|
Food
security hit by land acquisition: Supreme Court
New Delhi, November 28, 2011: The government has been on an acquisition spree of agricultural land since the economy opened
two decades ago, seriously affecting basic food security and
driving the small farmer to suicide, the Supreme Court has said. In the "name of planned development or industrial
growth" an 1894 law has become the statutory route for
"massive land acquisition" of prime farmlands in the
past two decades, said a 25-page judgment delivered by Justice G S Singhvi on November 23.
The judgment quoted the fifth and final report of the M S
Swaminathan-led National Commission For Farmers to slam the acquisition of agricultural land with no thought for the
availability of food for the future in a country where "60
per cent of the population still depend on agriculture and where
people living below poverty line are finding it difficult to
survive". Justice Singhvi quoted the "words of
wisdom" spoken by India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru
that "everything else can wait, but not agriculture" in this context.
Will review Congress loss in Hisar: Pranab
New Delhi, October 17, 2011 (IANS): Defeat is always 'sad' and the Congress would
be reviewing the party's loss in the parliamentary by-election in
Hisar, Haryana, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Monday.
As it became clear that election had been won by the Haryana Janhit
Congress' (HJC) Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi and that the Congress nominee was
coming a distant third, Mukherjee told reporters: 'Party's loss in
elections is always a sad thing. And we shall have to analyse why we
have lost the by-election.'
'But just now it is not possible for me to make an instant comment,'
Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event here.
The Hisar seat, which had fallen vacant in June following the death of
three-time chief minister Bhajan Lal, had around 40 candidates in the
polls. The election was being seen as significant as Anna Hazare and his
team members had stepped in to campaign against the Congress. The election, held on Oct 13, witnessed 70 percent polling. About 9.3
lakh voters (nearly 70 percent) of 13.32 lakh registered voters had voted.
The Maran family owns Sun Network, which is a media giant and the CBI
has already registered an FIR against the DMK leader and the Sun TV MD
under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act
in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal. The case has been registered against under Section 120b of IPC read with
13(2) with 13 (1)(d) and also section 7 and 12 of the Prevention of
Corruption Act. Source: IBNLive |
|
|
