-The Indian Express Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Tuesday tabled an irrigation Bill in the Assembly which seeks to make it compulsory for farmers to get a licence to draw water from canal or ground well beyond a certain limit and prescribes penal action, including imprisonment, against the errant farmers. The Bill also seeks to charge farmers for irrigation water reaching any cultivated land within 200 metres of a canal either by...

-The Business Standard Railway engineers would help gram panchayats in developing estimates of the work and in training workers Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today announced a partnership between Indian Railways and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in his budget speech. "I thank (Minister of Rural Development) Jairam Ramesh for agreeing to the railways' request to partner in some of the rail-related activities under MGNREGS," he said. Bansal...

-The Hindu Draft Bill to be discussed on Tuesday After legislating the Right to Information and Education — and making a stab at the Right to Work and Food through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Food Security Act respectively — the government’s next step seems to be aimed at legally upholding the right to a home of your own. On Tuesday, a task force set up by the...

-The Hindu By allowing futures trade in food and diversion of farm land for commercial purposes, the UPA government is fuelling the price rise International agencies are warning of high food prices on a global scale in 2013 if urgent action is not taken. But our government shows little concern. The President’s address to Parliament had only a cursory mention of inflation. “Inflation is easing gradually, but is still a problem,” he...

-The Hindustan Times The Mamata Banerjee led administration came under fire yet again after a review committee of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) issued a ‘refusal of certificate’ to a film Kangal Malsat for being critical of the Trinamool government and Mamata Banerjee led movements. “The way the departure of Tata Company was shown in the film it seemed to malign or at least look down upon a significant...