-Business Standard Ruling party MPs suggest changes to six of the nine amendments proposed by govt to the 2013 Act The government is set to relent on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of a parliamentary joint committee on the Bill suggested amendments that effectively bring back the social impact assessment and consent clauses,...

-The Indian Express It is necessary to rescue public policy from its elitist bias, bring agriculture to its centre There is seldom any Independence Day speech where the prime minister, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, does not thank the jawans and kisans for their heroic role in securing our borders and ensuring food security. This year is unlikely to be different. Recall Lal Bahadur Shastri’s famous slogan, “Jai Jawan,...

-The Hindu Employment in villages is largely in agriculture sector, while industrial employment is less than four per cent. The Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) has advocated transformation and development of “smart villages” across the country to improve standard of living in the rural areas and boost the rural economy. Development of rural India holds the key to the nation’s sustainable economic growth, it said. SCOPE Director-General U.D. Choubey told The Hindu...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: While the Delhi Development Authority notified the Land Pooling Policy a month ago after years of waiting, the project cannot proceed further unless Delhi government classifies the identified agricultural lands as ‘urbanisable’. The DDA had notified the policy in May, and was looking to start registration of lands in 89 villages for pooling by August. The matter then went to the Delhi government for consideration, and the DDA...

-PTI Sources in Congress said that it had sought restoration of the consent of 80 per cent of land owners to be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent for PPP ones. Congress, CPI-M and JD-U have sought a "total withdrawal" of proposed changes by the NDA government in the 2013 Land Act and inclusion of some additional measures to further strengthen the law in favour of farmers. In...