-The Hindu Proposed NIB would be illegal, she says Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan has expressed “very serious concern” at the setting up of a National Investment Board to fast-track clearances of major infrastructure projects, saying the “concept is unacceptable,” documents exclusively obtained by The Hindu reveal. In a five-page letter sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 9, Ms. Natarajan said the proposal would upturn established procedures...

-The Times of India Top Congress leader and defence minister A K Antony said government should not acquire land for private entities since it is a big trigger for agitations, reverting the debate over land acquisition bill to the strict norms that were sought to be diluted on the pretext of industrialization.  Antony told the Sharad Pawar-led group of ministers debating the proposed bill that land had become a scarce resource and...

-NDTV A letter written by BJP president Nitin Gadkari lobbying for contractors building a mega-dam project in Maharashtra has the Congress demanding his resignation, and the BJP on the defensive. Written on July 30 to Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mr Gadkari asks for Rs. 400 crores to be released to the contractors hired for the Gosikhurd dam in Vidarbha. The main contractor is Ajay Sancheti, a BJP member of the...

-The Guardian  Oxfam calls on World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels that could produce food International land investors and biofuel producers have taken over land around the world that could feed nearly 1 billion people. Analysis by Oxfam of several thousand land deals completed in the last decade shows that an area eight times the size of the UK has been left idle by speculators or is...

-Outlook Lawyer Prashant Bhushan today accused the government of misleading people by selectively quoting the judgement on Presidential reference on 2G verdict, claiming it clearly spelt out that auctioning was the way to go when commercial purpose and profiteering was involved. He alleged that the government has gone on an "overdrive" after the Supreme Court's opinion on the 2G presidential reference, to project the judgement as a vindication of the government's policies. "They...