Press coverage of Spandan, the bip event held in Pune on 7th May 2010

1. THE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010 * TIMES CITY 5
PERSONAL MESSAGES Number of marginal farmers rises
CHANGE OF NAME
C Mega
THE ART
Part I
Cou r se
OF LIVING They Are Now 45% Of Farming Community: Agri Census
Nikhil Deshmukh | TNN now being prepared.
The agricultural census is
The remaining land compris-
es mountains, rivers, resi-
ers hold a mere 28.01 lakh
hectare land, making average
I1 I L’ Ft ’ [‘
I Pune: The preliminary report funded by the Union govern- dential and industrial activi- land-holding in this category
3 Batches: 6 - 8 3 0 am of the 2005-06 agricultural cen- ment. The report is based on in- ties and roads among others. 0.45 hectare per person. The
l am-1.3O pm
l sus, carried out by the state formation gathered by the rev- According to the 2000-01 agri- state has 41.5 lakh small farm-
6.30 - 9 pm agriculture department has enue department and is a cru- culture census, the number of ers (holding 1 to 2 hectares) who
revealed that the number of cial document for the govern- farmers in the state was 121.38 hold 52.48 lakh hectare land in
Venue Abut Kalam Azad marginal farmers in the state ment while forming policies. lakh, with 201.03 lakh hectares the state. This category is also 2005-06: Number of farmers in state are
Memorial Hall,Behind
‘0’ Hotel, Koregaon Park
has gone up to 61.18 lakh be- According to experts, as total area under cultivation. considered as marginal farm- 135.41 lakh, holding 200 lakh hectare land
tween 2000-01 and 2005-06. “Family division is the basic “For large-scale produc- ers. Most of the land-holders
98600 60489, 93736 83051 This is an increase of 8.12 cause of division in the land, tion of any commodity, farm- in both categories are not com- Category No. of Farmers Land holding
97641 60295, 94210 15495 lakh over the previous figure. hence there is a decline in per ers need adequate sized land, pletely dependent on farming (In lakh) (In lakh ha)
According to the report, person land holding. As the where higher production can as their only source of income. Up to 1 ha (marginal) 61.18 (45.18%) 28.01 (14%)
this accounts for 45 per cent land is shrinking every year, prompt trade and subse- “These farmers actually work
of the total farming commu- it is restricting the growth of quently profit, which can be on the farms of medium-sized 1 to 2 ha (small) 41.50 (30.64%) 52.48 (26.24%)
nity Experts indicate that the
. the farmer.” reinvested in various sectors farmers, or somewhere else for 2-4 ha (semi-medium) 24.52 (18.1%) 61.30 (30.65%)
ALMANAC increase in marginal farmers The 2005-06 report states for growth. With the division their main source of income.
may reduce the contribution that the total number of ac- of land, higher production of The land utilisation is mainly 4-10 ha (medium) 9.25 (6.83) 48.85 (24.42%)
08-05-2010 - Saturday - Mesha Masa 24 - Sri Vikriti Nama
of the agricultural sector to count-holders in Maharash- tradable commodities can not for vegetable growing, traded 10 and above (large) 2.63 (1.66%) 6.78 (3.39%)
Samvatsara Uttarayana Vasantha Ritu Tithi: Adhika Vaishakha
the national economy . tra is 137.15 lakh, of which be achieved, thus restricting locally said a senior govern-
,”
Krishna Dashami Hr:27-40 Nak: Shatabhisha Hr:19-17 Yoga: Indra
Hr:24-29.
A farmer holding less than 135.41 lakh are individual the growth of farming and ment official. 2000-01: Number of farmers 121.38 lakh.
one hectare (2.47 acre) land is farmers. The remaining num- farmers as well. Small-scale The semi-medium and
23 Jumadulawwal. considered a marginal farmer. ber comprises joint account- farming is also not sustain- medium farmer categories Area under cultivation 201.03 lakh ha
Rahu Kalam 09-00 - 10-30 A.M While the population of mar- holders, institutional land- able, as marginal farmers do have shown little change com- Category No. of Farmers Land holding
Kali Day 1866859 ginal farmers has increased by holders like trusts, educa- not have the capacity to re- pared to other categories. The (In lakh) (In lakh ha)
8.12 lakh, the volume of land tional institutions, sugar fac- cover from loss,” said Raghu- number of farmers in the Up to 1 ha (marginal) 53.06 (43.71%) 26.49 (13.18%)
BY: DAIVAJNA K.N. SOMAYAJI
holdings in the category has tories and land belonging to nath Patil, senior leader of the semi-medium and medium
TODAY’S ENGAGEMENTS increased by 1.52 lakh hectares trusts that govern temples. Shetkari Sanghatna. Except categories has increased by 1 to 2 ha (small) 36.06 (29.71%) 51.27 (25.50%)
to 28.01 lakh hectares in five The total geographical area for agriculture, no other in- 1.78 lakh and 0.6 lakh respec- 2-4 ha (semi-medium) 22.74 (18.73%) 61.09 (30.39%)
years. This indicates more and of Maharashtra is 307.58 lakh dustry gives you more pro- tively, whereas the land-hold-
ANGEL Broking: Seminar on Golden jubilee programme: more division of the land. hectares, of which 200 lakh duction than the actual in- ing in the respective cate- 4-10 ha (medium) 8.65 (7.13%) 48.8 (24.27%)
investing in 2010-11: Hotel The state government has hectare is operational land- vestment, he maintained. gories is up by 0.21 lakh 10 and above (large) 0.87 (0.72%) 13.38 (6.66%)
Rashtra Seva Dal, Sane
Aurora Towers: 10.30 am. finalised the preliminary re- holding, mainly utilised for According to the 2005-06 re- hectares and 0.05 lakh
SAMAJWADI Mahila Sabha: Guruji Memorial: 4.30 pm. port and a detailed report is various agricultural practices. port, 61.18 lakh marginal farm- hectares.
