-The Hindustan Times   Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday evaded questions on the Comptroller and Auditor General reportedly rapping her government for irregularities in Commonwealth Games projects, saying she will comment only after the report is tabled in Parliament. "I will not comment on CAG. Let it be tabled in Parliament. Then only I will say anything," Dikshit said. She was asked to comment on reported observations by CAG about irregularities in...

-The Hindustan Times   The government on Wednesday defended the allotment of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Haryana, saying it was done with the "full consent" of the village panchayat. "The land allotment had the full consent of the panchayat which had unanimously passed a resolution for leasing it for 33 years," I&B Minister Ambika Soni told reporters outside Parliament House. The land allotment to the trust in Gurgaon's...

-The Hindustan Times   After farmers, the Central government is looking for a higher compensation regime for forestland acquired from tribals and forest dwellers for various projects. The move comes after the rural development ministry issued a draft land acquisition bill providing for market-linked compensation to farmers and the demand by tribal groups for a national policy on the rehabilitation of tribals displaced by large-scale mining across India to end lop-sided growth....

-The Hindustan Times   Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has said he fully supports the proposed food security legislation, but without the right strategies, it could cook up a food fiasco in the long-term. Pawar’s concerns — his ministry is responsible for ensuring farm output is enough to keep the legislation going — could put off the draft food security bill until the winter Parliament session, sources said. Even as the food ministry’s draft legislation...

Less than a week after India announced a record harvest, Hindustan Times has learnt that the nation’s main grain-buying agency is running out of money for its massive nationwide purchase operation. Over the last month, the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has twice stopped payments to state governments, various grain-purchasing agencies and rice millers who buy wheat and rice, the main food crops, from millions of farmers, a senior...