Pontius Pilate asked Christ, "What is truth?" and did not wait for an answer. In contrast 'what is civil society?' has provoked innumerable answers, descriptions and definitions. It is suffice to say that the term includes a large chunk of social groups outside the State and the group is much bigger than the small spectrum the media is focusing on. Much of India's law-making process has been outside the scrutiny of...
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Singur imbroglio by Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay
West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee moves closer to keeping her promise to return to ‘unwilling' farmers the land given to Tata Motors. WITH the passage of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got one step closer to keeping the promise made to the people of Singur that she would reclaim the land allocated to Tata Motors and return it to “unwilling” farmers (that...
More »Singur Bill passed amid Opposition walkout
-The Hindu This Bill is for meting out justice to people who have been wronged: Mamata The West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday passed by Voice Vote the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, even as the Opposition led by Sura Kanta Mishra of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), staged a walkout saying that they could not accept a Bill which would grant only leaseholds and not ownerships, create a...
More »Pullout a painful decision: Tata Motors
-The Hindu Tata Motors on Tuesday said it would take appropriate steps after studying the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, which pertains to the plot leased by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to the company and its vendors. The Bill was passed by the Assembly by Voice Vote amid Opposition walkout earlier in the day. Tata Motors said it was an immensely painful decision for it to pull...
More »Rough draft of a bill by MR Madhavan
The joint committee for drafting the Lokpal bill has, among other things, brought much attention to lawmaking itself. What indeed is the process of enacting a law? And what therein are the points of engagement with citizens and civil society? A government bill may be introduced by a minister, and a private member bill by any member of Parliament. We focus here on government bills, as private member bills have rarely...
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