-Down to Earth UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections WITH most of its recent schemes struggling, a desperate UPA government is pinning its hopes on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to win votes in 2014 elections. The government is overhauling the employment scheme that helped it return to power in 2009 for a reason. It touches the lives of over 55 per cent...

-The Free Press Journal Forced evictions to become history after 120 years New Delhi: The New Year ushered a new law replacing the 120-year old Land Acquisition Act 1894, ending to the government's powers of forcible acquiescing and assuring appropriate compensation to farmers with transparency. The Rural Development Ministry on Wednesday notified the rules framed under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act to bring...

-The Hindustan Times Many ongoing projects including housing and industries will brace for an escalation in costs as the new land law has come into force on Wednesday. The much-touted Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement law-that provides four times hike in rural land price-will apply to all projects where compensations are yet to be given for land acquisition. Industries like the housing or hotels will be forced to...

-The Indian Express The UPA government's ambitious Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act was notified on Tuesday, and will come into effect from January 1 next year. The rules to the Act, however, are yet to finalised. The Act, which replaces the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, has sought to correct the low rates of compensation under the old Act by providing compensation of up to...

-PTI Uttar Pradesh government files status report on Muzaffarnagar violence in the Supreme Court Uttar Pradesh government has informed the Supreme Court that over 41,000 persons, out of 50,955 who had taken shelter in 58 relief camps in riots-hit Muzaffarnagar area, have gone back to their native places. A fresh status report, filed by Divisional Commissioner of Saharanpur, however, admitted that nearly 10,000 persons are still living in 10 operational camps and the...