-The Hindu Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may be sleeping easy as she has "settled all the issues at hand" on the Saradha scam. Saradha Group promoter Sudipto Sen has been booked and a Rs. 500-crore kitty has been created to make refunds to the depositors. However, no one is clear just how the refunds would be made and whether existing laws permit it. Mr. Sen's bubble may have burst. But the travails...
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Pass the land bill: Now that consensus has been reached, don't delay it
-The Times of India The broad consensus finally reached by major political parties on the land acquisition Bill is a major breakthrough. The Bill, if passed, will bring transparency to the land acquisition process, help clear investor uncertainty and hopefully improve the supply of land for development. The break in the stalemate was made possible by a flexible approach of the government, which incorporated proposals of opposition parties. This is a...
More »Land 'grabs' expand to Europe as big business blocks entry to farming-John Vidal
-The Guardian Land rights not just issue for developing world as report shows public subsidies help a few firms 'grab' vast tracts of EU land Vast tracts of land in Europe are being "grabbed" by large companies, speculators, wealthy foreign buyers and pension funds in a similar way to in developing countries, according to a major new report. Chinese corporations, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth and hedge funds, as well as Russian oligarchs and...
More »A tainted tradition-Raksha Kumar
-The Hindu Natpurwa is a village where women have been forced into prostitution for centuries. And one of them is determined to help the others break free. Round faced, stout and dusky, Chandralekha, at age 15, was the most desired girl among the politicians, policemen and senior members of Eastern Uttar Pradesh’s civil society. “They always wanted plump women,” says Chandralekha, now 51 years old. Chandralekha was pushed into prostitution, by her...
More »Police register cases against anti-Posco agitators after semi-nude protest
-PTI Two days after the semi-nude protest by anti-Posco agitators, Odisha police have registered a case against three women and president of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) Abhaya Sahu on charge of obscenity in public. "The case has been registered at Abhaychandpur police station under section 294 (a) and other sections of the IPC," Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said on Saturday, adding that appropriate action will be initiated against the...
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