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Memories of Another day

Memories of Another day
While my Parents Pulin babu and Basanti devi were living

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

SOCIAL BANDITRY and Law to take back land from locked units!

 

Indian Holocaust My Father`s life and Time- Two Hundred FIFTY FOUR
 
Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

  1. Land Acquisition in India | Land Acquisition Act of India - India ...

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REALTY, BIG PROJECTS HIT SLOWDOWN

Times of India - Anand Bodh - ‎Dec 20, 2009‎
Likewise, the boom in real estate sector in Mohali, Kharar, Kurali, Zirakpur, Derabassi and Lalru wilted under meltdown, with buyers shying away from the ...

Rental market likely to go through rough patch

Economic Times - ‎Dec 9, 2009‎
The rental market in India has always been directly dependent on the growth of the economy. During the realty boom, the rates shot up and even owners with ...

Textile baron-promoted first IT park 'Ambit' gets CSS as anchor tenant

Economic Times - ‎Dec 16, 2009‎
Other IT facilities in the fray included India Land Properties and RR Skyline. Realty trackers perceive this commercial lease transaction as a big ticket ...

Dubai brings down world

Hindustan Times - ‎Nov 27, 2009‎
Most are employed in the speculator-led boom in real estate and construction that according to Realty-Network Association began in 2001, following a rise in ...

Recession a rude wake-up call for NRI-rich villages

Economic Times - ‎Dec 14, 2009‎
The remittance economy had spun off its own business offspring in the jewellery, automotive and realty segments. That money had driven down enthusiasm for ...

Hit by Realty tremor, man sets

Express Buzz - ‎Dec 15, 2009‎
"Deva Prasad had a piece of land at Maheshwaram and with the real estate boom, he planned to sell the land and start a finance consultancy," Gopalpuram ...

Tolly's bigger than Bolly

Times of India - Sushil Rao - ‎Dec 18, 2009‎
That's one reason why a bunch of landowners turned to producing films during the real estate boom. Having struck land deals in the outskirts of the city for ...

Now, highrise IT destination in Sec V

Times of India - Ajanta Chakraborty - ‎Dec 17, 2009‎
The first, an IT park at Jagadishpur, hit the land acquisition roadblock and the second an IT Township with Vedic Realty had to be called off after the ...

Market Closing: Asia melts as Dubai heats up

India Business Blog (blog) - ‎Nov 27, 2009‎
India wasn't spared either. The benchmark indices here closed deep in the red. Realty, banking and engineering stocks were the worst losers. ...

Dubai crisis: Don't panic, but hedge your bets

Rediff - ‎Nov 30, 2009‎
Murphy's law is at work in the global financial and realty markets. If something can go wrong, it will. No one who is familiar with the facts of Dubai's ...


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Flawless GST not free of shortcomings

Flawless GST not free of shortcomings

The task force proposal for creation of council of finance ministers is good for stability of tax regime & for business.

Copenhagen deal marks strategic gain 

The shift of emphasis from national emission reductions to equitable access to atmospheric space is a significant achievement.

Implementing a destination-based GST could be complex 

Implementing a destination-based GST could be complex, without perfect coordination between the Centre and the states and among the states.


Most Commented

 
 

Biz guru's pill for Bengal

Times of India - ‎12 hours ago‎
"Growth in India is driven by domestic consumption, which is a huge plus-point for the country," he added. According to Prahalad, land acquisition is a key ...

Land issue may hit key sectors: Tata

India Today - ‎2 hours ago‎
Land acquisition-related problems, particularly with regard to Singur, where the Tata Nano project was first planned, and Narayana Murthy's demand for ...

India, Bhutan to sign four MoUs for hydel power projects

Hindu - Sandeep Dikshit - ‎13 hours ago‎
... with countries in the region is not on the cards owing to land acquisition issues in some tea gardens on the Indian side, diplomatic sources here said. ...

Tata Steel's skills on 'people issues' need honing: MD

Business Standard - ‎14 hours ago‎
Having faced delays in land acquisition for several projects, Tata Steel would have to sharpen its skills in dealing with people issues, said Managing ...

Tsunami-battered countries restart, rebuild amid challenges

CNN - Dan Rivers - ‎2 hours ago‎
Authorities blame the delay on issues regarding land acquisition and they have decided to pay residents to rebuild their homes on their own, ...

N-plant row in legal hurdle

TopNews - Sarthak Gupta - ‎3 hours ago‎
According to lawyers, the project-affected villagers cannot move court to challenge the land acquisition process. The only aspect they can challenge is the ...

Vested interests to blame, says Tata Steel

Livemint - Aveek Datta - ‎13 hours ago‎
Nerurkar's statement recalls Tata group chairman Ratan Tata's allegation in August 2007 that political protests against land acquisition in Singur in West ...

Posco India asked to file fresh proposal for its Orissa SEZ

Economic Times - ‎Dec 15, 2009‎
... mtpa plant in Orissa that has been held up for four years over land acquisition. Posco India Pvt Ltd had been given extension twice since October 2006, ...

Land acquisition for highway projects to get human face

Daily Pioneer - Nidhi Sharma - ‎Dec 20, 2009‎
Land acquisition for national highways is all set to become a benevolent exercise. Battling with years of delays caused by court cases related to land ...

Backed by local leaders, villagers' protest gains momentum

Indian Express - ‎6 hours ago‎
Strongly opposing the forcible acquisition of land against the wishes of residents of over two dozen villages, Garcha has demanded a high-level probe into ...


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With 267 deals, mergers and acquisitions cross $10 billion

19 Dec 2009, 0226 hrs IST, Rupali Mukherjee, TNN

NEW DELHI: Mergers and acquisitions
(M&As) crossed a little over $10 billion with a total of 267 deals for the period January-December (till

December 13) this year. Of these, 142 were domestic deals (with a value of nearly $6 billion) and 125 cross-border deals (pegged at over $4 billion), which include both outbound and inbound investments
.

