-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government showed great speed in promulgating an ordinance to push through the Land Acquisition Act, but an investigation by HT reveals that thousands of hectares of land acquired by the government is lying unused in several states. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh top the list of states where land acquired even decades ago has not been industrialised. In the past 50 years, for instance, the...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on Monday the plea of farmers' organisations challenging legality of the fresh promulgation of the land acquisition ordinance by the Narendra Modi-led government. "We will have it on Monday," a bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra said, when senior advocate Indira Jaisingh, appearing for farmers' organisations sought urgent hearing of the petition. The farmers' organisations, in their plea...

-The Hindu Business Line The Congress law and the BJP's amended version both fail to address the lack of transparency in property deals A toxic mix of hypocrisy, amnesia, opportunism, ignorance, and paternalism has led to a mess on the land acquisition legislation. It seems certain that whatever law we end up with is going to be bad law. It will not serve the primary purpose of any eminent domain law -...

-The Hindu The parliamentary stand off over the Indian government's effort to ease procedures to acquire land for "public purposes" continues, with the government deciding to re-promulgate the ordinance amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Besides concern about the impact that this would have on the farming community and those dependent on it, another cause for the controversy is the...

-The Hindu The new ordinance incorporates the nine amendments adopted by the Lok Sabha. President Pranab Mukherjee signed on Friday the new Land Acquisition Ordinance recommended by the Union Cabinet on March 31, official sources told The Hindu. The earlier ordinance, which could not be converted into law, will lapse on April 5. The government move drew a sharp response from the Congress, which decried the government's "disregard" for parliamentary democracy and Prime...