-The Indian Express In Gujarat, growth relies on indebtedness. And relegates development. The Gujarat pattern of development has often been arraigned from the left because of its social deficits. Indeed, the state's social indicators do not match its economic performance. With 23 per cent of its citizens living below the poverty line in 2010, Gujarat does better than the Indian average - 29.8 per cent - but it reduced this proportion by...

-The Indian Express   Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013. The proposed law, which will replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 that suffers from various shortcomings, including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced, stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent of landowners for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: There are no uniform rules for female employees in government departments and organizations and they are treated by varying yardsticks when it comes to essential benefits like maternity and child care leave (CCL). Dismayed after finding that maternity leave can vary from 90 to 135 days, a parliamentary panel has suggested that all government departments and organizations should ensure 180 days of leave for their women...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Land Acquisition Bill passed by the Lok Sabha, which is being hailed as "revolutionary" by some, may hit the industrialisation drive in the state where a number of projects are caught in land tangles. The proposed law, which makes consent of 80 per cent of landholders in the project area mandatory for land acquisition in the case of private projects, is likely to suit protesters who have been...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Higher education continues to be a mixed bag in the country. A countrywide education survey has found that the rate of attendance in the 20-24 age group (corresponding to graduation and above) has recorded the highest rates of growth in several decades. However, worryingly, the dropout rate has also kept pace. The survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 2009-10 was released...