Domestic M&As have sustained the momentum and were pegged at $5.8 billion during the January-December period, while outbound and inbound deals have reduced, and together totalled $4.23 billion. This is because there have been several large restructuring deals and significant consolidation in many industries.

More than half of the cross-border deals — 64, were outbound deals where domestic companies acquired businesses overseas, according to preliminary analysis by global consultancy firm, Grant Thornton. The outbound deals were pegged at $1.12 billion.

It may be noted that there will be some changes in the M&A data over the next fortnight with a couple of deals in the offing. These deals including DLF's acquisition of DLF Assets will further boost deal values this year.

PE investments including qualified institutional placements (QIPs) were pegged at $11.17 billion during January-December period. Overall the total value of deals (M&A and PE) during the year almost halved at $21.20 billion, as against $41.54 billion and $70.14 billion registered in 2008 and 2007 respectively.

Deal volumes (M&A and PE-QIP together) dropped in 2009 as against the previous year, even though there was a revival in the second half of the year. There were 766 deals in 2008 as compared to 488 this year.

After the economic crisis in 2008-end, slowly there has been a revival with companies reporting better earnings, stock markets improving and the deal activity going up. Now there is a renewed interest in QIPs and fund raising plans by corporates.

Says CG Srividya, partner Grant Thornton, "The year has also seen significant consolidation activities with domestic dealmakers outdoing their cross-border counterparts in M&A deal activity. After a gap of three years, we are seeing domestic M&A being higher than both inbound and outbound deals put together".

The value of cross-border deals (both inbound and outbound) reduced by nearly 84% from 2008. The Russian government's acquisition of a strategic stake in Sistema-Shyam Telecom for $676 million was the largest inbound deal during 2009.

While there is clearly an increase in deal activity recently compared to the initial few months of the year, India Inc requires much more confidence, risk appetite and the urge to grow rapidly before we get back to the peak activity levels of 2007 and most parts of 2008, analysts said.

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SOCIAL BANDITRY
- Rereading Hobsbawm to understand the Indian Maoists politics and play Ramachandra Guha

The novelist and critic, C.S. Lewis, said he had no time for those who thought that since they had read a book once, they had no need to read it again. The great works of literature were to read again and again. The urge to go back to a book was prompted sometimes by aesthetics, the desire to savour once more its artful or elegant prose; and, at other times, by the sense that one would learn something new on a second reading. Thus, it is said that War and Peace makes one kind of impression when read while young, quite another when read in middle age.

My own tastes run in the direction of non-fiction, but at least in this sphere I think I am exempt from C.S. Lewis's strictures. Among the books I go back to are autobiographies, such as those written by Neville Cardus, G.H. Hardy, Mahatma Gandhi, Verrier Elwin, Salim Ali and Leonard Woolf. I have also read Tagore's tract on nationalism three or four times, and C.L.R. James's Beyond a Boundary at least once every other year.

These return journeys have chiefly been undertaken for pleasure. However, I recently reread a book for instruction. Like some other Indians, I have been thinking a great deal recently about the rise of the Maoist movement in the country. Who or what are these Maoists? Are they, as the home ministry tells us, a bunch of thugs and murderers, or are they, as some left-wing intellectuals claim, idealistic and high-minded revolutionaries who shall create a society free of evil and exploitation?

In search of answers, I went back to a book I had first read 25 years ago. In the 1980s, while writing a doctoral thesis on peasant resistance in the Uttarakhand Himalaya, I had read the works of British social historians who had written about lower-class protest in early modern England. Within that vast and once very influential literature, I thought that one study in particular might help clarify my ideas about the Maoists now active in central and in eastern India. This was E.J. Hobsbawm's book, Bandits.

And so I read that book again. I learnt (or learnt afresh) that there is an important distinction to be made between the ordinary criminal and what Hobsbawm calls the "social bandit". Whereas the former is despised by poor and rich equally, the latter "never cease[s] to be part of society in the eyes of the peasants (whatever the authorities say)". "The point about social bandits," writes Hobsbawm, "is that they are peasant outlaws whom the lord and state regard as criminals, but who remain within peasant society, and are considered by their people as champions, avengers, fighters for justice, perhaps even leaders for liberation, and in any case as men to be admired, helped and supported."

Hobsbawm was writing about another continent and another century. Still, his book does seem to speak somewhat to the India of the present. In an evocative passage, he writes of social bandits in medieval Europe that "they lived their wild, free lives in the forest, the mountain caves, or on the wide steppes, armed with the 'rifle as tall as the man', the pair of pistols at the belt…, their tunics laced, gilded and criss-crossed by bandoleers, their moustaches bristling, conscious that fame was their reward among enemies and friends."

This description, with a word or phrase changed or modified, could fit the current bête noire of the West Bengal state government, the Maoist leader who uses the nom de plume, Kishenji. To be sure, he wears a cloth mask rather than a moustache, while, to broadcast his fame (and notoriety), he uses those very modern devices, the cell-phone and the television camera. However, the way he speaks and the manner he affects bring to mind the swagger and self-regard of the medieval social bandit. Like that character, Kishenji will be wild, and he will be free — and he thinks the police will never catch him.

Hobsbawm observes that in several countries and historical epochs (as for example, early-20th-century Mexico), bandits had joined revolutionary political struggles, "not because they understood the complexities of democratic, socialist or even anarchist theory…, but because the cause of the people and the poor was self-evidently just, and the revolutionaries demonstrated their trustworthiness by unselfishness, self-sacrifice and devotion — in other words by their personal behaviour". Then, he continues, "That is why military service and jail, the places where bandits and modern revolutionaries are most likely to meet in conditions of equality and mutual trust, have seen many political conversions."

Once more, the parallels with the current crop of Naxalites are not hard to detect. What they have going for them is their lifestyle — they can live with, and more crucially, live like the poor peasant and tribal, eating the same food, wearing the same clothes, eschewing the comforts and seductions of the city. In this readiness to identify with the oppressed, they are in contrast to the bureaucrat, the politician and the police officer. And to take Hobsbawm's other point, from the late 1960s onwards, the jail has indeed been a crucial site for the transmission of Maoist ideology in India.

