-The Hindu A controversial Bill on land acquisition and the compensation and rehabilitation of those whose land is sought to be acquired ran into opposition in the Cabinet on Tuesday, resulting in referral to a Group of Ministers (GoM). Last week, the Cabinet deferred discussion on the newly renamed Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012, which was scheduled to be introduced in Parliament in the...

-The Hindu “I seek the indulgence of the House… 3. …I want to assure Hon’ble Members that as the Minister in charge [for a part of the time covered by the report], I take full responsibility for the decisions of the Ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts. 10. The observations of the CAG are clearly disputable. 11. The policy of allocation of...

-Greenpeace Genetically engineered (GE) food is a hot button topic in India. What happens here often sends ripples throughout the GE debate worldwide, but what happened last week is surely a major milestone. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, made up of members of parliament (MPs) from across party lines, tabled its latest report (http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Agriculture/GM_Report.pdf) on GE food and GE crops following intense consultation with farmers, environmental groups, scientists and consumer groups. The...

-PTI The government has decided to put on hold allocation of mines having minerals other than coal in view of the Mines and Minerals Bill pending before Parliament. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) sent a directive in this regard to the Mines Ministry about two months back, sources said here today. The Mines Ministry was advised that since the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Bill 2011 had not been passed by Parliament...

-Pratirodh.com NAPM on Tuesday started a three-day demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against the draft Land Acquisition Bill and demanded revision of the draft to incorporate changes suggested by a Parliamentary panel and civil society.   NAPM has organised the dharna in association with several other land rights and anti-displacement movements — like the National Forum of Forest people,Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan  and Forest workers — under the banner of...