-The Hindu   The CPI(Marxist) on Thursday described the Planning Commission's definition of BPL as “a mockery and a FRAud” and found fault with the UPA government for not being able to deliver on its two-year-old promise of food security legislation. In an editorial in the latest edition of the party organ People's Democracy, the party referred to the ongoing proceedings on a PIL before the Supreme Court, regarding the Planning Commission's...

-The Indian Express   Much hope surrounds India’s land acquisition bill, which is to be introduced into Parliament soon. Given how questions about pricing and purchasing agricultural land have begun to affect, and in some cases warp, politics all over India, much depends on getting the institutional FRAmework right. It is necessary to ensure that the land-use change that accompanies this urbanisation be carried out fairly, efficiently and effectively. It has...

Weighed down by an unending season of corruption, the political leadership of ruling the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has stepped in to rescue the regime’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme from discredit due to mounting allegations of endemic irregularities. The National Advisory Council of the UPA, headed by Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday asked the Manmohan Singh government to expedite notification of the much-awaited rules that would allow public scrutiny of the...

Those responsible for the FRAming and implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have once again protested the linking of Aadhaar number (Unique Identification UID) with the job guarantee scheme for the rural masses. In a letter sent to the Union rural development secretary, B K Sinha, they have expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to make UID compulsory for extending NREGA benefits in Mysore saying that the...

The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed an order that would have allowed Indians to seek information from the Supreme Court under the country’s Right-to-Information act, rather than under existing court rules, after the top court appealed the ruling. Earlier this month, the Central Information Commission, which oversees the implementation of India’s transparency law, ruled that people seeking information from the court were entitled to use the four-year-old statute if they...