Historical comparisons are never exact. In some respects, the Indian Maoists are like the social bandits of early modern Europe. They too emerged in response to inequalities in society and the manifest corruptions of the State. With the government indifferent to the needs of the poor, a band of motivated individuals have come forward to identify with their interests. Here, the parallels break down. For the Maoists seek not justice for a single individual or village, but a wholesale re-ordering of society. Their ambitions are far larger than, for example, those of the late Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, he of the bristling (and outsize) moustache. Whereas the gang of that Tamil Robin Hood operated in a single hill range, the Maoists have a network stretching across several states.

Hobsbawm wrote of the bandits he studied that "they are not activists and not ideologists or prophets from whom novel visions or plans of social and political organization are to be expected". The Maoists, on the other hand, see themselves as ideologists and even prophets, although it must be said that their vision and plan are not novel but wholly derivative. They hope that, in time, they will prevail by the force of arms over the Indian State, thus to capture power in New Delhi much as their revered hero, Mao Zedong, had captured power in Beijing 60 years ago. This larger aim marks them out from the likes of Veerappan, as, of course, does their access to more deadly weapons such as AK47s, dynamite and land mines, not to speak of their practice of a virtual cult of violence which takes pleasure in blasting transmission lines and railway stations and beheading policemen and alleged informers.

As it happens, however, the revolutionary dreams of the Maoists are a fantasy. The Indian State is far more powerful today than the Chinese State was back in the 1940s. And in spite of all its manifest faults and failures, most Indians prefer our current, multi-party democracy to a one-party state to be run by the Maoists. For these, and other, reasons, we must withhold from them their own preferred appellation, that of "revolutionaries". They are considerably less than that, but also far more than ordinary criminals. Should we then see them as social bandits for a post-modern age, capable, like their medieval counterparts, of irritating the hell out of the government of the day, if ultimately incapable of overcoming or replacing it?

 
Law to take back land from locked units
- Bill bar on shopping malls on factory plots OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, Dec. 21: The government today passed a bill that allows it to acquire from clo- sed and sick mills, factories, workshops and tea gardens land that had been leased out to them.

The West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2009, was necessitated by the fact that the land at these units was being used to build commercial and residential complexes and not to serve the purpose for which it had been given on lease.

"With the amendment, land retained by individuals or groups under the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act, 1953, for… running factories, mills and tea gardens cannot be used or developed for any purpose other than for what they had been retained and will be taken back," says the bill tabled by the land and land reforms minister.

The land will then be reused for industry, government officials said.

They added that many of the shut jute factories dotting the city and its suburbs are on such land.

Land minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah said the total area of land that had been given on lease under the 1953 act was 4.63 lakh acres. "So far, we have identified 41,000 acres that have closed factories or tea estates. But the process of identification is on."

"After the bill becomes law, we can immediately begin the process of acquiring this land," he added.

Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had been insisting that instead of acquiring fertile land, the government should use land locked up in closed factories for industry.

"The objective of passing the bill is clear. Either the land will have to be used to run factories, mills and tea gardens or it will be vested (taken back)," said Mollah.

The 1953 act had been enacted to take away land in excess of a ceiling imposed after the zamindari system was aboli- shed. However, instead of shutting down the mills, gardens and workshops already in operation on the zamindars' plots and acquiring the land, the state government gave it on lease to the owners of the units.

A clause in the 1953 act, though, had left the door open for misuse: it said the premises of these factories, mills or tea gardens may be developed or used for other purposes as well, but with the permission of the state government.

Today's amendment does away with that clause to prevent "misuse" of the land.

"Citing this provision, many owners were increasingly looking to build shopping malls and housing complexes on the land on which their sick or closed units and tea gardens stood. The bill is aimed at stopping this and giving the government liberty to use the land for industry again," a senior government official said.

Earlier, the official added, "the moment the government denied them permission (to build a mall, for example), they moved court and obtained a verdict in their favour," said a senior government official.

Asked what would happen to the complexes that have already come up, minister Mollah said: "A lot of issues have to be examined. But if the state had given permission for them and everything is legal, there shouldn't be a problem."

Tophttp://www.telegraphindia.com/1091222/jsp/bengal/story_11895350.jsp
 
 
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Law to take back land from locked units!
It is a Classic Example of social Banditry our dear Friend Dr. Ramchandra Guha , the Penguin barnded Writer discusses in the TELEGRAPH, published today. The Law item is also published in the Telegraph. But Kokata News papers almost blacked out the news about Tax Benefits hitherto enjoyed by the Employees ABOLISHED Completely due to the abolishment of FRINGE Benefit. The Toilet media also blacked out the Disinvestment Road map.Kolkata Media is all about the bloody POWER Politics between Mamata Banerjee and CPIM. Nothing Else!

After a long time I was involved in HOT Discussion with my friends in the Neighbourhood as I landed in the ADDA directly on a visit to Grocery.
Since I am leving the station to VISIT Rajsthan for a FORTNIGHT. It would disconnect me from ONLINE Status aswell as my neighbourhood. My Son STEEVE is seeking way out in Sensex Trading. But the People with whom I interacted this morning on my Cell Phone, Land Line and directly in the Neighbourhood know nothing about the Social Banditry or Economic Calamity as they are destined to Pay additional Taxes for this Financial Year. I browsed TV Channels and it is all about Entertainment and Reality show or Hatred Campaign against the People within or outside. I have earned some unexpected friends on MSNINDIA .com who trying their best to desist me posting anything about the Economic Disaster and Social Banditry, Ruling Zionist Hindutva Hegemony and demand DEATH for me.


I pity myself that I have no space to address my brothern anywhere as have to witness all these activities of systematic Ethnic cleansing and Mass Destruction alienated alone as My Black Untouchable Indigenous Aboriginal People are not only Deprived, enslaved bonded,Starving but they remain DETACHED from rest of the world. We do try to resolve issues very locally and there is no Problem Lcal as we all live in a World of FREE market.


