-The Hindu   Human rights activist Binayak Sen said here on Monday that there was no question of his being a Naxal sympathiser. “Neither am I a Naxal sympathiser nor [an] opposer of Naxals,” Dr. Sen told journalists at the Press Club. “I believe that violence, either of the state or the non-state actors, does not cure any problem,” he said. Launching a scathing attack on Salwa Judum, he said that it...

Cash transfers are now suggested by many as a silver bullet for addressing the problems that plague India’s anti-poverty programmes. This article argues instead for evidence-based policy and informed public debate to clarify the place, prospects and problems of cash transfers in India. By drawing on key empirical findings from academic and grey literature across the world an attempt is made to draw attention to three aspects of cash transfers...

Dr Binayak Sen has given a double blow to the state administration of Chattisgarh. First, the Supreme Court rejected the sedition charges levelled against him for which the state courts found him guilty. And then he was appointed to the 40-member steering committee on health in the planning commission. The Chattisgarh government has been vocally protesting against Sen's appointment, saying that he still remains a convict out on bail and should...

-The Business Standard   Land acquisition for non-agricultural purposes is one of the oldest policy challenges that modern governments have faced. It is, therefore, not surprising that it has become a major political issue in India as urbanisation spreads, new industries grow and major infrastructure development takes place. To imagine that complex political challenges faced in widely varying agrarian, social and economic contexts can be suitably addressed by one common national...

Sticks to his decision to frame two separate laws Linking Bills at this juncture will not be proper, he says Even as the National Advisory Council accepted the suggestion of some of its members for a composite legislation on land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement, Union Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday spiked their suggestion and stuck to his decision to frame two separate laws during the monsoon session of...