New Delhi The Parliament's standing committee on rural development has recommended a widening of the ambit of the Land Acquisition Bill, 2011, to include highways, nuclear plants, mines and special economic zones (SEZ).

Since much of the land acquisition for public purpose under the proposed law expected in mining, power and other infrastructure sectors, these exemptions needed to be removed, the committee felt.

New Delhi With no political consensus as yet to allow the foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, India needs to undertake structural reforms urgently to curb food inflation that surged to a 15-month high of 10.49% in April on dearer vegetables and protein-based products.

Economists said these reforms should focus on four fundamental aspects: raising productivity, curbing wastages, better distribution and delivery system, and ensuring fair returns to producers to keep them engaged in the farm sector.

New Delhi Concerned over the adverse impact of fertilisers on soil and crops, government plans to reduce subsidy on them and divert funds to organic manures, bio-fertilisers, green manures and promotion of organic farming.

“During the first Green Revolution, productivity was increased by 50% with the help of fertilisers. But today balanced fertilisers are needed. Urea is being used by farmers in high quantity which is affecting productivity,” agriculture minister Sharad Pawar informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

New Delhi West Bengal has the highest number of red category industries causing high pollution, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while 43 industrial clusters have been identified as "critically polluted", the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Environment and Forest Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said during Question Hour that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and IIT-Delhi had conducted a survey based on Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) for assessment of pollution load of industrial areas.

Melbourne Australia has been ranked as the seventh top polluter mainly due to carbon emissions, a report said.

Conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in its report said the spiralling global population and over-consumption are threatening the future health of the planet, ABC news reported. WWF released this year's Living Planet report, which has estimated humans are using 50 per cent more resources than the planet can provide.

New Delhi The Planning Commission today approved a plan outlay of Rs 14,000 crore for Punjab during 2012-13, an increase of 12 per cent compared to the previous fiscal.

The state outlay was finalised by Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal in a meeting here.

New Delhi Lack of assured coal linkages may drive 18 firms to open market

As many as 18 upcoming power projects with an aggregate capacity of over 25,000 MW might be forced to violate their tariff commitments and seek a much higher price from consumers. This is because the coal ministry has rejected a request from the developers of these projects for assured coal linkages and they might have no other option but to resort to the open market for fuel.

New Delhi With the grain stocks held with Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state government owned agencies crossing a record level, the food ministry has proposed additional allocation of grain to BPL and APL families for dealing with storage crunch.

Under the proposal sent to finance ministry, the food ministry has proposed to hike grain allocation for the estimated 18 crore APL families to 15 kg per month from prevailing 10 kg per month. This will result in excess grains allocation of 6.5 million tonne.

New Delhi In what may come as a relief for power project developers, the coal ministry has directed state-owned coal companies to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply to plants commissioned till March 31, 2012, as well as those to be commissioned during fiscal 2012-13 even if they fail to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs). The coal supply to these power projects would be maintained by coal companies under the MoU route till the time fuel user and supplier companies are ready to sign the FSAs.

New Delhi Notwithstanding the CAG stance favouring the auction route for allocation of natural resources, power companies such as NTPC, Tata Power, Rpower and Jindal Power might get another set of captive coal blocks without having to go through the bidding process.

The new rule on coal block auctions finalised by the coal ministry proposes to carve out a portion of the country’s coal reserves for the power sector that would be offered to companies through state-run corporations. Those companies that have been awarded a power project on the basis of tariff-based competitive bidding would be eligible for this exclusive allocation, official sources said.