Data on growth in rural jobs and on progress in social indicators don't bear out the story of uniform and high progress
The spectre of Singur and now its verdict is looming large on the future of many of Bengal's projects, especially the state government's industrial parks that are vacant. As many more episodes await, the question uppermost on everyone's minds is, how long will Singur haunt Bengal?
Ahead of the assembly elections next year, the BJP has been wallowing in a welter of ideas that has resurrected the debate on populism versus pragmatism, as it has to pander to two important but incompatible constituencies, of the freebie consuming masses and Bengaluru's heavy hitters craving for even roads, pristine lakes and unbroken power supply, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
A blood-soaked Nandigram made Mamata Banerjee what she is today and underpins the hopes of the combustible West Bengal leader of clinching a third straight term in office.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is exploring the possibility of constructing metro rail routes along the Western and Eastern Express highways to further ease traffic congestion in the metropolis.
The process of acquiring land for Mumbai's second international airport, to be build in Navi Mumbai, has kickstarted. The phase wise development plan too has been rolled out.
She said the Centre was contemplating framing a new land policy after her movement in Singur.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
The Commerce Ministry on Friday proposed revamp of the SEZ policy to address issues concerning land acquisition and boost exports with a view to bridge the widening trade deficit.
By a rough estimate, the company will have to pay Rs 3,750 crore for land acquisition.
The government is being pushed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to put the food bill on fast track as the Congress had promised a 'right to food' in its 2009 election manifesto, reports Anita Katyal
The state government was under a mammoth debt of Rs 2 lakh crore.
Seeking the abolition of the SEZ policy, the INLD suggested framing of Manufacturing Investment Region policy to boost investment and production.
The empowered goup of ministers on special economic zones (SEZs) on Thursday cleared 83 proposals
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
The Tatas maybe facing an uphill task getting their small car project in Singur started, but the group's ambitious special economic zone at Gopalpur in Orissa is soon set for launch sans any land acquisition problems.
The officials also said that the ministry of commerce and industry had recommended the Maharashtra government to take back the land acquisition notification that it had issued. The zone has been given in-principle approval by the BoA, as RIL is yet to acquire the requisite land.
The Raigad District Collector had last month issued a notice asking the landowners in the 22 project-affected villages in the district to record their statement regarding their consent for the land acquisition. The petition says that this move is a result of the pressure from local politicians for opposing the SEZ.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the second largest drug maker in the country, would invest about Rs 750 crore.
At least clear zones where firms have own land, says minister.
The rehabilitation policy, which is being currently formulated by the Ministry of Rural Development, is unlikely to affect the special economic zones already approved by the government.
The West Bengal government may consider asking companies to directly purchase land for all industrial projects, including the Salim group's proposed SEZ.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrkar ruled out the possibility of deploying the Indian Army in anti-Naxal operations.
Capping the size of special economic zones to 5,000 hectare may help governments quell social unrest caused by compulsory land acquisition for such projects.
The same political aide to chief minister's office who had spoken to rediff.com about Bhattacharjee's intent to step down on Monday said over telephone a day after, "I have never seen Buddhababu so perturbed as he was yesterday."
Fresh notifications and approvals for setting up Special Economic Zones are being put on hold till an Empowered Group of Ministers looking into the matter takes a final view, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The meeting of the empowered group of ministers on special economic zones could not reach any firm view on on Monday while the government will take the rehabilitation policy to the Cabinet next month.
Protests by farmers to land acquisition notwithstanding, the SEZ juggernaut is all set to move on when the high-powered Board of Approvals takes up 37 more proposals, including two from Maharashtra, on Wednesday.
Over 1,00,000 acres will be taken over by the Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal governments or government agencies
SEZs should be judged in the same way you would many other export promotion schemes such as Drawback, Duty Entitlement Pass Book and Export Promotion Capital Goods while discussing indirect taxes.
'The TMC did not bother telling me, a sitting MLA for 20 years, why I was not being given a ticket.'
Mass agitations are not particularly uncommon in India. But a mass agitation led by an environment-related issue that has gone out of hand is not something that can be easily recalled.
The Sena and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray labelled each other gaddar (traitor) after Shinde's rebellion split their original party last year, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly asserted he had exacted revenge on Thackeray for his betrayal.
After violence in Nandigram, the Government has decided not to give further approvals for Special Economic Zones where acquisition of land is being resisted.
The Congress, desperate to make a comeback in Gujarat, which has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for over 20 years, has tried to reach out to various sections of society in its blueprint unveiled.
On other counts, however, RBI has not found merit in the commerce ministry's argument to keep loans for SEZ development outside the ambit of commercial real estate exposure. It has reiterated that bank exposure for purchase of land for an SEZ and its development, will be classified as commercial real estate, while infrastructure development will not be treated in the same manner.
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