Tightrope walking on LARR Bill

By Archana Vaidya
18 Aug 2011

The draft Land Acquisition Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill (LARR Bill) is in public domain for discussion. The Bill makes a right start when in the preamble it declares that cumulative outcome of compulsory acquisition should be that affected persons become partners in development.

To ensure this partnership LARR Bill seems to have come up with solutions for some of the most vexatious issues that the existing law faces and has introduced some innovative and much needed provisions such as for resettlement and rehabilitation of affected people. However some important issues still have not been dealt with comprehensively and would require more deliberations and debate.

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Bungling government creates an icon

By S. G. Vombatkere
18 Aug 2011


Unprecedented public support for Anna Hazare's demand for Jan Lokpal Bill has rattled the political class. People power has won the first round of the decisive bout but greater challenges lie ahead.

Over the past four decades successive Union governments of various political hues have not even gotten to the stage of tabling a Lokpal Bill, and combined with a rash of monumental scams in the past couple of years, it has pushed the corruption issue on to the front page.

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Crisis before capitalism

Ashok B Sharma
10 Aug 2011

As lingering financial crisis in the developed world is casting its shadow on the developing countries, it is time to look beyond capitalism for sustainable and equitable development.

Despite various stimulus packages and waivers, the global financial crisis is far from being over
The slow revival process after the shock of global financial crisis that began from August-September 2008 suffered another major jolt with Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgrading US economy last week.

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Pushing adivasis to the brink

By Pandurang Hegde
09 Aug 2011


On the occasion of the 'International Day of the World's Indigenous People', the policy makers should realize that unless corrective and protective measures are put in place, the adivasis would soon lose their livelihoods, culture and faith to the mad rush to exploit the natural resources.

Today, on August 9, the world is celebrating ‘International Day of the World’s Indigenous People’ to acknowledge the important role of tribal cultures and their contribution to cultural and linguistic diversity. This decade is also ‘Second International Decade for Indigenous People’ to highlight and strengthen international cooperation for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as culture, education, human rights, environment, and social and economic development.

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Towards conflict free land acquisition

By Archana Vaidya
05 Aug 2011

Before acquiring lands for development, the governments must ensure that the original land-owners are made stakeholders in the progress, instead of being left behind homeless and jobless.

The Draft Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation (LARR), 2011 has been put in the public domain for a period of one month for wider consultation and building consensus. Before we analyse the new draft of the proposed Bill, it is imperative to understand why there has been so much anger, resentment and conflict associated with the compulsory acquisition.

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Time to revive native cow breeds

By Devinder Sharma
03 Aug 2011

Very high milk productivity of Indian cow breeds in Brazil proves that with proper nutrition, veterinary care and genetic development our desi cows can help us meet our growing milk demand. After decades of indifference, policymakers are now turning their focus on native breeds.

Better late than never! Highly concerned by the demand for milk outstripping supply, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has finally decided to develop 900 progeny bulls of primarily native breeds to meet the increasing demand for milk in the years to come.

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BNHS launches revised Field Guide of Salim Ali

By Atul Sathe
01 Aug 2011

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has launched the revised edition of “A Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent” by Sálim Ali and S Dillon Ripley first published in 1983.

The new book in a new attractive avatar is titled “Birds of the Indian Subcontinent – A Field Guide” co-authored by Ranjit Manakadan, J C Daniel and Nikhil Bhopale. Their insights span three generations of avian expertise at BNHS. The book offers a lot more information, illustrations and other features as compared to the earlier book, at an affordable price. The book was released in Mumbai at the BNHS auditorium packed with bird lovers.

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Activists demand National Development Planning Act

New Delhi,
03 Aug 2011

Several social activists led by Medha Patkar have alleged that the Congress led UPA, instead of progressing from its previous positions has actually retracted to its pre-2006 position through the draft LARR Bill.

“The government has also gone back from the promises made by the UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, in 2006, while agreeing to the National Advisory Council (NAC) draft of the legislation. The NAC Draft, in hindsight was far more progressive and comprehensive as it referred to the draft legislation for ‘Development Planning, Minimum Displacement and Just Rehabilitation’. It is an irony that Jairam Ramesh, who has introduced this draft, was part of that NAC team,” said the joint press release issued by the activists sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

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Odisha's little Gandhians

By S. G. Vombatkere
01 Aug 2011

After inspection of the villages peacefully resisting the POSCO project in Odisha, the NCPCR has justified the children's participation in the ongoing agitation terming it 'voluntary'.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had sent a 3-member team on July 4, 2011, for an on-the-spot inspection of the area of the POSCO project in Jagatsinghpur District of Odisha. Its objective was to examine whether children were being used, misused or abused by the elders by involving them in the on-going protest against the POSCO project in the area.

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Oceans under threat

By Pandurang Hegde
30 Jul 2011

There are heavy pressures on coastal areas and oceans due to the unregulated developmental activity. To save the oceans, we need to put a check on marine pollution, ocean acidification and over-exploitation of marine life.

Earth’s renewable resources are under threat. Having destroyed the grasslands and forests, human actions are causing irreversible damage to the marine ecosystems. The global warming is affecting not only the arctic zones, but also the aquatic life forms in the sea.

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Making the State master of citizens

By S. G. Vombatkere
28 Jul 2011

The Aadhar project's primary aim is to bring every citizen under the watchful eyes of the state. UID will enable and support surveillance and tracking, irrespective of its declared primary aim of enabling services for the poor.

The Unique Identification (UID) project, also known as Aadhaar, has been pushed into implementation by creation of a UID Authority of India (UIDAI) in 2009. It is slated to spend Rs. 45,000 to 1,50,000 crore with a sanctioned budget of Rs. 3,000 crores without approval of Parliament. Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys Technologies, has been nominated to head the UIDAI and accorded cabinet minister rank

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Stop CDM for coal power plants

By Shankar Sharma
19 Jul 2011


It would be criminal wastage of public funding if CDM encourages more coal based power projects on the premise that the super critical technology is to be deployed in the plants. Instead, CDM in developing countries should first focus on efficiency improvements measures in generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of electricity and locally available renewable energy sources.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under the patronage of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was adopted by most countries as one of the global response to reduce global warming. It permits industrialized countries (Annex 1 countries under Kyoto Protocol) to earn emission credits through investment in sustainable development projects that reduce overall Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries.

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The last hope of common man

By Devinder Sharma
12 Jul 2011


In recent times, the Supreme Court has given some crucial judgements to curb the anti-people policies being pushed by governments in the name of development and growth. Considering the abject surrender of policymakers and media before the corrupt, judicial activism remains the only hope for the marginalised Indians.

In a series of judgements that have challenged the mainline economic thinking, the country’s highest court has struck at the very foundation of India’s growth story. Moving a step ahead of simple diagnosis and introspection, the Supreme Court has taken on the responsibility of cleaning the mess.

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