The debate in the Congress and the UPA government over land acquisition acquired a new edge with party president Sonia Gandhi favouring a balanced approach in securing land for industrial purposes without losing large fertile tracts. "New industries and infrastructure cannot be built without acquiring land. This is obvious and there is no argument about it. "But land acquisition must be done in a manner that it does not result...

Sitting on his father’s shoulders, two-year-old Rahul Kumar giggles and tugs on a lock of his father’s hair. A happy, healthy-looking boy, Rahul has already seen much of India. Born in a small village in northern Bihar, he has spent roughly half of his short life in Punjab, where his parents work as seasonal farm labourers. He has spent a few months in his parents’ village. The rest has been spent...

Child mortality great barometer of economic progress ‘Prioritise the marginalised to curb mortality' Children from the poorest communities are three times more likely to die before they reach the age of 5 than those from high income groups, Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation has said. In a global report titled A Fair Chance at Life, the organisation said the policy to lower child mortality in India and elsewhere appeared to focus on...

Economic liberalization since the 1990s has helped Dalits in Uttar Pradesh (UP) overcome caste inequalities, according to a research paper that argues against the view that reforms have exacerbated such disparities. The study by Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and Shyam Babu titled “Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era”, and excerpted last week in the Economic and Political Weekly, finds significant changes in patterns...

tung by farmers’ protest over land acquisition for the ongoing Yamuna Expressway project in western Uttar Pradesh, the state government today announced a new policy for land acquisition and rehabilitation of land owners. The policy promises sops, including equity share in the development projects, for land owners. Land acquisition hurdles have put brakes on several ambitious projects of the state government, including the Yamuna Expressway, international airport in Kushinagar district and Lucknow...