The Supreme Court on Monday told the government to dump the archaic Land Acquisition Act to prevent Nandigram-like violent protests in every state, sounding the warning that it would step in to safeguard public interest if the authorities failed to do the needful. "The perspective has to change. The public purpose clause in the 1894 Act must go. If the government does not do it, then this court has to act....
More »SEARCH RESULT
The Battle for Land: Unaddressed Issues by Avinash Kumar
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...
More »Lockdown And After by Arindam Mukherjee
The strike at the Maruti Suzuki plant shows workers’ rights is still a simmering issue Spanner In The... * Labour disputes/strikes down from 250 in ’04-05 to under 100 * Strike by 3,000 Maruti workers found support from 65 unions across companies * Trade unions assert workers’ right to form a union, or to decide which union to join * Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, Honda Motorcycles, GM among those that have...
More »Acquisition made easy by Richard Mahapatra
New land acquisition bill won’t bring relief to tribals Debate over land acquisition for “public purposes” has turned into a chasing game for more compensation. There is political competition over which ruling party gives more money as compensation for land. It has become a “we v them” game. In between we have lost track of the key issues related to land acquisition. This long-standing debate never revolved around compensation alone. To begin...
More »No takers for NREGA in Noida
-The Tribune It appears there are no takers for the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NAREGA) scheme in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. And the simple reason for this is that workers are getting higher wages at private projects and there is no dearth of such projects in Noida. Under the scheme, over 26,000 job cards were made in Gautam Budh Nagar. Further, bank accounts for 6,367 people...
More »