-The Economic Times   The West Bengal government on Thursday promulgated an Ordinance to re-acquire 400 acres of the 997-acre Singur property that was leased out to the Tatas in March 2007 for the Nano project . The ordinance has been signed by governor MK Narayanan. The ordinance presumably kills two birds with a stone. It will enable chief minister Mamata Banerjee to keep a nearly three-year-old promise she had made to Singur's...

-The Hindu   The West Bengal Government on Thursday issued an ordinance that will enable it to reclaim 400 acres of disputed land (out of 997.11 acres) alleged to have been acquired at Singur from farmers against their wishes to set up the Tata Motors small car project, since relocated. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Governor had signed the ordinance and that the 400 acres would be returned to the owners. “As...

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev currently hitting headlines for his crusade against corruption and billions of dollars Indian black money stashed in Swiss and tax heaven banks is a “big landlord”. The 47-year-old “Bal Brahmchari” Ramdev, who was born as Ramkrishna Yadav in Alipur village, district Mahendragarh (Haryana), ‘owns’ huge tracts of land, that includes 261.468 hectares (644 acres) , worth hundreds of crores at the current market rate, around his yoga...

As the administration and the anti-industry brigade scaled up preparations for a showdown at Dhinkia gram panchayat in Jagatsinghpur district within the next few days, five political parties on Monday staged a civil disobedience agitation opposing the ongoing land acquisition for Posco steel project. Activists of CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party took out a rally from the Railway Station to PMG Square in Bhubaneswar, raising...

-The Hindu   The Uttar Pradesh government's new land acquisition policy, announced in the face of farmers' protests and impending elections, is a significant improvement over existing practices. It is sounder than the amendments to the central Act proposed by the UPA government, which have been awaiting enactment since 2007. Poor compensation calculated on rates based on the pre-development phase, a lack of consultation, and cumbersome procedures have marred the whole...