The rural development ministry has put out a draft of the proposed National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) bill for public comment. There is no doubt it is a big improvement on the 1894 colonial law that was long overdue for repeal; in particular, it is intended to be far more farmer-friendly. Yet, in several respects the Bill is patently inadequate, both in its objectives and the mechanics...

A set of well-thumbed photographs are being passed around by protestors gathered outside the Sukma post office in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. The first is passport-sized, of a well-built, thirty year old man called Madkami Massa in a pale blue shirt smiling into the camera, the other grainier image shows Mr. Massa's contorted corpse on a white slab – his right arm severed at the elbow, his chest pierced by a...

‘The first bullet was from the back, and then he was shot again' Even as the police continue to claim that Moreshwar Sathe was not killed in a ‘fake encounter' in Tuesday's protests by farmers, two eyewitnesses told The Hindu on Friday that the police fired at him from a distance of just three feet. Vasantrao Garade and Anil Tupe from this village revealed in vivid details the incidents before and after...

Reacting to the bandh in West Bengal called on Friday by various trade unions in support of a demand for wage revision of tea garden workers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would ban general strikes in the state by enacting a law. Banerjee reacted sharply to the strike that caused major disruptions in public life in Jalpaiguri, Terai and Dooars region. “In the name of bandh, hooliganism is going...

-NDTV   A latest report on the Adarsh Society scam indicts two former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and names some top Army officers for flouting norms. The report, prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), was tabled in Parliament today. It says, "Maximum concessions were given to the Adarsh Housing Society when Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde were chief ministers. Mr Shinde was the Chief Minister when wrong environment clearance was...