The Bengal government is set to grant a never-before concession to developers of township projects, under which government companies will be allowed to hold and lease out land in excess of ceiling without prior permission. However, no activity other than real estate development is being allowed such flexibility despite industry complaining about difficulties involving land. “It seems the (amendment) proposal is highly lopsided. Does the government think only township development would be...

-The Times of India   Providing fodder to the CBIprobing the various land allotments in the state during the YSR government, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has concluded that the Andhra Pradesh government doled out thousands of acres of government land to private individuals on an ad hoc and arbitrary manner without safeguarding the interests of the state. The CAG report for the year ending March 31, 2011, was tabled in...

-The Business Standard   Learning from the jatropha mistake The tropical shrub jatropha curcas, touted a decade ago as a commercially feasible source of biofuel to alleviate the global energy crisis, seems to have let its proponents down quite comprehensively. Millions of hectares of land in the arid areas of India and in many other Asian and African countries were turned into jatropha plantations in the expectation that the oil derived from its...

A Supreme Court-appointed panel on illegal mining has recommended an investigation into alleged kickbacks paid to companies linked to the family of former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa. The Central Empowered Committee wrote in a report on Wednesday that payments of 6 crore by a mine owner to two companies controlled by the close kin of the former chief minister must be "investigated in public interest". The Supreme Court's forest bench will...

Weather events such as extreme temperatures and drought caused global agricultural losses of 11.4 billion dollars in 2011, while 12 million hectares of farmland are lost to land degradation every year, and unsustainable agricultural practices contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. These and other data provided by a report released Wednesday in London by leading scientists from 13 countries raise the question of how to curb the environmental crisis, guarantee...