The government has introduced the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011, in Parliament. The Bill fails to address fundamental causes behind disputes and litigation over compensation. Moreover, like the existing law, it has provisions that can be misused by states to favour companies at the expense of the rights of farmers and forest dwellers. An excessive use of the emergency clause is not the only abuse of the current law...

The acronym LPG has several expansions. It stands for liquefied petroleum gas. It stands for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, a term of abuse used by those with Leftwing persuasions. It stands for life plundered by the government, sentiments associated with those who are against state intervention, but increasingly felt by the so-called middle class - however defined - because of price hikes, and proposed price hikes, for petroleum products. Ostensibly, price...

-AP   Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and some of the world’s other poorest countries helped lead the way over the past year as U.N. member states began meeting their unprecedented pledge of more than $40 billion for maternal and child health, a new study of the spending says. The spending report is being released Tuesday at a high-level event chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Mr. Ki-moon, who has made raising money for the health of...

Government agencies not taking action against defaulters: study More than five months after the ban on use of plastic pouches for sale of tobacco products came into effect on March 1 this year, small and big manufacturers of pan masala and chewing tobacco are still violating the rule openly, a recent survey by Voluntary Health Association of India and eight other partners has found. The study conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar,...

We have accommodated all new requests made by India: envoy Even as diplomats and officials were taken aback by the protests against the smooth-sailing India-Russia nuclear plant venture at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Russia on Tuesday described the protests as unfortunate. Russia said the imminent threat of the project being stalled would not impact future cooperation in the civil nuclear sector but could affect other projects such as the third and fourth...