-Live Mint The much-awaited land acquisition Bill seems to be in jeopardy with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government rejecting a parliamentary standing committee’s suggestion the government should not acquire land for public-private-partnership (PPP) projects. But it has accepted that land procured for special economic zones (SEZs) and some defence projects cannot be exempted from the purview of a land acquisition Bill and promised to amend other laws pertaining to purchase...

-The Hindu From now on, damage to crops due to extreme cold or frost will be considered a natural calamity and the affected farmers will be eligible for financial relief from the National disaster Response Fund (NDRF) or the State disaster Response Fund (SDRF). The Union Cabinet, at a meeting on Thursday, approved the recommendation of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Drought to this effect. So far, crops damaged in natural...

-The Hindu The perils of the system of rat-hole mining that thousands in Meghalaya routinely engage in were in stark focus over the past week. After a fruitless search that yielded no survivors or bodies in a flooded coal pit in the South Garo Hills, a rescue team of the National disaster and Rescue Force has called off its operations. This means the 15 miners who were believed trapped underground are...

-PTI Leading IT-based companies have queued up to bid for a government's proposed state-of-the-art call centre aimed at providing greater access to host of services under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Officials in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said many private firms have expressed interest in the proposal. Encouraged by the usage of the transparency law, the DoPT has proposed a 'RTI Call Centre and Portal Project' to make the...

A cure for India’s health care ills is within reach provided there is political will In most developed — and many developing — countries today, a 12-year school education and universal health coverage (UHC) are the two primary responsibilities of the state. India has failed miserably on both counts. Let us look at some of the problems of medical and health care: • Fifty years ago, when there was no commercialisation of...