-Live Mint The current policy on compensating landowners could adversely affect character of India’s future growth The Parliament is currently considering a land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Bill (LARR Bill), as are various state legislatures. These are likely to affect the pace and character of future growth in India in a significant way.  Setting up new industries, service establishments and real estate development will inevitably require land to be acquired from rural areas....

-The Times of India Hooked to organic food for its supposed health benefits? Here's some food for thought. In the largest analysis of studies till date on organic food, researchers from Stanford University have said there is "little evidence of healthier benefits from organic food over those grown conventionally". The researchers found no difference in protein or fat content between organic and conventional milk. No consistent differences were also seen in the...

-The Hindu A key breakthrough emerging from a critical multi-stakeholder meeting held here on Tuesday on Internet censorship and legitimate state restrictions during crisis situations was that the government should itself use the Internet and social media to counter hate speech with comfort speech. Hate speech on social media has been blamed for triggering riots in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Mumbai two weeks ago. The participants, who included DoT Secretary R. Chandrashekhar,...

-The Times of India INDORE: Only one-fourth of the applicants filing RTI before the central information commission (CIC) get the information as required by them, if one goes by the study conducted by an Indore-based RTI activist,Anuradha Verma. She is currently associated with Indian Institute of Management (Indore) as an RTI consultant and runs a site www.rtifoundationofindia.com.  The study reveals that nearly one-third of the applicants get only a part of the...

-People's Democracy IT seems the Sheila Dixit government of Delhi, backed by powerful elements in the UPA-2 central government, will let nothing stand in the way of water privatisation in the capital. Several earlier attempts going back many years to fully or partially privatise distribution of water, especially the big loan application to the World Bank in 2005, were foiled by vigilant community organisations, public interest groups, trade unions and political...