I roam around the Starving Landscape, Humanscape.Imeet people inflicted with Intense Mind control having lost VISION. They do STRAND in Man Made Calamities and takeit as FUN. I have seen how the Harvest yielding Fields change in character ands every INCH is Capyured by Realty. This world is NO less a Pandura of SVTAR minus the RESISTANCE itself. Tea Gardens and Production units have been converted in Grave Yards. Now the Government makes it LEGAL correcting Land Acquisition Act.


Human shield finger at rebels

Midnapore, Dec. 21: Residents of a Jhargram village where innocent people were caught in a crossfire between security forces and Maoists last evening today alleged that they had been forced to assemble to serve as a human shield for the guerrillas.

Two suspected Maoists were shot dead by the forces yesterday, but six villagers were hit by bullets. A third body was found inside Boira forest today, but police had not been able to identify him till late tonight.

Hundreds were surrounding the police, protesting arrests at a place where mines were found yesterday afternoon, when the guerrillas opened fire from a forest behind them.

"Shots rang out as we started lobbing tear-gas shells to drive the villagers away," an officer said.

Three men — Gurucharan Tudu, Tapan Mahato and Surajit Singh — who took bullets in their legs are now at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. Three others — Pradip Midya, Gostobehari Midya and Durgesh Mahato — have been referred to a Calcutta hospital with gunshot wounds in their back or chest.

A relative of one of those shot said the guerrillas had gone to their village — Chandipur — on Saturday night and asked them to assemble at Boira, about 4km away, on Sunday. "They told us to go there in the morning for a meeting. Even a five-month pregnant woman was forced to go," said Chameli (name changed on request).

Villagers, many of whom went to the Midnapore hospital to see the injured, said the Maoists had laid two improvised explosive devices around 1pm. Around 3pm, the joint forces reached the spot, spotted the IEDs and defused them. When the security forces advanced towards Boira village to conduct a raid, nearly 1,000 villagers surrounded them.

As the police tried to drive them away using tear gas, the guerrillas hiding in the forest skirting the village started fi-ring. "The Maoists used us as a shield. They had told us to block the security forces. When we tried to gherao the jawans, the Maoists started firing at the forces from the jungle behind us," said Ratan Mahato, a resident of neighbouring Sirshi village.

Top
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091222/jsp/bengal/story_11895226.jsp

Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it has made a third successive gas discovery in the D3 deep-sea block in the Krishna-Godavari
basin, off the east coast. Economic Times reports.

Reliance found three gas reservoirs in the KGV-D3-R1 well drilled on the block KG-DWN-2003/1 (or D3), a company statement said here.

The block, located about 45 kilometres off the coast in the Bay of Bengal, is in the vicinity of its prolific D6 block where three of the 19 oil and gas finds have already been put on production.

"This discovery (in D3) supplements RIL's understanding, of the petroleum systems within the block," it said.

Reliance holds 90 per cent interest in the block that it won in the fifth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy. Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc, a unit of Hardy Oil of UK, has the remaining 10 per cent.

"Three reservoir zones were encountered at Miocene level having gross thickness of 4, 23 and 16 meters," the statement said adding the discovery has been named Dhirubhai-44.

The first two exploratory wells (KGV-D3-A1 and KGV-D3-B1) resulted in gas discoveries (Dhirubhai 39 and 41) and are presently under appraisal.

"Besides the above discoveries, several prospects have been mapped at different stratigraphic levels," the statement added.


The rise in food prices is excessive but there will be a decline in January, the deputy head of planning commission, Montek Singh

Ahluwalia, said on Tuesday.

"From January you will see a decline a food prices. What you see now is speculative, probably due to the drought situation. The stock situation is relatively OK," Singh said via videoconference at an industry event.

He said the increase in food prices was a matter of concern and though the price rise was to some extent expected, the current rise was excessive and monetary policy was not the solution to food inflation.


The United States has won a case against China at the World Trade Organisation which has ruled that it is illegally restricting

imports of movies, music and books into the country.

The WTO Appellate Body held that China was obstructing trade by forcing foreign suppliers to distribute certain copyright-intensive products through state-owned companies which is inconsistent with the Beijing's obligations with the WTO.

"Today America got a big win...The Appellate Body's findings are key to ensuring full market access in China for legitimate, high-quality entertainment products and the exporters and distributors of those products," Ron Kirk, the US Trade Representative, said.

US companies and workers are at the cutting edge of these industries, and they deserve a full chance to compete under agreed WTO rules, he said.

"We expect China to respond promptly to these findings and bring its measures into compliance," Kirk added.

Monday's Appellate Body report and the WTO panel report, released on August 12, call on China to allow US companies to import into China films for theatrical release; audiovisual entertainment products, such as DVDs; music and other sound recordings; and reading materials.

In fact, Western countries have been complaining against the restrictions for long, which say that China's rapid rise as a trade power has been in part aided by unfair policies that boost sales of Chinese goods abroad while limiting imports into its market.


India Inc raises over Rs 150,000cr in 200

Companies knocking on government doors for bailout funds may have been the norm in the West, but India Inc begged to differ from this

rule by raising over Rs 1,50,000 crore of capital for expansion from investors across the world in 2009.

Nearly two-thirds of these funds are estimated to have come from investors in overseas markets, which themselves were in shambles and where companies were in dire need of capital, forcing them to beg their respective governments for money.

Also, Indian companies took the quickfire QIPs to meet their immediate capital needs, instead of the time consuming IPO route. As a result, the funds raised by Indian companies during 2009 were more or less equal to the levels seen in 2008, when economic downturn was not a reality for most part of the year.

A total of about 50 companies raised a record-breaking cumulative figure of about Rs 55,000 crore through sale of shares to qualified institutional investors, mostly overseas private equity firms and also local and foreign financial services firms like banks, insurers and fund houses.

According to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton, private PE and QIP space saw 221 deals till December 13, totalling $11.17 billion (about Rs 52,000 crore). "The worst seems to be over for PE investing and clearly there is renewed PE interest in investing in the country, specifically in sectors supporting India's domestic consumption like education, healthcare and real estate. As a result PE activity in 2010 is expected to rise significantly," said S Krishna, executive director, PwC.

