-The Indian Express Seeking to give the credit for the fresh and more all-encompassing title of the new Land Acquisition Act to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said Sunday it was Gandhi who suggested the title of the Bill. Both Houses of Parliament passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill last week. The new Act replaces the over a century old Land...

-The Hindu "Doing away with Social Impact Assessment for irrigation projects not acceptable" The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) on Wednesday hit out at the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance charging them with "colluding" to dilute some of the progressive provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013. Alleging a "quid pro quo" between the UPA and the NDA for...

-The Business Standard The process prescribed in the law is so cumbersome and time consuming that neither industry nor landowner will benefit Fast economic growth in the last two decades has increased demand for land from many sources, such as infrastructure, industry, mining, and urbanisation, including real estate. Even when these activities are funded privately and are driven by profit motive, they serve a social purpose since employment generation per unit of...

-Frontline Riding roughshod over farmers' concerns, the Gujarat government notifies a project to develop the Mandal-Becharaji Special Investment Region, an industrial hub spread over 50,884 hectares, affecting 44 villages. But the villagers see it as a real estate scam and are determined to resist it. GUJARAT may soon have several new townships. The Narendra Modi-led government has proposed to set up 13 special investment regions (SIRs), which are essentially industrial hubs...

-Tehelka.com The Sen-Bhagwati ‘debate' on economic policy is focussing on the wrong issues Several things are quite remarkable about the recent debate between Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Jagdish Bhagwati. The first surprise is that such a debate could become a major news item at all, making headlines and filling screen time on news channels, when it is about economic strategies that are normally discussed only in relatively small academic and policy...