Having had to face a series of farmers' protest and flak from Opposition parties over the acquisition of land for development and expressway projects in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati has announced that all future land transactions will be clinched directly between the farmers and the private developers by adopting a “consensual approach.” “The role of the government now would be that of a facilitator only, LIMited to issuing a notification...
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Food crisis? We've enough on our plates by Tim Lang
Yes, food prices are rising but more competition is not the answer — it's time to stop over-consumption. Slowly, surely, a new mixture of consensus and fault lines is emerging about world food. On the one hand, there is agreement we are entering a new era in which basic agricultural commodity prices are rising after decades of falling. This will hit the poorest hardest, as an Oxfam report this week on...
More »No need to panic over WHO report on mobiles: ICMR by Aarti Dhar & Sandeep Joshi
It will wait for the findings of its own study before reaching final conclusion ICMR argues that findings can't be extrapolated on Indian population A study by Jawaharlal Nehru University has found impact on male fertility A day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of the possibility of mobile phone handsets causing cancer, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Thursday that there was “no reason to panic” as a...
More »Centre cuts down MGNREGS grants to State by Prakash Kugve
The Centre has decided to cut down the grants to the State under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It has also asked the State government to follow certain instructions with regard to the effective implementation of the scheme. The State will be receiving Rs 1,972.97 crore for 2011-12, as against Rs 2,107.93 crore last year. The State had asked the chief executive officers of the Zilla Panchayats to...
More »New land Bill allows states to script own role by Saubhadra Chatterji
Proposes that the percentage of land to be acquired by state agencies should be decided by their governments. The modified Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill is likely to suggest giving state governments the power to determine their roles in acquiring land for industry. Also, in a positive for farmers, the Bill proposes that if the land remains unused for five years, it should be automatically returned to them. If sold to a third...
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