-The Times of India   The unveiling of the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is better late than never. All over India, industrialisation and infrastructure are hobbled by land-related strife. Whether it's Singur in Bengal or anti-Posco protests in Orissa, such stirs are impeding development and spooking investors. Bringing in a set of predictable rules - any rules - is welcome in such a context. The Bill...

The new Land Acquisition Bill is unlikely to set a threshold for government intervention in land purchases, leaving it to the states to frame policies on this politically volatile subject. The Bill will, however, eliminate any scope for discrimination by specifying the same rate of compensation for all affected for land acquired by private developers or the state on their behalf. It will also put the onus of compensation on the...

The Noida-Greater Noida imbroglio will be instructive for the draft land acquisition bill In The Works...     * Government to acquire land, “public purpose” to be redefined     * Land acquisition only after getting written consent of 80 per cent of landowners     * Monitoring authority to be set up at the Centre and states to ensure compliance     * Payment component split into part-cash-down and remaining in annuity for 33 years     * Post...

Kalinganagar/Gobindpur: Tata Steel and Posco conceived their high-profile projects in Orissa at around the same time— 2004-05. Both faced similar opposition from land owners and saw long delays in meeting schedules. Tata Steel’s plant is under way with a commissioning deadline of October 2013, while Posco is still stuck at the land-acquisition stage. Nobody really knows when construction will start. In the land-acquisition process—the biggest stumbling block for most new plants—Tata Steel...

The former environment minister is making headlines once again. Just a week after taking over Rural Development, minister Jairam Ramesh is all set to make his ministry more transparent. The CAG will be auditing the government�s flagship NREGA scheme in a few months. Sources say Ramesh had extensive discussions with CAG officials today and for the very first time the NREGA scheme will be undergoing an audit in September of...