I Created mine

Passage with their meaning

Full circle in Singur
The Supreme Courts verdict () on the Singur land acquisition issue is a restatement of first principles relating to the limitations of eminent ()domain.
By quashing ()the entire land acquisition process done by the erstwhile Left
Front government in West Bengal, the court has reiterated( ) that
the term public purpose cannot be arbitrarily( ) invoked to acquire land
and hand it over to a private party. One of the two judges has categorically held that
there was no public purpose in the land acquisition as it was solely for the benefit
of Tata Motors. The other judge has conceded( ) that given the
governments policy of industrialisation and the potential for employment
generation, the acquisition ()was indeed for a public purpose. But he also ruled
that the failure to hold a proper inquiry into objections from the public, and the fact
that the State Cabinet had decided to acquire land for the project even before the
acquisition was notified as per law, rendered the entire process void. The ruling is
undoubtedly a political victory for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who
took up the cause of those whose lands were taken away in Singur, making it a key
election issue of the pivotal Assembly election of 2011, when she wrested( )
power from the long-serving Left Front. With the farmers set to get back their land,
and the court allowing them to keep the compensation they had earlier received or
claim it now if they are yet to get it, this allows her to score points afresh over the
CPI(M).

The judgment does not lay down any new law. The dispute over whether the Singur
land was acquired for a public purpose or not is largely academic, now that the
outdated Land Acquisition Act, 1894, has been repealed ()and replaced by
legislation that aims at transparency in acquisition and makes fair compensation
and resettlement a statutory right of those who lose their land. The Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act sets out the categories of projects that would fall under public
purpose, and allows acquisition for private companies subject to provisions related
to consent, compensation and rehabilitation( ). There may be some
apprehension that the judgment will deter fresh investment by the private sector,
inasmuch as it may preclude land acquisition for major projects. However, courts
have by and large interpreted public purpose liberally, often allowing the
governments view to prevail(). The lesson from Singur is that thoughtless and
fast-tracked acquisition, often to the detriment() of due process and the
interests of those deprived of land and livelihood, is the real issue and not
promotion of industrialisation.

02sep 2016

The rise and fall of Dilma Roussef

The fall of Dilma Roussef from being one of the most popular politicians to an
impeached ( ) leader is much more than a story of a corrupt President
being stripped( ) of her powers by a righteous legislature. The exit of
Brazils first woman President brings the 13-year rule of the left-leaning Workers
Party (PT) to an end. The charge levelled against her is that she used illegal
bookkeeping manoeuvres( ) to hide a growing deficit. Though this is a crime
in Brazil, several of those who piloted the impeachment process in Congress have
themselves been charged with corrupt practices. Almost all the leading political
parties, including new President Michel Temers Brazilian Democratic Movement
Party, were implicated in the Petrobras corruption scandal. Ms. Roussef is in fact
one of the very few high-profile politicians not to be implicated() in the
Petrobras scam. Moreover, her presidency was not quite the failure it is made to
appear as. She completed her first term and was re-elected in 2014 with a clear
majority. Through all this, she purposefully continued the welfare programmes
initiated by her predecessor(), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, particularly in the
education, health and housing sectors.

To understand Ms. Roussefs fall, one has to look instead at the complex layers of
Brazils polity. It is a comparatively young democracy in which the PT rose to power
defying ( )established structures. The power struggle within Brazils
political class has never been a settled afair. When Mr. da Silva was President, he
was able to keep in check the class interests stacked( ) against him with his
immense popularity. Ms. Roussef not only lacked his charisma and mass appeal, but
also failed to right the economy when a steep fall in global commodity prices hit
Brazil hard. The consequences were devastating: for instance, the Brazilian
economy grew 7.6 per cent in 2010, the year she won her first term; it is estimated
to contract 3.2 per cent this year. It is amid this economic gloom and nationwide
anger against corrupt politicians in the wake of the Petrobras scandal that her
opponents used the charges of fudging books to build a case for impeachment. But
the impeachment doesnt solve the problems Brazil faces. The economy is still in
the doldrums, and is unlikely to bounce back in the near future given the global
headwinds. President Temer is as unpopular as Ms. Roussef had become, as was
evident from the loud boos he received from spectators at the opening ceremony of
the Rio Olympics. Brazils opposition may have gained power after a long wait
through a parliamentary coup, but the political and economic turmoil is likely to
remain for long.