The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...

-PTI   The Calcutta high court on Monday refused to pass an interim order restraining the West bengal government from distributing to farmers in Singur the land acquired earlier to set up Tata'a car manufacturing unit. On Tata Motor's plea that an interim injunction be passed to restrain distribution of the land from tomorrow, Justice Saumitra Pal said in that case the company's original petition challenging the Singur Land Rehablitation and Development...

-PTI   The Calcutta high court today refused to pass an interim order restraining the West bengal government from distributing to farmers in Singur the land acquired earlier to set up Tata'a car manufacturing unit. On Tata Motors's plea that an interim injunction be passed to restrain distribution of the land from tomorrow, Justice Saumitra Pal said in that case the company's original petition challenging the Singur Land Rehablitation and Development Act,...

With the Right of all Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandating a 30:1 teacher pupil ratio and laying down minimum qualifications for teachers, state governments have expressed concerns about the lack of infrastructure to provide the required training. Only diploma-holders in elementary education are allowed to teach students from Class I to V and there is a shortage of teachers in this category. As per the HRD Ministry, of the...

The West bengal govt's role as a non-market intermediary in an essentially private land transaction is questionable The West bengal government has passed a new legislation that transfers the land back to those who refused to accept the compensation that they were offered during the acquisition of their lands for the Tata Nano factory. The Tata group has promptly gone to court claiming that this is an unconstitutional Act. Surely one...