-The Indian Express The ambitious Rs 5,500 crore proposal to issue resident identity cards to the entire population above 18 years of age under the National Population Register — which in the past had clashed with the Aadhaar scheme under UIDAI on ground that they had similar objectives — on Thursday failed to find Cabinet approval following which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh referred it to a Group of Ministers (GoM). Cabinet ministers...

-The Economic Times A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) recommendation for a 10% increase in urea prices notwithstanding, the fertiliser ministry is in no mood to bite the bullet. The ministry has categorically said in a note that it opposes the recommendation and that there should be no price revision. The Cabinet has been deferring a price raise for the last six months due to the fertiliser ministry's opposition. The government has been...

-Frontline The Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is an attempt to circumvent the hurdles before acquisition, such as rehabilitation of land losers, without much increasing the cost of land. THE preamble to the draft Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (LARR) Bill is very noble; it talks about a “humane, informed, consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance...

-The Hindu The Land Acquisition Bill, which strengthens landowners’ rights during acquisition for development, has finally received the nod of the Union Cabinet, and is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the final week of the winter session. The final version of the bill was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday, more than a year after Parliament sent the earlier avatar to a Standing Committee. In the months since, the bill...

-Frontline Maharashtra’s sugarcane farmers are a worried lot as the State government backs out from the sugar pricing process.  Sangli & Kolhapur: KOLHAPUR and Sangli districts in Maharashtra form the heartland of Indian sugar industry. This time of year is generally the busiest, with itinerant labourers cutting sugarcane and loading it on to tractors that roar off to the more than 20 sugar factories in the two districts. In November and December,...