Exasperated with the public perception of its role, the Indian government appears keen to somehow abdicate its key sovereign function of making land available for economic development by dumping it on the private sector. This is wrong. The maintenance of up-to-date land records, the scientific identification of tracts for a shift from agricultural to non-agricultural uses and the smooth transfer of land assets are the functions of the sovereign. The...

-The Times of India   The state government on Monday took yet another step forward in ensuring smooth land acquisition for the mega Posco steel plant in Jagatsinghpur, assuring to fulfil certain demands of a pro-industry outfit having considerable clout in the project area. At a meeting in Cuttack, the revenue divisional commissioner (central range) Pradipta Mohapatra assured representatives of the United Action Committee (UAC) that the government would consider fulfiling...

-The Indian Express   Says the authority did not have specific plan for development in Greater Noida A day after annulling acquisition of nearly 157 hectares of land in Greater Noida, Allahabad High Court on Friday annulled acquisition of 72 hectares of land by the Greater Noida Authority in Surajpur village. Along with the recent cancellation of acquisition of more than 200 hectares of land as directed by the Supreme Court, this becomes...

The Tatas pulled out of Singur; the Salims of Indonesia out of Nandigram. What is still ticking is the Jindals’ Rs-35,000-crore, 10-million-tonne steel plant at Salboni. It has the potential to churn out the first industrial success story for whoever captures power in West Bengal after May 13. Along with the steel plant, a 1,000-MW power project to is coming up. At one point, Salboni had appeared to have the makings of...

A LEAFY VILLAGE in Kerala, Pathanpara, never found access to India’s electricity grid. That is why for the last several years, this village has been generating its own electricity. Raju, a dhoti-clad cashew nut farmer, operates Pathanpara’s five kilowatt (KW) micro hydropower plant. He lives in the village and earns a salary of Rs 2,250, paid by the People’s Electricity Committee (PEC). The power generated is shared equally by the village,...