The proposed Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), a flagship anti-discrimination panel promised by the Congress in its manifesto, is back on track after being stuck in an inter-ministerial turf war. A draft Equal Opportunities Commission Bill, prepared by the minority affairs ministry and cleared by the law ministry, gives the EOC mandate to address discrimination, not just against minorities but other disadvantaged groups, if required. Moreover, the private sector will come under...
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Land Bill: Centre will take Mamata on board
-Deccan Chronicle After initiating discussion on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, Union rural development minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday expressed confidence that the Central government would be able to take the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress on board on the issue. He reiterated that the Centre would be able to draft a “pro-farmer” land acquisition law. The Trinamul Congress had been opposed to changes in land acquisition laws. Even RLD chief...
More »Centre plans to dovetail caste census with BPL survey by Smita Gupta
The Union Cabinet, which meets here on Thursday, will discuss a proposal to dovetail the promised caste census with the survey to identify those living below the poverty line (BPL), government sources told The Hindu. The entire exercise should be completed by the end of this year, these sources added. Dovetailing the two exercises will ensure that the castes enumerated can be correlated with the socio-economic data, and facilitate a more...
More »Mining to blame for islands to sink beneath waves by Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran
Two small islands in South Asia's first marine biosphere reserve have sunk into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining, experts say. The islets were in a group in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka. The Indo-Pacific region is considered to contain some of the world's richest marine biological resources. The group's 21 islands and islets are protected as part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National...
More »Ghost of Marichjhapi returns to haunt by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
It was the mother of all Nandigrams. If there was one Nandigram on March 14, 2007, then perhaps there were dozens of Nandigrams during the three-day cleanse-Marichjhapi operation in January 1979. “It was Saraswati Puja. The police were just raining bullets as soon as the refugees landed in our village! Like everybody else on the road, I, too, fled for safety as I could see people falling either injured or...
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