E&Y's partner and national director Pankaj Dhandaria said: "PE investment activity is on the rise again as is evident from the deal activity, which has picked up in the past couple of months."

Dhandaria added that India, which is on a growth trajectory and with its ability to generate relatively superior returns, would attract even higher degree of capital (including PE) in the years to come.

It was realty major Unitech which kicked off the QIP bandwagon earlier in the year and raised a total of close to Rs 4,500 crore in two separate deals. Other major QIP deals of the year included a consortium of foreign players putting in close to Rs 3,000 crore in Indiabulls Real Estate. Similar amounts were raised by Axis Bank and Hindalco, while a number of smaller fund-raising deals were also striked successfully.

The QIP performance of 2009 was even better that a total of little over Rs 20,000 crore — a record at that time — raised through this route during 2007, when markets and economy, both in India and abroad, were flying high.

The QIP funds raised were not even Rs 2,000 crore in 2008. It was the QIP-push that took India Inc's fund raising spree in 2009 to the overall levels seen in the previous year, as capital raising activities turned tepid in 2009.


Land Acquisition Act

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The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is a legal Act in India which allows the Government of India to acquire any land in the country.

"Land Acquisition" literally means acquiring of land for some public purpose by government/government agency, as authorised by the law, from the individual landowner(s) after paying a government fixed compensation in lieu of losses incurred by land owner(s) due to surrendering of his/their land to the concerned government agency.

Contents

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[edit] Purpose of Land Acquisition Act

The land acquisition act of 1894 was created with the expressed purpose of facilitating the government's acquisition of privately held land for public purposes. The word "public purpose", as defined in the act, refers to the acquisition of land for putting up educational institutions or schemes such as housing, health or slum clearance, apart from the projects for rural planning or formation of sites. The word "government" refers to the central government if the purpose for acquisition is for the union and for all other purposes it refers to the state government. It is not necessary that all the acquisition has to be initiated by the government alone. Local authorities, societies registered under the societies registration act, 1860 and co-operative societies established under the co-operative societies act can also acquire the land for developmental activities through the government.

[edit] History of Land Acquisition Act

Regulation I of the land acquisition act was first enacted by the British government in the year 1824. Its application was throughout the whole of the Bengal provinces immediately subject to the Presidency of Fort William. The rules empowered the government to acquire immovable property at, what was deemed to be, a fair and reasonable price for construction of roads, canals or other public purposes. In 1850 some of the provisions of regulation I of 1824 were extended to Calcutta through Act I of 1850, with a view to confirm the land titles in Calcutta that were acquired for public purposes. At that time a railway network was being developed and it was felt that legislation was needed for acquiring land for the purposes of the railways. Building act XXVII of 1839 and act XX of 1852 were introduced to obviate the difficulties pertaining to the construction of public buildings in the cities of Bombay and Madras. Act VI of 1857 was the first full enactment, which had application to the whole of British India. It repealed all previous enactments relating to acquisition and its object. Subsequently act X of 1870 came in to effect which was further replaced by land acquisition act 1894, a completely self contained act, in order to purge some of the flaws of act X of 1870.

After independence in 1947, the Indian government adopted "Land Acquisition Act-1894" as a tool for land acquisition. Since then various amendments have been made to the 1894 act from time to time. Despite these amendments the administrative procedures have remained same.

[edit] Content of the Legislation

[edit] Notification

The process of acquisition begins with the issuance of preliminary notification, as envisaged under section 4(1) of Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The notification has to be essentially published in the official gazette and in two daily newspapers circulating in that locality of which at least one shall be in the regional language. Further, it is also necessary that the notification has to be affixed in conspicuous places of that locality.

[edit] Filing of objections

The main objective of issuing preliminary notification is to call for objections, if any, against such acquisitions from the owners or others who are having certain interest over the property; giving them an opportunity to raise their claims against the move of the government for acquiring their lands. The persons aggrieved by such notification shall file their objections within thirty days from the date of preliminary notification(date of the publication of notification).

[edit] Final declaration

After receipt of objections, the concerned authority shall consider those objections, and if found unsatisfactory, then a final declaration rejecting the claims will be issued. Section 6 of the amended Act provides that the final declaration shall be issued by the authority within a period of one year from the date of issuance of preliminary notification under section 4(1) of the Act. However, prior to the amendment, the time stipulated under the Act for final declaration was three years from the date of publication of the preliminary notification. The final declaration has to be published as required under section 6(2) of the Act.

[edit] Award

Section 11 of the Act provides that after receiving the objections, the authority will have to hold an enquiry. However, it is necessary that actual extent of land proposed to be acquired and the value of the land has to be assessed before starting the enquiry, as required under sections 8 and 9 of the statute. On completion of the enquiry, award will be passed to that effect and published by the competent authority. After passing the award, the Collector or the Deputy Commissioner shall send notice to the owners or their representatives who were not present personally at the time of passing of the award.

[edit] Time limit

Once the enquiry is concluded, it is the duty of the competent authority to pass the award within two years from the date of publication of the declaration under section 6, as envisaged under section 11 A of the Act. If the authority fails to adhere to the time schedule prescribed under the Act, the entire proceedings initiated for land acquisition will lapse. After passing of the award, the Deputy Commissioner or any other competent authority may take possession of the land immediately, which shall thereupon vest absolutely with the government, free from all claims, whatsoever.

[edit] Special powers

Section 17 of the Act confers special powers with the concerned authority wherein passing of award may be dispensed with and yet permits to take possession of the land notified for acquisition. Further holding of enquiry can also be waived, as envisaged under section 5 A of the Act. However, such powers can be exercised only in case of urgency. After passing of the award, the person whose land has been proposed to be acquired can give his consent for such acquisition and agree to receive the compensation.

