The Rural Development Ministry seems to be a familiar ground for Jairam Ramesh . No sooner was he given the new portfolio, he announced that the two bills related to land acquisition would be clubbed. The minister spells out his priorities in an exclusive interview with ET. Excerpts: What will be the key motif for the omnibus land acquisition law you are proposing? The bill will be facilitative not restrictive....

-The Business Standard   The rural development ministry is unlikely to accept a proposal by the National Advisory Council (NAC) for a single Bill on land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation. At present, there are two bills — the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2009, and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009 — for the two processes. Officials say the government is committed to bringing in a legislation governing land acquisition in the monsoon...

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has eventually finalised the revised draft of the bills on land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement, which promise to return land to the farmer if a proposed project fails to come up within five years of acquisition. Minister for Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh told The Hindu that the Land Acquisition Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill were sent to the Ministry of Law for...

A day after it announced issuing an ordinance to reclaim disputed land at Singur, the Mamata Banerjee government on Friday said it would not notify the ordinance, but would instead place it as a Bill in the ensuing Assembly session. The session, which was earlier slated to commence from June 24, will now start on June 13. Ms. Banerjee told reporters at the Secretariat: “The Ordinance is not being brought into...

-PTI   High volatility and price swings in food commodities are likely to prevail for the rest of this year and could continue into 2012, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation today said. “High and volatile agricultural commodity prices are likely to prevail for the rest of this year and into 2012,” Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a statement. The next few months will be critical in determining how the major crops...