-Business Standard Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee that the Ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act (2013) opens the door for forcible acquisition and undermines the spirit and the substance of the legislation. Edited excerpts: * An oft-repeated argument given by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to justify bringing an Ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act (2013) passed by your government is that many Congress-ruled states...

-The Indian Express The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act), was not passed in a hurry. It was passed 60 years too late, but nearly unanimously with the support of the BJP. The main purpose of the LARR Act was to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (the old Act). The old Act was an oppressive colonial law that gave unbridled powers...

-The Economic Times CHANDIGARH: The Supreme Court has said that the recent ordinance on Land Acquisition is prospective in nature, holding that delays owing to litigation are to be counted to the benefit of landowners and going against state governments owing to the absence of specific language to this effect. The court also said the benefit given to landowners is a "statutory right" and "cannot be taken away by an ordinance by...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: A centre on the lines of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, gifted to Jharkhand by the Modi government in its first budget in July 2014, is yet to sprout from state agriculture department's drawing board. In his maiden budget speech, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 100 crore this fiscal for both Jharkhand and Assam for two agriculture centres in each of these states. But why...

-The Hindu The government's reasoning that the land ordinance was meant to extend the benefit of the new law to various types of Land Acquisitions left uncovered so far is disingenuous Democracy is an exercise in public reason. Democratically elected governments cannot simply throw around the weight of their majority. They have a responsibility to offer good reasons for their decisions. And they must do so publicly. That is why we follow...