-BBC A controversial bill on Land acquisition has caused uproar in India, with opponents saying it will hurt the interests of farmers. The bill eases rules for acquiring Land for specific projects. The government says it is aimed at kick-starting stalled projects across the country worth billions of dollars. Sanjoy Chakravorty, author of a book on conflicts over Land in India, explains the issues. Why is Land so important in India? Land is...

-Business Standard Though Indian agriculture has grown to be second largest globally, there are many myths and misconceptions. So, let's find the truth. Though the government over the past few years has been focusing on enhancing manufacturing sector's share to India's GDP, contribution of agriculture to the GDP continues to be higher than that of the manufacturing. India has in abundant four critical fundamental resources - light, Land, water & labour. Contrary...

-The Indian Express The political discourse over Land acquisition has proceeded in binary terms - industry versus farmer, growth versus no growth - thereby obfuscating the real issue at the heart of the Land acquisition debate: the fear of arbitrary exercise of state power in reshaping property relations in Indian society. Instead of tweaking the 2015 Land acquisition bill with a few amendments here and there to appease political allies and...

-Outlook Corporate karza maafi reaches new heights, social spending new lows This year's budget write-off in customs duty on gold, diamonds and jewellery (all aam aadmi items, of course) is Rs 75,592 crore. That's well over twice the "record" amount allocated to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. As Prof Jayati Ghosh points out, the MNREGA has given billions of person-days of work to tens of millions of poor...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre is weighing what appears a never-used parliamentary option to be able to re-promulgate the Land acquisition ordinance before it lapses - having two budget sessions instead of a two-leg one. Ordinarily, the budget session is conducted in two halves, separated by a one-month recess. The first leg this year was to end on March 20 and the second leg to begin on April 20 and continue...