-The Indian Express With the Tata Motors fiasco still reverberating across India Inc and political circles across the country, Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal has initiated steps to welcome another automaker by handing over land - this time a foreign one - albeit not for production but for a stockyard. The move is surprising also as Maruti was gung-ho about land in Narendra Modi's Gujarat and not much was known about negotiations in...

-The Economic Times The central government has banned states from allowing sale or export of iron ore by companies granted mining leases for own steel production. "The entire ore produced in the mining operation (of captive mines) shall be used exclusively for own consumption in iron or steel making and cannot be either sold in India or exported to other countries," the mines ministry said in an order issued on September...

-The Telegraph The Planning Commission has proposed a separate quota for single women in central schemes instead of clubbing them under the larger “family” category as is done now. If the move is cleared, even women who have never married will be included under the head “single”, along with widows and divorcees. “Not much progress could be made in this direction (towards having a separate category). This can be attributed to two factors....

-PTI Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and six other states having literacy levels less than the national average will get enhanced Central share under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme, with the Planning Commission approving a proposal to this effect. These states will be getting funds in the ratio of 75:25 as against the existing ratio of 65:35. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will also be included along with the northeastern states where funding...

-The Telegraph New Delhi/Ranchi, Sept. 20: Land reforms and revenue minister Mathura Prasad Mahto today accused Bihar government of not handing over 82,000 land maps of 32,615 villages in jharkhand even though the new state was carved out in 2000. At the state revenue ministers’ conference titled Modernisation of Land Records, Mahto, in the presence of Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh, said jharkhand had taken up the issue with Bihar...