-The Hindu Left parties to press for referring land acquisition bill to panel VISAKHAPATNAM: Continuing her tirade against attempts by the UPA Government to adopt the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, in Parliament without addressing the concerns expressed by many, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Sunday accused Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh of dancing to the tune of the corporate lobby. At a seminar on ‘Tribal...

-The Indian Express The proposed land bill will make transactions fairer and encourage optimal use of the resource In this session, Parliament will take up the necessary and long-delayed Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill. Both major parties have worked out a consensus on the features of the bill. As with any compromise between different interest groups, the bill does not please everyone perfectly, but it finally sets down reasonable terms for...

-Frontline PESA, which is seen as an enabling law for tribal self-governance, is violated brazenly by both the Union government and State governments in the name of development. SINCE October 2012, the Ministry of Rural Development of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has apparently been engaged in an exercise to evolve a "National Land Reforms Policy". Over these months, the Ministry wrote to various State governments, highlighting the importance of...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: Bengal is sitting on a powder keg. And the fuse could well have been lit on Friday as a 33-year-old agent of Saradha Group, a chit fund company that has gone bust, committed suicide being unable to pay his depositors while over 3,000 agents laid siege to chief minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in protest against the lockdown. The turn of events has triggered fears of a repeat...

-The Telegraph The Left today said a degree of consent should be obtained even for land acquisition for public purpose and demanded the land acquisition bill be sent back to a parliamentary committee and not taken up for passage. "The present bill says there is no need for consent of those affected if land is acquired for government purpose. We are opposed to it. We feel a degree of consent is needed...