The government has introduced the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011, in Parliament. The Bill fails to address fundamental causes behind disputes and litigation over compensation. Moreover, like the existing law, it has provisions that can be misused by states to favour companies at the expense of the rights of farmers and forest dwellers. An excessive use of the emergency clause is not the only abuse of the current law...

Twenty five Indian states have favoured striking down IPC Sec 309 that criminalises attempt to commit suicide by making it punishable with imprisonment. Responding to a query by the Union home ministry, states recently sent their comments concurring with the recommendation of the 210th Report of the Law Commission which advocated repealing Sec 309. It had argued that attempting suicide was “manifestation of a diseased condition of mind” that called for...

Twenty percent of people in the country's most populous city are below the poverty line (BPL). For Mumbai's population of about 1.25 crore, that means 25 lakh BPL people. This makes the number of those living in abject poverty in the city 4 lakh more than the population of say Nashik. The BPL figure comes from a survey carried out by the BMC in 2005-06 . The criterion was an income...

The Planning Commission told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that anyone spending more than Rs 965 per month in urban India and Rs 781 in rural India will be deemed not to be poor. Updating the poverty line cut-off figures, the commission said those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages will no longer be eligible to draw benefits...

The Planning Commission’s latest affidavit to the Supreme Court in the right to food case reveals it has not taken the court’s advice to revise the thresholds and spending that determine the poverty line, although the commission admits to spiralling food costs and inflation. The affidavit was filed in a public interest litigation being pursued by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which wants the government’s threshold of Rs. 12 and...