Objections can also be raised against the measurement of the land, enhancement of compensation or apportionment of the compensation by filing a written application before the Deputy Commissioner, as provided under section 18 of the Act, requesting the authority to refer the matter to the court for determination of the grounds raised in the application. An application to that effect has to be filed by the person who was personally present when the award was passed, within six weeks from the date of the award passed by the Collector. In other cases, the application will have to be made within six weeks from the date of receipt of the notice issued under section 12(2) or within six months from the date of the award passed by Deputy Commissioner, whichever is earlier.

[edit] Compensation

Provision for settlement of dispute pertaining to apportionment of the compensation amount is available under section 30 of the Act. In such a situation, the Deputy Commissioner should refer the matter to the court. The claimant will be entitled to the compensation which is determined on the basis of the market value of the land determined as on the date of preliminary notification. According to section 34, if there is delay in payment of compensation beyond one year from the date on which possession is taken, interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum shall be payable from the date of expiry of the said period of one year on the outstanding amount of compensation till the date of payment.

The government, under section 16 of the Act is at liberty to withdraw from acquisition of land except in cases provided under section 36. However, if the possession of land has been taken, then the government will have no authority to withdraw from such acquisition.

[edit] Procedure for the Land Acquisition

[edit] 1. Investigation

  • When a local authority or a company requires a land, an application is required to be made by it to the revenue authority.
  • The application should be accompanied with a copy of the plan showing survey nos., purpose of acquisition and the reason for the particular site to be chosen and the provision made for the cost of the acquisition.
  • After the government has been fully satisfied about the purpose, the least area needed, and other relevant facts as provided under land acquisition rules, it will issue a notification under Section 4 of the act that the particular land is required for public purpose.
  • One of the revenue officers is appointed as the collector to hold an inquiry under Section 5-A of the Act.
  • After notification the owner is prohibited from selling his property or disposing of it and prevented from carrying out any works of improvements for which no compensation will be paid if executed without prior permission from the collector.

[edit] 2. Objection and Confirmation

  • Objections are invited from all persons interested in land within thirty days from the date of notification.
  • The objections will be valid on one or more of the following grounds:
    • i. That the purpose for which the land is proposed for acquisition is not a public purpose.
    • ii. That the land is not or less suitable than another piece of land for the said purpose.
    • iii. That the area under acquisition is excessive.
    • iv. That the acquisition will destroy or impair historical or artistic monuments or will desecrate religious buildings, graveyards and the like.
  • The collector after hearing the objections will submit his report to the government who will finally declare the land for acquisition under the Section 6 of the Act.
  • After notification the collector proceeds with the claim. He has the site marked out, measured and a plan of the same is made.

[edit] 3. Claim and Award

  • The collector will issue notices under Section 9 to all persons interested in the acquisition to file their claim reports.
  • The collector is not to be a party to the proceedings, is to possess an expert knowledge on valuation, and offers a fair price to an owner and checks that the public funds are not wasted.
  • The claim filed should contain the names of the claimants and co-shares if any rents or profits for last three years and a valuation report of the land from an architect or an engineer.
  • The government can abandon the acquisition proceedings by simply canceling the notification. However, in that case compensation has to be paid under Section 48(2).
  • In determining the compensation the market value of the land is determined at the date of notification. The rise and fall in the value during the period of transaction and notification is taken into consideration.
  • Compensation is also payable when:
    • i. Part of the property is proposed for acquisition in such a manner that the remainder depreciates in value.
    • ii. When the land notified for acquisition has standing crops or trees.
    • iii. If the person interested has to change his place of residence or business then the excess rent payable for the new premises is also considered for compensation.
  • Matters which are not taken into consideration for the purpose of land acquisition are:
    • i. The degree of urgency which has led to the acquisition.
    • ii. Any disinclination of the person interested to part with the land.
    • iii. Any increase in the land value likely to accrue from the use to which it will be put when acquired.
  • • After necessary inquiries the collector declares his award showing true area of the land, total amount of compensation payable and apportionment of compensation if there are more than one owners or claimants.
  • The collector has to make the award under section 11 within a period of two years from the date of notification.

[edit] 4. Reference to Court

  • Any person interested to whom the award is not satisfactory can submit a written application to the court.
  • This application should be made within six weeks from the date of declaration of the award.

[edit] 5. Apportionment

  • In apparent of the compensation each of the claimants are entitled to the value of his interest, which he has lost, by compulsory acquisition.
  • Thus it is required to value a variety of interest, rights and claims in the land in terms of money.

[edit] Authorities and agencies involved

The procedure involved for acquisition of land for companies are dealt with under chapter VII of the act, which requires an agreement to be entered into by the company with the appropriate government and the same has to be published in the official gazette. The government cannot initiate acquisition proceedings without issuing proper notice to the owners in any of the prescribed mode of service provided under the act and provide them sufficient opportunity. If any of the provisions envisaged in the act is violated or mandatory procedures are not followed, then the entire acquisition proceedings would become void.

[edit] Criticism

The Land Acquisition act has been criticized by groups that view the act as weak and ineffective, and by groups that view the act as draconian. People who feel that act is weak argue that the procedure followed is cumbersome and costly, often resulting in inordinate delay in land acquisition. This group argues that, the determination of public purpose should be matter of executive discretion and should not be contestable at law. It has also been argued that the property valuation techniques are flawed and that the land owners get to peg the value higher than the real value, based on 'potential value' and 'opportunity value' of their property; resulting in, what is claimed as, a heavy strain on public finances and restrictions on the scale of development and redevelopment projects. There is also opposition to the additional payment of solatium to the land owners, over and above the property value.

People who argue that the act is draconian claim that a number of projects which have no public purpose attached, as in the case of SEZs, usurped land from property owners, with the help of the land acquisition act, at what is claimed as, well below the market value of these properties. It is argued that, even in the case of projects that are genuinely for public purposes, there is a considerable difference between the market value of the property and the value that the land acquisition officer pays the land owners. It is also argued that the relocation and rehabilitation of land owners displaced by the actions of the act, is not followed up adequately, and that this is not covered comprehensively in the framework of the act. A notable instance of opposition to land acquisition, through the land acquisition act, includes the Nandigram violence incident.

