-The Hindu The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2015 contains no provisions for consent from tribals for mining operations, but strengthens the rights of private sector mining companies Even as countrywide protests against the land ordinance gain momentum, Adivasi communities living in mineral-rich areas are apprehensive of what awaits them as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015 (MMDRA) has received presidential assent and the government has drafted Rules...

-The Hindu Not all the Amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act cleared by the Union Cabinet last week inspire public confidence or meet the objective of filling gaps in domestic anti-corruption law. In significant respects, the proposals fall short of public expectations and fail to address key issues in corruption jurisprudence. In its Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013, the UPA government proposed to extend the protection of...

-IPS News NAYAGARH (IPS): Kama Pradhan, a 35-year-old tribal woman, her eyes intent on the glowing screen of a hand-held GPS device, moves quickly between the trees. Ahead of her, a group of men hastens to clear away the brambles from stone pillars that stand at scattered intervals throughout this dense forest in the Nayagarh district of India’s eastern Odisha state. The heavy stone markers, laid down by the British 150 years...

-Livemint.com The challenge of employment may be the next big crisis that the government may have to face Two of the burning issues currently dominating the public discourse are the Amendments to the land acquisition bill proposed by the National Democratic Alliance and the ongoing crisis in agriculture. At the centre of all this is the Indian farmer, who, on the one hand, is struggling to save his land from draconian Amendments to...

-The Hindu Everything else can wait but agriculture cannot, said Jawaharlal Nehru. This should have been the talisman for India’s progress. Yet, successive governments have failed to accord agriculture the priority it deserves. The tragic suicide of a farmer during an Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi has brought to the fore the agrarian crisis facing India. Official records reveal that more than 2.96 lakh farmers have ended their lives...