-Live Mint Cabinet refers land acquisition Bill to GoM to resolve differences after five ministers express apprehensions Differences within the Union cabinet have nixed the plans of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to fast-track a new legislation for land acquisition and compensation, widely seen as a key measure to spur investment in the economy. Consequently, the cabinet on Tuesday referred the controversial land acquisition Bill to a ministerial group (a so-called group...

-The Hindustan Times A bill that seeks to strike a balance between economic growth and issues such as natural resources and livelihood of local residents was referred to a group of ministers (GoM) by the cabinet on Tuesday. The decision of the cabinet meant that the bill — titled The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill (previously known as the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement...

-The Hindu “I seek the indulgence of the House… 3. …I want to assure Hon’ble Members that as the Minister in charge [for a part of the time covered by the report], I take full responsibility for the decisions of the Ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts. 10. The observations of the CAG are clearly disputable. 11. The policy of allocation of...

-The Telegraph The Union environment ministry has raised concerns over the proposed power plant on Nayachar island, casting a cloud on the Rs 8,600-crore investment proposal by NRI businessman Prasoon Mukherjee. At a meeting earlier this month with Bengal government officials, an expert appraisal committee under the central ministry asked the state to come up with a revised environment protection plan. Handing over a 100-page dossier prepared by a group of professionals, chaired...

-The Indian Express A little over 11 years ago, when the Congress defeated the Asom Gana Parishad and Tarun Gogoi took over as chief minister of Assam, people had their doubts. Would this man who had spent most of his political career since 1971 as a Lok Sabha member be able to run this state? The state, with its unique tangle of ethnicity and politics, has, after all, always been a...