-The HIndustan Tiimes After Nandigram and Assembly polls, MAMata Banerjee once again summoned her intellectual brigade, this time to drum up a protest platform against FDI in retail and other issues, the reason for which she withdrew support from the UPA government. From singers, Tollywood actors and playwrights, pro-MAMata intellectuals showcased the protest with not only strong rhetoric but songs and recitals at Metro Channel in Esplanade. The programme under the...

-The Economic Times Ahead of the first meeting of the Group of Ministers on the land bill, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asserted that the proposed land bill balances the needs of economic growth with concerns of the common man. In a note for the meeting scheduled for Thursday, Ramesh has argued that the existing Land Acquisition Act, 1894 shows little regard for those whose land is acquired. The note draws...

-The Indian Express With the Tata Motors fiasco still reverberating across India Inc and political circles across the country, MAMata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal has initiated steps to welcome another automaker by handing over land - this time a foreign one - albeit not for production but for a stockyard. The move is surprising also as Maruti was gung-ho about land in Narendra Modi's Gujarat and not much was known about negotiations in...

-The Hindustan Times In response to the widespread protests and the nation-wide hartal last Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation on Friday and tried to explain why these decisions had become inevitable. The thrust of his argument was, “We need a revival in investor confidence, domestically and globally.” For this, the current high fiscal deficit must be contained and, hence, the hike in the prices of diesel and cap on...

-The Hindustan Times West Bengal chief minister MAMata Banerjee will lead the campaign in the Congress strongholds during the ensuing panchayat elections in early 2013. She will lead the Trinamool Congress campaign in the green belt in North Bengal, which has always voted for the Congress. MAMata has  earmarked Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury’s bastion, Murshidabad, MP Deepa Dasmunshi’s base, North Dinajpur, and the late ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s home turf, Malda, now...