It is for this reason that government has proposed further amendments in the Act to strict define the purposes for which land could be acquired. If the Amendments get through, the provisions of the Act could be invoked only in limited conditions.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links



Burning food won't lead to ban on agri futures: FMC

22 Dec 2009, 0332 hrs IST, Ram Narsinghdev Sahgal, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Despite the rise in food inflation to a ten-year high of almost 20%, there should be no fears in the minds of people that futures trading

in agri products would be banned, said Bishnu Charan Khatua, chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the regulator of the commodity futures market
who was recently promoted in situ to secretary rank.

Mr Khatua also said that the FMC had provided the government with data around a month ago which showed that of the nine commodities that were delisted at one time or the other, the ones which were not brought back to the futures market fold were showing a much steeper price rise than the ones that were relisted, and whose prices in the current scenario were relatively stable.

For instance, when sugar was suspended from the futures market in May this year, its wholesale price was Rs 22 a kilo, while the current price is Rs 40. On the other hand, since acreage of potato this year had gone up by 25%, the crop is estimated to be one-and-a-half times of the old crop, which was affected by blight, and would show a decrease in prices when the new futures contracts in potato are launched. Potato was one of four commodities that were relisted in December last year after a seven-month ban.

"Of the major pulses, chana is traded on the local commodity bourses whereas urad and tur have been banned since early 2007. A look at the wholesale price of chana shows that there is a mark-up of around 40% at the retail level, but in the case of urad and tur the mark-up at the retail level is around 80%. This means the retailers are taking cover of the high price scenario to fleece the consumers more. Why is nobody looking at them?.....Why needlessly target this (futures) market without facts to support the claim that futures were fuelling food price inflation?," said Mr Khatua when asked to comment on a report by a Parliamentary panel led by MP Francisco Sardinha, which recommended a ban on commodity futures trading last last month. "Anyway the panel did not consult us before making such a recommendation," added Mr Khatua.

According to Mr Khatua, decision-makers right from the finance minister to the agriculture minister and the cabinet secretary had gone on record to state that soaring food inflation was underpinned by supply disruptions. However, the regulator said that the role of the retailer on the distribution side should be looked at more carefully while tracking price rise.

India's food inflation not a monetary issue: Fin Secy
21 Dec 2009, 2107 hrs IST, REUTERS
MUMBAI: India's food-price inflation cannot be tackled through monetary and other policy steps, while inflationary expectations will not stay

long, the country's top policy advisors and government officials said on Monday. "It is food inflation which is a substantial part of inflation right now. So there is not much that can be done by other policies, including monetary policy," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said.

The benchmark 10-year bond yields fell 2 basis points to close at 7.73 after Chawla's comments.

Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister's economic advisor said India's central bank may have to raise the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to drain money from the banking system if prices do not decline in December.

The statement sent bond yields climbing to levels not seen in more than 13 months, while the one-year overnight indexed swap rate jumped to a one-year high.

India is battling soaring food prices after a poor monsoon and then flooding in parts of the country hit crops.

"Unlike previous inflation, this is very sector specific ... It is a very peculiar inflation which needs to be attacked at the level of the sector," said Kaushik Basu, chief economic advisor to the finance ministry.

India's central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao had earlier said that monetary policy is not the right tool to fix supply problems such as food shortages, but added that if not contained soaring food prices would stoke inflationary pressures in the broader economy.

However, on Monday, Basu, said inflationary expectations will die out soon. Food prices surged an annual 20 per cent in early December and rising food prices contributed to a faster-than-expected 4.78 per cent increase in the wholesale price index in November.

Last week, Mukherjee had said containing inflation is high on the government's agenda and it is monitoring the price situation.

Inflation sector-specific to die out very soon: Finmin Advisor


A surge in the wholesale and foodprice inflations, which is largely on account of the zooming food prices, is sector-specific and will

not last long, a top government official on Monday said.

The WPI-inflation, which more than trebled to 4.78 per cent during November on account of rising prices of food items like potato, sugar
and pulses, is largely sector-specific and warrants sectoral intervention, Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Kaushik Basu today said.

"This (inflation) is very very sector specific. This is confined in food prices and a couple of other items. This is something which needs sectoral intervention," Basu said.

Rising prices of potatoes, onions and pulses pushed food inflation to a high of 19.05 per cent in the fourth week of November, as against 17.47 per cent for the week ended November 21.

Basu, who was talking to reporters here after attending the HLCC meeting on financial markets, said said the current high inflation is unlikely to last long.

"My own expectation is that this inflation is not going to last long. It is going to die out very soon," Basu said.

The Government's various efforts to eradicate poverty form the country, like the Natioanl Rural employment Guarantee programme, is showing results and will help to prevent poverty levels from rising further, Basu said.

The HLCC meeting comprised Reserve Bank Governor, D Subbarao, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Chairman, C B Bhave, Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Kaushik Basu,IRDA Chairman J Hari Narayan amongst others.


Report a pack of lies, fumes Pachauri

21 Dec 2009, 1129 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: A report in a British newspaper has accused IPCC chief Rajendra K Pachauri of making a fortune from his links with '' carbon trading'

' companies.

Apart from listing the number of companies, banks and institutes with which the IPCC chairman is associated, the report in The Telegraph of London alleges that Pachauri's The Energy Research Institute (TERI) continues to have ''close links' ' with the Tata Group (which set up the institute) and that this relationship has helped the latter in its green and carbon trading businesses.

Reacting to the report, Pachauri told TOI: '' These are a pack of lies from people who are getting desperate. They want to go after the guy whose voice is being heard. I haven't pocketed a single penny from my association with companies and institutes . All honoraria that I get goes to TERI and to its Light a Billion Lives campaign for reaching solar power to people without electricity . All my dealings are totally above board.''

Pachauri pointed out that the previous IPCC chairman was in the World Bank and the one before that was a professor. '' Can you then say the university benefsited from his association with IPCC? The people who have flung these charges are part of the same vested interest group which hacked the server of UK's East Anglia University. They are getting desperate because the world is now serious about moving away from fossil fuels. I want to ask them how much money they spent in the operation? Hacking a server is a costly exercise,'' he said.

