of West Bengal’s legislators to impose such a law, rejecting the challenge by Tata Motors Ltd over the seizure of land that was meant for its Nano factory. Justice I.P. Mukerji said in the judgement, however, that the Hooghly “district officials have exceeded their powers in taking possession of the...

The government is mulling a raft of incentives for special economic zone developers to encourage them to move away from urban centres and focus on economically backward regions. A senior official in the commerce ministry said SEZ developers might get wider tax concessions if they build economic hubs in underdeveloped areas. The government may also lower the minimum area ceiling to ease Land Acquisition by them, the official said. These incentives...