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...
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Not a grain of truth by Samar Halarnkar
Exaggeration. Exaggeration. Exaggeration. I was subjected to this tiresome litany from various angry officials and a couple of politicians after one of their colleagues — who will remained unnamed — leaked to me the perilous state of India’s granaries and the rotting foodgrain within. On July 26, I reported how 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and rice had rotted away, unfit even for animals; how 17.8 million tonnes, enough to feed...
More »‘Allow institutions with better capacity to handle food distribution'
Rotting grain violate the sanctity of food and the people's right to it, Navdanya, an NGO, said here on Tuesday. Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that distribution of free grain would be anti-farmer, the NGO said that, on the contrary, farmers who were ready to harvest their kharif crop would be hurt if the government did not procure enough because it lacked adequate storage facilities. “If the government is unable to...
More »Food security — by definition by P Sainath
Maharashtra ended famine forever by passing an Act that deleted the word ‘famine' from all laws of the State. Maybe the government, the National Advisory Council and other assorted enthusiasts of the Food Security Bill can learn from Maharashtra about moving towards ending hunger altogether. In 1963, the government of Maharashtra ended famine forever in the State. It did this without adding a morsel to anyone's diet. It did so simply by...
More »Reluctant migrants by Mahim Pratap Singh
Bolangir district in Orissa, facing drought conditions since 1965, sees an annual mass migration of farmers to other States in search of work. SURESH GOHIR of Bhotapada village in the backward Bolangir district of Orissa consumed pesticide two years ago after his paddy crop failed. He survived the suicide attempt but found life doubly difficult as debt had mounted. Suresh was forced to migrate to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in search of...
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