-Business Standard NC Saxena, former member of the Planning Commission and National Advisory Council has been critical of the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Act. He tells Kanika Datta why things are unlikely to improve with the amendments recently passed by the Lok Sabha. Edited excerpts: * You were critical of the LARR Act but less so of the ordinance. Why? Let me clarify. The 2013 Act was anti-farmer and anti-industry. The ordinance...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has identified five "high-end services", including bills in four- and five-star hotels, which will attract additional service tax to fund Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign, and leave a slightly bigger dent in your pocket. Sources, however, indicated that against an "enabling provision" of levying up to 2% cess over the 14% service tax, the government is expected to notify an additional 1%...

-The Hindu Much of the National Health Policy document reads like a report of health issues and systemic challenges, and is sorely wanting on policy detail Health impoverishment - falling into poverty due to health care costs - affects 63 million individuals in India every year. This is a damning statistic, especially when read with the fact that 18 per cent of all households face catastrophic health expenditures (health expenditure greater than...

-The Indian Express The debate over the land acquisition Bill is increasingly marked by political tone deafness and legislative hubris. The government has offered minor amendments. But most of them are designed to display its consistent ability to be too clever by half rather than its ability to address deep issues. The 2013 Bill had been framed in the context of several issues. The now much-maligned Land Acquisition Act of 1894...

-The Hindu Nine amendments have been adopted. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, popularly known as the land bill, was adopted by the Lok Sabha after debating it for two days. Congress and Biju Janata Dal walked out ahead of the voting, to protest the removal of a clause that makes it mandatory to get farmers' consent prior to the acquisition of land...