-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Land Acquisition Bill passed by the Lok Sabha, which is being hailed as "revolutionary" by some, may hit the industrialisation drive in the state where a number of projects are caught in land tangles. The proposed law, which makes consent of 80 per cent of landholders in the project area mandatory for land acquisition in the case of private projects, is likely to suit protesters who have been...

-Frontline Riding roughshod over farmers' concerns, the Gujarat government notifies a project to develop the Mandal-Becharaji Special Investment Region, an industrial hub spread over 50,884 hectares, affecting 44 villages. But the villagers see it as a real estate scam and are determined to resist it. GUJARAT may soon have several new townships. The Narendra Modi-led government has proposed to set up 13 special investment regions (SIRs), which are essentially industrial hubs...

-The Telegraph The Indian economy grew at just 4.4 per cent in the first quarter ended June 30 - its slowest pace in four years. The grim figure deepened worries for the UPA government, which has been battling criticism over its failure to halt the slide in the rupee, cap deficits, ignite growth and slam the lid on inflation. The tepid growth had been anticipated with finance minister P. Chidambaram acknowledging a few...

-Economic and Political Weekly The government has notified a Draft Land Reforms Policy which, on paper, has all the requisites of an earnest programme. Yet, the near total failure of earlier efforts at land reforms in India leave little room for hope that something substantial will at last be done to combat landlessness. Harsh Mander (manderharsh@gmail.com) is with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and works with survivors of mass violence,...

-The New Indian Express In 1948 when the United Nations passed the covenant ensuring the right to food, vis-à-vis the right to proper livelihood, to which India became a signatory, it did not envisage that the whole issue would be caught up in such an imbroglio - political and economic - as one witnesses today. The original covenant in article 25 ensures the "right to work and livelihood" and right to...