Why we are doing this story     * Tribal lands are under pressure across India. In Orissa, they have been holding out against big corporates like Vedanta and Posco. *** From afar, the fumes rising from factory chimneys in Gujarat’s industrial belt make them seem like skyscrapers on fire. It’s a grey rust-and-chemicals stretch that they call, without irony, the Golden Corridor. It extends all the way from the north of Ahmedabad, through...

Mamata Banerjee has reintroduced an administrative structure to bring land and land reforms officials under the district administration’s “direct supervision” in a move aimed at injecting accountability and reining in staff close to the Left that had scrapped the system. The Jyoti Basu government had abolished the British-era structure in 1989, bringing in decentralisation but allowing Alimuddin Street to pack the department with chosen officials who would bypass the district administration...

-The Business Standard   Among the many initiatives and innovations being considered to improve returns to farming, the creation of producers’ companies deserves closer policy attention than has been the case so far. A farmers’ company, registered as a corporate entity with the registrar of companies, under the Companies Act, can help farm producers come together and derive economies of scope and scale. A group of farmers in Andhra Pradesh has reportedly...

-The Telegraph   Mamata Banerjee today said the draft land acquisition bill that Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh came to discuss with her tonight was “much better” than the previous one. “This draft is much better than the previous one. It has the correct approach. I have issues with one or two points. I will study it in detail and inform the Centre,” Mamata said after her 20-minute meeting with Ramesh at...

-The Hindu   Amid growing protests over land acquisition, the government on Wednesday indicated that it could re-visit the subject of land ceiling of 5,000 hectare for the special economic zones (SEZs) and the matter could be taken up by the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for policy changes. “Land issues are critical and I think the minimum size is something that needs to be looked at...