The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...

When the National Rural Employment Guarantees Scheme (NREGS) was announced, the idea of having ombudsmen to oversee the rollout of the scheme to prevent corruption was also mooted. Now, when India is in the grip of a furious debate on the appointment of a Lok Pal and his jurisdiction, the concept of a Lok Pal for NREGS appears to have been forgotten. The ombudsmen were to be selected by a committee of...

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...

The Lokpal is designed to be a comprehensive anti-corruption institution independent of the government, empowered to effectively investigate corruption of all public servants. But most of the critical elements in this vision have been rejected. The latest draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on hydrocarbon production sharing contracts and the transfer of oilfields to Reliance is only the latest of the mega scams to surface in...

-The Economic Times   The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to furnish its stand on the provisions of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers ) Act applicable to the disturbed areas of the country. The ruling came in view of the government's divergent views on the controversial issue of the immunity granted to Army and para-military personnels from criminal prosecutions in certain conditions like fake encounter cases in such areas....