The government's acquisition of land for projects has been facing protests across the country, the violence in Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] being only the latest. As people's power collides with public projects, MR Madhavan explains what land acquisition is all about What is Land Acquisition? Land acquisition is the process by which the government forcibly acquires private property for public purpose without the consent of the land-owner. It is thus...

What is rural and what is urban is largely an artefact of definition and relative. See the table below. Most of India's 'rural' population resides in villages that contain between 500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some argue that in other countries, many of these villages would be classified as urban. These studies point out that if India were to be a little more liberal in its definition of urban areas (minimum...

Like the majority of India's children, the Right to Education (RTE) Act has completed its first year facing malnourishment, neglect and routine criticism. A year after it was notified as law, the right to elementary education remains a dream. The law provides a 5-year window to its implementation but the dream it legislates looks as elusive now as it did when this countdown started. While one important clause is facing...

If the problems are macro, think micro. That seems to have been the guiding principle for Lekha-Mendha, the Maharashtra village that last month became the first in India to win the right to grow, harvest and sell bamboo. Such rights are the key goal of a five-year-old central law which aims to give tribal communities control over some resources of the jungles they live in. “There is no point in looking out...

Around 20 people were arrested on Thursday for allegedly trying to obstruct the process of land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel plant near Paradip. Activists of United Action Committee (UAC), who earlier backed the mega project, were taken into custody as they blocked the entry route to Gada Kujanga opposing land acquisition work, resumed after nine months on Wednesday, police said. "About 20 people were arrested after effort to persuade...