-The Business Standard Make politicians' asset disclosures clearer, and follow up In an important move towards transparency, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year reminded his council of ministers to declare their assets, movable and immovable, and said that the declarations would be put up online. Declarations for 2012 are now online and these should be welcome. But they also reveal that many lacunae remain in terms of full and clear disclosure. The...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...

-Live Mint The current policy on compensating landowners could adversely affect character of India’s future growth The Parliament is currently considering a land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Bill (LARR Bill), as are various state legislatures. These are likely to affect the pace and character of future growth in India in a significant way.  Setting up new industries, service establishments and real estate development will inevitably require land to be acquired from rural areas....

-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...

-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...