-The Indian Express Digitisation of land records is a big step forward. Now to start guaranteeing titles While landlords across the country, several million of whom prefer to keep their houses locked up instead of renting them out, will cheer the cabinet clearance for the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, the even bigger change relates to the digitisation of land records. The real estate bill allows for the setting up of...

-The Economic Times Heaps of dusty files continue to grow in government buildings and sensitive papers are mysteriously lost, leaked or dramatically reduced to ashes in fires while the six-year-old plan to modernise and digitise governance remains tied up in what it should eliminate - red tape. The latest casualty was the Union home ministry, where a fire was reported on Sunday, days after a blaze engulfed Mumbai's Mantralaya, killing people and...

-The Hindu   One lakh LIG/EWS housing units to be ready in three years Delhi Development Authority vice-chairman G. S. Patnaik on Tuesday reaffirmed the Authority's intention to deliver one lakh housing units for low-income and economically weaker sections of society within three years. He said construction of 20,040 EWS houses using prefab-technology was progressing and he expected to deliver 8,000 of these units in 2012. Mr. Patnaik said that 12,000 demand letters were...

-The Times of India   The unveiling of the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is better late than never. All over India, industrialisation and infrastructure are hobbled by land-related strife. Whether it's Singur in Bengal or anti-Posco protests in Orissa, such stirs are impeding development and spooking investors. Bringing in a set of predictable rules - any rules - is welcome in such a context. The Bill...

U.S. President Barack Obama's interaction with the inhabitants of Kanpura village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan through video-conferencing on Sunday gave him a glimpse of the information technology revolution in rural India that extends the benefits of modern technology and services to the grassroots to improve the quality of people's lives. Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot led the rural group during the 10-minute interface at the...