-Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi: At a time when MPs are not seen to take their legislative business seriously - the last session was an exception - the younger MPs seem to be slowly making their mark and impact in the Lok Sabha. Cutting across party lines, young members have scored higher on many fronts, especially attendance which was higher for them than the overall average. Meenakshi Natrajan, the Congress MP from Mandsaur...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has slapped a Rs 200-crore fine on the Adani Group's Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone for damaging mangroves, creeks and the local environment at the project site. The company's shares fell 6.4%. The penalty was recommended by a committee headed by Sunita Narain, director general of Centre for Science and Environment, set up by the environment ministry. The report was submitted to environment...

-The Indian Express   Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013. The proposed law, which will replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 that suffers from various shortcomings, including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced, stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent of landowners for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects...

-The Hindu     Report points to a serious dereliction of duty by many of the institutions involved Health activists have appreciated the Parliamentary Standing Committee's report on the "Alleged Irregularities in the Conduct of Studies Using Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine by PATH in India." They commended "its candid, transparent contents, which reflect the committee's acknowledgement of the unethical nature of the HPV trials'' conducted in the country. In the trials, Program for Appropriate...

-The Business Standard The process prescribed in the law is so cumbersome and time consuming that neither industry nor landowner will benefit Fast economic growth in the last two decades has increased demand for land from many sources, such as infrastructure, industry, mining, and urbanisation, including real estate. Even when these activities are funded privately and are driven by profit motive, they serve a social purpose since employment generation per unit of...