New land acquisition bill won’t bring relief to tribals Debate over land acquisition for “public purposes” has turned into a chasing game for more compensation. There is political competition over which ruling party gives more money as compensation for land. It has become a “we v them” game. In between we have lost track of the key issues related to land acquisition. This long-standing debate never revolved around compensation alone. To begin...

The state of environment report released by UP environment directorate says more and more of prime agricultural land is getting diverted to non-agricultural uses in the state. "Land is under severe pressure and has been subjected to many kinds of degradation", says the report Strangely, the number of very small land holdings has gone up considerably. The report highlights need for integrated land and water management including drainage for preventing further...

Amid no clear consensus emerging on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the government is likely to move an “open-ended” draft law in Parliament’s Monsoon Session, earmarking 40 to 45 per cent of the net sown area as “reserved agricultural zone” in which there can be no change in land use for at least 10 years. In a move to ensure that agricultural produce is not affected by toxic contamination, the...

Five years after launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the UPA government is now shifting the focus from mere employment generation to creation of durable assets. With this focus, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has come out with the “MGNREGA works field manual”, which lays down “do’s and don’ts” for the states. The manual has been prepared by a team of experts headed by GN Sharma, who is consultant...

'Civil society' is a special kind of political capacity, not a repository of any special virtue—and it is not more inherently valuable than the state The story of Indian democracy sometimes plays like a soap opera. The latest episode—not the uplifting kind—involves a confrontation between the government and a mysterious something called “civil society”. Can this “civil society” cavalcade in to rescue a flailing Indian democracy—that once-proud system now being abused...