-The Hindu The parliamentary stand off over the Indian government's effort to ease procedures to acquire land for "public purposes" continues, with the government deciding to re-promulgate the ordinance amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Besides concern about the impact that this would have on the farming community and those dependent on it, another cause for the controversy is the...

-Tribune India Policy shift towards market-oriented management will hit marginal farmers hard There is unfolding of the policy of the NDA government towards agriculture. Contrary to election speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government has kept quiet about the Swaminathan Commission report about fixing the MSP of agricultural commodities at cost plus 50 per cent. At the same time, the government has given indication towards reduced FCI operations. It has been...

-The Financial Express The BJP's resounding Lok Sabha victory after years of policy paralysis raised a widely-shared hope that the government, led by PM Narendra Modi, will put India back on track by resuming inclusive growth. And that agriculture and rural development would be at the centre of the agenda. Half the employment still comes from agriculture, though it contributes just 14% to the GDP. India contains the largest number of...

-FirstPost.com One of the fears that has been raised in the aftermath of the government promulgating an ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act is that land will be taken away for other purposes and given that, the amount of land used for farming will come down dramatically. This is a very specious argument that is being made. Data from World Bank shows that around 60.3 percent of India's land area is...

-The Hindu For the land-acquirer, the land act ordinance tries to lessen the indirect price of acquisition and transaction by diluting requirements for social impact assessments and referenda. For the land-loser, it not only retains all forms of compensation and rehabilitation, but also grows the number of those eligible for lucrative pay-offs The government of India continues to search for the right way to do land acquisition. Last week, the Union Finance...