We bring out the fundamental and more important problems with the current framework of land acquisition in India, regulations on land and the functioning of land markets. We argue that reform is overdue and the current framework would be unsustainable in a democracy that is India. Current land prices are highly distorted owing largely to regulatory constraints and the process of takings. Land acquisition more than any other factor is the most important constraint on development and especially in infrastructure development. We bring out the core elements of the reform-the need to define "public purpose" ex-ante for compulsory acquisition of land, the measures that would allow the market price of land to play its correct role, and the approach to valuation. We also argue for an independent valuer when compulsory taking is involved and methods of valuation to ensure that the land owner including the farmer gets the correct value for this land in both compulsory acquisition and in voluntary sale. We also argue the need for a parallel non-compulsory framework for acquisition and develop the key elements of the same. We also bring out alternatives to physical acquisition of land especially in the context of infrastructure development in central places.

In this paper we critique the Government of India's programmes for affordable housing in India, namely the Rajiv Awas Yojana and Housing for All 2022. We analyse the efficacy of these policies in being able to provide the sections of the population who are unable to avail housing from the formal market, both through direct support and most importantly in addressing the many distortions that have made the housing unnecessarily expensive, while taking away much of the value to consumers. We argue that while these programmes and policies are a major advancement over the previous approaches, they do not fully exploit the potential that is there in an increased FSI, appropriate exploitation of locational value, judicious use of government land, reform of titles and squatter rights, and more efficient land Business and Management Horizons

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Pericytes play important roles in vascular control and may form an important part of the blood brain barrier. Here we introduce a simple method for fluorescently labelling pericytes to enable further studies in live or fixed tissue of rats and mice. Following intraperitoneal injection, the fluorescent tracer Fluorogold was rapidly taken up into vascular endothelial cells, and within 3 hours in the central nervous system appeared within small perivascular cells with a morphology consistent with pericytes. These Fluorogold labelled cells were pericytes since they displayed immunoreactivity for platelet derived growth factor receptor beta and were closely associated with isolectin B4 binding to endothelial cells. Pericytes in skeletal muscle were also labelled with this method, but not those within the heart, lungs or kidney. This simple method could therefore be applied for labelling pericytes in a wide variety of studies, including live cell imaging or immunohistochemistry.

Land in India is problematic largely because of archaic and perverse provisions in the practice and the law. The new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill does go some way to correct the anti-democratic and imperial provisions of the old 1894 Act. Other regulatory restraints stand in the way of fair compensation to sellers whether the deal is a sale or an acquisition using eminent domain. Urban planning being based on the "Ricardian Model" and on top of asymmetrically applied regulatory constraints further depresses the benefit to land owners. As a result very little land is obtainable without dispute and high risk for infrastructure development. In this paper we provide an analytical critique of the law and restrictions as also of the framework of urban planning and provide a justification for why major change is required in the approach to land markets, land acquisition and urban planning. We also provide the key elements of a reformed approach that can create a win-win framework for development. We also present our suggestions on how the proposed Amendment to the Land Acquisition Act can be changed to make the Act functional and remove the residual perversities therein.