On TERI's links with the Tata group, Pachauri said, '' Our ties ended when Darbari Seth, who was on our board, died in 1999. We haven't received a single penny from Tatas for years and have no ties with them.'' He added that TERI submits its yearly accounts to the government under Section 12 of the income tax law. '' We fully comply with all government laws,'' he said.

Pachauri, who recently took up the post of the head of the Climate and Energy Institute at Yale University, said the appointment was held up for a while because he had insisted that his salary be credited to TERI. '' My conscience is clear and that is why I am cool towards these allegations.''

On whether he intends to take legal action against the report , Pachauri said

Recession, for luxury consumers in india, was psychological not real


The last couple of years have seen a rapid influx of International luxury brands into the Indian market. What started with one or two brands in

five-star hotel locales quickly resulted in a rapid and complete takeover of the consumer's mindspace. Canali, Zegna, Paul Smith, Ferragamo, Kenzo, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta, Armani, Versace...think of a luxury label and it was here.

However, in the midst of this flurry of activity, the global meltdown happened. Consumer spending plummeted the world over and luxury was in crisis globally. But the story in India was somewhat different. There was no real dent in the luxury consumer's spending here. The recession was in the mind of this consumer, psychological, not real. And it presented an interesting case for study. So, who then is the luxury consumer in India, defying all logic of global gloom syndrome?

Sample this –second-generation scion of an industrial business family, running a successful family business or a first-generation entrepreneur who has made it big through his sheer business acumen; well traveled, in some cases studied abroad, enjoying the rewards of success – fancy car, plush apartment, trophy wife. The vagaries of economic downturn, which affected global giants, do not seem to ruffle his business enterprise.

Case two – rich businessman's wife, unaccounted cash stashes in her Burberry clutch, out picking her evening wardrobe for a friend's store opening soiree. She heads to DLF Emporio and a few happy shopping hours later emerges with four bags – Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Judith Leiber, and slides gracefully into her waiting Bentley.

The world watched this little show from the sidelines and gaped at this extravagant and unabashed spending while they did not know how to hold the show together in their own backyards. The interest levels thus rose and we had the luxury world converging in March this year in Delhi for the International Herald Tribune Luxury conference. While they extolled on sustainability, the picture unraveling outside was quite the contrast. As the evening parties rolled, more of the same surprised faces.

Admittedly, the luxury world had never seen such opulence in their home turfs where private residences hosted dinners for 800 guests or the most spectacular shows were put up at luxury abodes in the heart of the capital. This is a snapshot of the Indian luxury market that defies all logic and does not have an equal anywhere in the world. The luxury goods market in India is one of the world's most diverse and exciting markets.

China, which has been hitherto extolled as the future of luxury, is a very different story all together. The Chinese consumer comes from the newer generation working population, who saves every yuan to buy that much-coveted new bag from the LV store across the street. It is the numbers of these aspirational luxury buyers that get that economy clicking. We do have a similar consumer emerging in India – the young working population, which is brand aware and has the propensity to buy.

22 Dec 2009, 0029 hrs IST, Sanjay Kapoor,

Ahmadinejad denies Iran nuclear bomb trigger tests

President Ahmadinejad: "They are a fabricated bunch of papers"

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said a document apparently showing that Tehran plans to test a trigger for a nuclear bomb is a US forgery.

In an interview filmed on Friday with ABC News, Mr Ahmadinejad said the report in the Times newspaper was "fundamentally not true".

Mr Ahmadinejad said criticism of Iran's nuclear programme had become "a repetitive and tasteless joke".

Iran says its nuclear enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says the interview offered a rare opportunity to see an Iranian leader being questioned by the US media.

But Mr Ahmadinejad's answers gave little indication that his administration is moving towards a more conciliatory position, says our correspondent.

'Fabricated papers'

The Times reported last week that it had obtained a document, dating from 2007, describing a four-year plan by Iran to test a nuclear trigger using uranium deuteride.

The product can be used as a neutron initiator: the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.

In his first public response to the report, Mr Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "fundamentally not true".

He dismissed the documents, saying: "They are all a fabricated bunch of papers continuously being forged and disseminated by the American government."

When asked if there would "be no nuclear weapon in Iran, ever", Mr Ahmadinejad said his view was already known.

"You should say something only once. We have said once that we don't want a nuclear bomb. We don't accept it."

'Bullying'

Iran is already subject to three sets of UN sanctions for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Natanz uranium enrichment plant
Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant (image: DigitalGlobe)

It is at risk of further sanctions after it rejected a deal to send low-enriched uranium abroad to be refined into fuel for a research reactor.

Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran would welcome talks "under fair conditions".

"We don't welcome confrontation, but we don't surrender to bullying either," he said.

"If you are saying you are going to impose sanctions, then go and do it."

Mr Ahmadinejad also rejected criticism of Iran's human rights situation and allegations of mass arrests following the elections which returned him to office in June.

"These things have to do with the judiciary. We have good laws. There is the judge. These people have got lawyers. These are not political questions."

He said people in Iran had more freedom than in the US.

The ABC interview took place before the latest protests held at the funeral of the influential dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri.

Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is for purely peaceful purposes, aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more gas and oil.

But the US and its allies say it could be used to develop weapons.


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FROM OTHER NEWS SITES
Haaretz Ahmadinejad: U.S. forged report on Iran nuclear trigger - 31 mins ago
Forbes.com Iran Says U.S. Forged Nuclear Trigger Report - 53 mins ago
Reuters UK Iran nuclear trigger report fabricated-Ahmadinejad - 2 hrs ago


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South Asia

Page last updated at 08:18 GMT, Tuesday, 22 December 2009






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Indian security forces say they have foiled an attempt by militants to infiltrate the border in Indian-administered Kashmir.

India's West Bengal state passes a resolution supporting Bangladesh's call to declare Bengali an official UN language.

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