-The Hindu Allow Parliament to function smoothly, President tells ruling party and Opposition New Delhi: In an apparent expression of displeasure over the spate of ordinances recently issued by the Narendra Modi government, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday asked the ruling as well as opposition parties to find out a "workable" solution to ensure the smooth running of Parliament. "The ordinance route cannot be taken, should not be taken, for normal legislation," Mukherjee...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitely may have made conciliatory trips to Kolkata and Chennai to shore up support for the ordinances to be tabled in Parliament in the budget session, but it has left the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the farmers' wing of the Sangh Parivar, unimpressed. The outfit has decided to take its agitation against the proposed amendments (cleared as an ordinance by the Union Cabinet last...

-Business Standard Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee that the Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) opens the door for forcible acquisition and undermines the spirit and the substance of the legislation. Edited excerpts: * An oft-repeated argument given by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to justify bringing an Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) passed by your government is that many Congress-ruled states...

-The Indian Express The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act), was not passed in a hurry. It was passed 60 years too late, but nearly unanimously with the support of the BJP. The main purpose of the LARR Act was to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (the old Act). The old Act was an oppressive colonial law that gave unbridled powers...

-The Economic Times CHANDIGARH: The Supreme Court has said that the recent ordinance on land acquisition is prospective in nature, holding that delays owing to litigation are to be counted to the benefit of landowners and going against state governments owing to the absence of specific language to this effect. The court also said the benefit given to landowners is a "statutory right" and "cannot be taken away by an ordinance by...