-The Telegraph New Delhi: Survivors and family members of the 93 people killed in the fire at Calcutta's AMRI hospital in 2011 have moved the Supreme Court seeking compensation between Rs 7 crore and Rs 9 crore each. A bench of Justices S.J. Mukhopadhaya and A.M. Sapre yesterday issued notices to AMRI on the application moved by the victims, led by Paromita Guha Thakurta and others, challenging a National Consumer Disputes Redressal...

-The Indian Express Just a few years ago, the World Bank in its World Development Report claimed that migration from rural India to urban centres is "natural" and the same should not be interrupted or prevented through schemes like the MGNREGA. This was a shocking statement to all those who know why there is huge and ever-growing migration to cities, not only of the labour class but also of farmers and small...

-Business Standard The ordinance has returned near absolute power of discretion in land acquisition, except in tribal areas, into the hands of the bureaucracy yet again Even after the National Democratic Alliance's land ordinance, governments will still need the consent of tribal gram sabhas in all Schedule V and VI areas of the country before acquiring land for themselves or for public-private projects. While the land ordinance has done away with the need...

-The Hindu As solid Waste Management gets privatised, they will need to be rehabilitated Chennai: Keeping in mind the possibility of providing social entitlements to ragpickers and integrating them into an increasingly privatised solid Waste Management system, the Chennai Corporation is taking steps to issue identity cards to them. Working with Transparent Chennai, the civic body is conducting a survey. Last month, it enumerated the ragpickers at Kodungaiyur dumping yard. "There are about 200...

-The Hindu The programme needs to retain the momentum of a movement than that of a litter-cleaning project "Slum districts... consisted of poorly built houses, a deficiency of ventilation and toilets, unpaved narrow streets, mud, and stomach-turning stenches due to the presence of decaying refuse and sewerage. In such conditions, ill health was observably endemic." This is not a description of Indian cities today (though it may well be), but of Britain around...