-The Hindu India cannot continue with a pattern of industry that yields so few jobs but has such a large ecological footprint. Neither can it be excited by the urban nightmares that its cities are today. The land law debate must be the occasion to talk about these key national agendas The current debate on the land law is important because it affords us a chance to reflect more deeply on the...

-DNA 38 districts under Green Revolution II affected by slow poison Indian government's ambitious project Green Revolution-II (GR-II) to promote growing rice in the Eastern states of India is bringing arsenic to your plates. As many as 38 districts spreading across six states out of the seven states where the scheme is being implemented are reported to be affected by arsenic. These states are Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand...

-The Indian Express The political discourse over land acquisition has proceeded in binary terms - industry versus farmer, growth versus no growth - thereby obfuscating the real issue at the heart of the land acquisition debate: the fear of arbitrary exercise of state power in reshaping property relations in Indian society. Instead of tweaking the 2015 land acquisition bill with a few amendments here and there to appease political allies and...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre is weighing what appears a never-used parliamentary option to be able to re-promulgate the land acquisition ordinance before it lapses - having two budget sessions instead of a two-leg one. Ordinarily, the budget session is conducted in two halves, separated by a one-month recess. The first leg this year was to end on March 20 and the second leg to begin on April 20 and continue...

-The Hindu The Parliamentary Standing Committee called for a review of the Bill following fears expressed by civil society A Parliamentary Standing Committee has taken on board civil society's apprehensions of treating 16-to-18-year-olds as adults in cases of heinous crimes, and called for a review of this provision in The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014, introduced in the Lok Sabha in August. This amendment to the JJ Act is...