Stating that Singur and Nandigram have taught lessons to the West Bengal government, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today demanded from the Centre a new legislation in place of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. "We have learnt a few lessons from Singur and Nandigram. We must have a new legislation as the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is out of sync," Bhattacharjee said. "We want a new law which will have issues like...

It approves 26 per cent share in profits for local people The draft bill proposes setting up of a fund to pay beneficiaries Final legislation likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament The Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday approved the new Mining Draft Bill, including the provision that mining companies share 26 per cent of profits with local people affected by their...

Mamata Banerjee today told Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee over the phone that she wanted the amended Land Acquisition Act to be sent to a standing committee, a move that will effectively delay its tabling till the Bengal elections are over next year. The Congress wants to table the bill in the winter session. “Given the sensitivity attached to land acquisition in Bengal, we don’t want to take any risk during the Assembly...

The government is likely to make it mandatory for mining companies to hand over a part of their revenues and make annual payments to land losers, bringing compensation rules in this sector in line with a policy followed by the Haryana government which has won the backing of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But in a sop to companies, which have been unenthusiastic about earlier plans for profit-sharing, the ministry of...

KEY TRENDS   • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...