-BBC A controversial bill on land acquisition has caused uproar in India, with opponents saying it will hurt the interests of farmers. The bill eases rules for acquiring land for specific projects. The government says it is aimed at kick-starting stalled projects across the country worth billions of dollars. Sanjoy Chakravorty, author of a book on conflicts over land in India, explains the issues. Why is land so important in India? Land is...

-Outlook Corporate karza maafi reaches new heights, social spending new lows This year's budget write-off in customs duty on gold, diamonds and jewellery (all aam aadmi items, of course) is Rs 75,592 crore. That's well over twice the "record" amount allocated to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. As Prof Jayati Ghosh points out, the MNREGA has given billions of person-days of work to tens of millions of poor...

-The Indian Express The political discourse over land acquisition has proceeded in binary terms - industry versus farmer, growth versus no growth - thereby obfuscating the real issue at the heart of the land acquisition debate: the fear of arbitrary exercise of state power in reshaping property relations in Indian society. Instead of tweaking the 2015 land acquisition bill with a few amendments here and there to appease political allies and...

-Livemint.com A Mint analysis based on a wide range of district level indicators of assets and amenities shows how Maharashtra's wealth is very unevenly spread If India is a land of contradictions, Maharashtra is its befitting exemplar. It is at once the country's cradle of wealth and its most poignant symbol of agrarian distress, where many millionaires are born, and many farmers commit suicides each year. Maharashtra is the wealthiest of all...

-The Times of India Silently, agriculture in India has gone through a far-reaching change in the past few decades. The share of human power available for carrying out the myriad operations in farming has shrunk to a mere 5% as has that of draught animals, the iconic oxen pulling the plough. More than 90% of the power is now drawn from mechanical sources: tractors and power tillers provide the bulk, 47%;...