-The Hindustan Times A day after a parliamentary panel sought to end state intervention in land acquisition for industry — both private and PPP, two cabinet ministers expressed their disagreement with its main recommendation. “State governments must have a role in land acquisition process — more so at a time when industrialisation and urbanisation have become inevitable and desirable,” minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh said. “Country has not yet reached...

Cabinet clears change in divorce law: Women to get part of husband’s property In a move that could be a setback to land acquisition for commercial use, a parliamentary committee unanimously recommended that the government should not acquire land for industrial, commercial or for-profit enterprises or private companies. Instead, the panel, which has proposed legislation favouring landowners, recommends that private companies and public-private partnerships would have to buy land in the open...

-The Telegraph Mamata Banerjee’s suggestion that the government should keep away from land acquisition for private industry has got the backing of a parliamentary standing committee, which has suggested that private enterprises buy plots on their own. The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, which was introduced in Parliament last year by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, had laid down that the government could acquire land only for a “public...

-The Times of India A parliamentary panel has recommended that government keep away from land purchase for private parties, contrary to the provision made in the pending land acquisition bill, striking at the heart of the Centre's plan to facilitate acquisition for industry and townships with better compensation. The standing committee's blanket bar on acquisition for private bodies, including Public Private Partnership for projects defined as public purpose, strikes down the clause...

The proposed criminalisation of consensual sex between youngsters in the 16-18 age group is seen as regressive and in denial of social realities. THE minimum age for consensual sex has been raised from 16 to 18 in the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, recently approved by the Union Cabinet. If approved by Parliament, this will make sexual activity with a person below 18 a criminal offence,...