-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitely may have made conciliatory trips to Kolkata and Chennai to shore up support for the ordinances to be tabled in Parliament in the budget session, but it has left the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the farmers' wing of the Sangh Parivar, unimpressed. The outfit has decided to take its agitation against the proposed amendments (cleared as an ordinance by the Union Cabinet last...
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Jairam Ramesh, former Rural Development Minister, speaks to Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee that the Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) opens the door for forcible acquisition and undermines the spirit and the substance of the legislation. Edited excerpts: * An oft-repeated argument given by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to justify bringing an Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) passed by your government is that many Congress-ruled states...
More »Across the Aisle: Stand up and be counted -P Chidambaram
-The Indian Express The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act), was not passed in a hurry. It was passed 60 years too late, but nearly unanimously with the support of the BJP. The main purpose of the LARR Act was to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (the old Act). The old Act was an oppressive colonial law that gave unbridled powers...
More »State power sans public reason -Yogendra Yadav
-The Hindu The government's reasoning that the land ordinance was meant to extend the benefit of the new law to various types of land acquisitions left uncovered so far is disingenuous Democracy is an exercise in public reason. Democratically elected governments cannot simply throw around the weight of their majority. They have a responsibility to offer good reasons for their decisions. And they must do so publicly. That is why we follow...
More »Low Productivity is Bane of Agriculture in India
-The New Indian Express The latest data from the World Bank shows that around 60.3 per cent of India's land area is agricultural. India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust established by the ministry of commerce and industry, confirms this. At 157.35 million hectares, India holds the second largest agricultural land, next only to the US. This should set at rest the fears that have been raised in the aftermath of the...
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