Seven meetings and a stalemate. What now for the Lokpal Bill? It’s War Out There Seven meetings on, government and civil society reps drafting the Lokpal bill are split on four key issues Ambit * Civil society: PM and Supreme and High Court judges should be brought under Lokpal’s purview * Government: This is constitutionally untenable; PM should get immunity or should be investigated with adequate safeguards Scope * Civil society: MPs can...
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Singur whiff in Posco politics by Subrat Das and Subhashish Mohanty
The Posco project has turned into a political hot potato with the two main Opposition parties trying to extract as much out of it as possible, hoping the Rs 51000 crore project turns into another Singur. At a time when Naveen Patnaik government finds itself embroiled in a number of unsavoury controversies, including horse trading during the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress and the BJP are looking to deliver the coup...
More »Rural development ministry sticks to own draft on land
-The Business Standard The rural development ministry is unlikely to accept a proposal by the National Advisory Council (NAC) for a single Bill on land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation. At present, there are two bills — the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2009, and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009 — for the two processes. Officials say the government is committed to bringing in a legislation governing land acquisition in the monsoon...
More »Should water be moved to Concurrent List? by Ramaswamy R Iyer
Putting water on the Concurrent List is not necessarily an act of centralisation, though it could lead to such a development. That danger is real and needs to be avoided. The Union Ministry of Water Resources has for long been arguing for a shift of water to the Concurrent List without any serious expectation of its happening, but has now begun to pursue the idea more actively. The Ashok Chawla committee,...
More »Centre seeks States' views on Food Security Bill by K Balchand
Gearing for the challenge of implementing the proposed Food Security Bill, Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution K.V. Thomas has decided to hold a conference of Chief Ministers to seek their views and cooperation. Mr. Thomas toldThe Hindu that he had made a presentation of the proposed Bill to Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh...
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