-The Hindu The government has refused RTI requests for information on the decision-making process on amendments to Land Acquisition Bill. On January 17, Chitrangada Choudhury, a Fellow with the Open Society Institute, filed an RTI request with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), seeking documents, file notings and correspondence between the MoRD and other authorities relating to any proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and the NDA’s December 2014 ordinance. Two...

-CaravanMagazine.in On 31 December 2014, the government issued an ordinance, amending the Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR). The ordinance brought in several changes, of which the following was the most far-reaching: an amendment to Section 10(A) that exempted Land Acquisition for sectors such as defence, infrastructure—including public-private partnership projects—industrial corridors, private health and educational institutions and affordable housing, from the requirement...

-HuffingtonPost.in NEW DELHI: A chilling humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Maharashtra, new government data shows. As many as 601 farmers, driven to desperation after crop damage due to unseasonal hailstorm and rains, have killed themselves in the last three months alone — which amounts to almost seven farmer suicides a day, the Times of India reported. Vidarbha, from where Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hails, accounted for the highest number of cases —...

-PTI The party launched a website called "Zameen Wapsi" to reportedly counter the Modi government's 'bundle of lies' on the Land Acquisition issue. Taking the battle on the land bill issue to social media, Congress on Saturday launched a “Zameen Wapsi” website on the eve of its farmers’ rally which is expected to see the first major attack on the government by Rahul Gandhi after his return from leave of absence. The bilingual...

-AFP KANJHAWALA: Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government's push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he won't be backing the premier again. Mathur, 64, believes Modi has turned his back on the plight of farmers, many of whom have seen their crops devastated by unseasonal rains since the start of this year. "I...