When it was almost certain that the governments of the country were to take their hands off from total acquisition of land for a private project, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has started thinking otherwise. The thought went out for hundred per cent acquisition by the government. Had this come at the germinal stage of discussion about changes in the colonial Act, it could have resulted in Mamata Banerjee’s face...

-Hueiyen News Service   Members of Parliament from North Eastern States including three MPs from Manipur Rishang Keishing, Dr.Th Meinya and Thangso Baite demanded strengthening of the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee (VMC)s, which conduct social audit on the implementation of NREGA in the districts, with powers to the local MPs so that they could play an effective role in the implementation, monitoring and vigilance of the flagship programmes related to rural...

India's wonder plants with medicinal properties will now come with a special "good Quality tag" with the government putting in place a voluntary certification scheme for medicinal plant produce based on good agricultural practices and good field collection practices. This, the government said, will enhance confidence in the Quality of India's medicinal plant produce and make available good Quality raw material to the ayurvedic and herbal drugs industry. Under the scheme, launched...

Every year, industrial development projects displace about 10 million people globally. In India alone, involuntary resettlement has affected about 50 million people over the last five decades. Three-fourths of them still face an uncertain future. People displaced by such projects are prone to being rendered landless, jobless, homeless and marginalised. Yet, the policies and programmes related to their relocation and rehabilitation are yet to find satisfactory answers to questions like: Is...

-The Hindu   Investing an additional $40 billion annually in the forestry sector can halve the deforestation rates by 2030, increase the rate of tree planting by about 140 per cent by 2050, and catalyse the creation of millions of new jobs, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Backed by the right kind of enabling policies, such an investment — equal to about two-thirds more than what...