-The Business Standard Despite industry's worries, land Bill cannot be delayed  The meeting of the Union Cabinet last Thursday was, by the standards of the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) government at least, quite effective. In what Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has called the UPA’s “slog overs”, several policy changes were announced, and proposed laws cleared. Perhaps the most important was the approval of the long-awaited changes to India’s colonial-era land...

-PTI Criticising the land acquisition bill cleared by the Cabinet, social activist Medha Patkar today said it has left many basic issues of conflict over forcible land acquisition unresolved. "It is also against the Parliamentary democracy that a unanimous report of the Standing Committee is not given due importance before finalising the draft and approving by the cabinet," she said in a release. "We would also like to point out that whole process...

-The Hindu The Land Acquisition Bill, which strengthens landowners’ rights during acquisition for development, has finally received the nod of the Union Cabinet, and is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the final week of the winter session. The final version of the bill was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday, more than a year after Parliament sent the earlier avatar to a Standing Committee. In the months since, the bill...

-Outlook The controversial Land Acquisition Bill was today cleared by the Union Cabinet, making mandatory the consent of 80 per cent of people whose land is taken for private projects. In the case of Public-Private Partnership projects, the bill makes mandatory obtaining of consent of 70 per cent of the people whose land will be for acquired. The bill was given the go-ahead at the Cabinet presided by Prime Minister Manmonan Singh. The bill...

-The Indian Express Amendments to the contentious land acquisition Bill not only seek to hasten the acquisition process through tight time-schedules but also contain a provision that virtually allows the law to be applied retrospectively to cases that witnessed protests in the past. The union cabinet is due to discuss the amendments to the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill on Thursday. The changes suggest that the new law will be applicable to...