Octroi privatisation Agarwal’s Just 29 tree-cutting applications Bus purchase
has Cong backing daughter, for BRTS likely
TIMES NEWS NETWORK crease income.
son-in-law approved post high court order to be delayed
Pune: The Congress has de-
cided to support the civic ad-
Congress leader Aba Bag-
ul supported the proposal, say-
ing that octroi collection has
discharged Snehal Sonawane Sawant | TNN
HC Rejects PMC’s Plea To Allow Civic Body To Grant further
ministration’s proposal of pri-
vatising octroi collection in
been declining over the last
few years, with the department
Pune: The daughter and
son-in-law of hotelier and
Pune: In the year since the
Bombay high court (HC) im- Permission In Cases Where The Trees Pose A Danger TIMES NEWS NETWORK
the city. The proposal is ex- failing to meet the set targets. builder Ram Kumar Agar- posed restrictions for tree- Pune: The state government
pected to come up for discus- Considering the massive wal were recently dis- felling within city limits, just has asked the Pune Municipal
sion in the standing commit- growth in the city, the PMC charged by a magistrate 29 tree-cutting applications Corporation (PMC) and the
tee meeting next week. will increasingly need money court here in a dowry ha- were approved by the court, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal
Speaking to reporters on for infrastructure development rassment and molestation while a total of 534 were re- Corporation (PCMC) to seek a
Friday, standing committee and octroi is a major source of case filed by Agarwal’s ceived by the civic body dur- detailed report on the specifi-
chairman and Congress leader revenue. Privatisation of oc- daughter-in-law Priya. The ing the period. cations and requirements of
Arvind Shinde said, “The Con- troi will boost its collection court held that Agarwal’s The Pune Municipal Cor- buses from the Central Insti-
gress will support the propos- and also improve PMC’s fi- son-in law Nikhil Kapoor poration’s plea to allow the tute of Road Transport (CIRT).
al when it is tabled before the nancial health. and daughter Sharmilee cutting of trees that pose a This is likely to futher de-
standing committee. As the Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal were falsely charged in the danger to life and property lay the augmentation of the
NCP had proposed its privati- had recently admitted that oc- case just because they were was also rejected by the HC PMPML fleet on the BRTS
sation in the annual budget for troi evasion was causing an related to him. on Thursday . route. A meeting was held in
2010-2011, it will also support annual loss of approximately Defence lawyer Harshad On May 6, 2009, the Bom- Mumbai on Thursday during
the proposal”. Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore for Nimbalkar prayed that the bay HC had issued an interim which PMC, PCMC and
The revenue target for oc- the PMC and the civic body couple be discharged, since order restricting the PMC PMPML officials discussed the
troi collection in the current was planning stringent meas- Priya, who is a Dutch na- from giving tree-cutting per- bus purchase issue.
financial year is Rs 912 crore, ures to curb the loss. “It is a tional, had not levied any al- mission within the municipal On May 6, 2009, the Bombay HC had issued an interim order restricting the “The state government has
which is 29 per cent of the to- fact that octroi evasion is ram- legations against them in limits without the approval of PMC from giving tree-cutting permissions within the municipal limits asked that a detailed report
tal civic revenue of pant in the city This year, we
. her complaint registered the court. without the approval of the court. The court had asked that an independent from CIRT be sought before a
Rs 3,196 crore. are planning some stringent with the Bund Garden po- The court had asked that decision was made. Also, that
The standing committee, measures,” Rajpal had had lice station on March 6, 2008. an independent expert com-
expert committee be set up to look into tree-cutting applications, after the Ahmedabad pattern of the
on earlier occasions, had dis- said then. The total octroi col- Assistant public prosecutor mittee be set up to look into which the applicant was to approach the Bombay HC for final approval BRTS be studied during this pe-
cussed the issue of privatising lected last year was around Rs Vinayak Musale opposed the tree-cutting applications, af- riod and then the final conclu-
octroi collection; a major 700 crore, while the annual tar- plea, saying there was pri- ter which the applicant was a danger, without waiting for of applications being ap- “We have said before the sion drawn,” said a top official
source of civic revenue, to get set by the general body for ma facie evidence to frame to approach the Bombay HC the court’s approval. proved was that citizens’ had court that now that the rules who attended the meeting.
curb irregularities and in- the year was Rs 914 crore. charges against the couple. for final approval. “Our plea has been re- been avoiding going to court are in place, they should be Interestingly, CIRT had al-
However, judicial magis- The civic body received jected,” said Jagzap. “The in the hope that the stay would properly implemented. How- ready submitted an observa-
trate first class B B 534 applications from May 6, monsoon will be here soon be lifted within a month or ever, the court stay on tree- tion on the issue. It had said,
Times Auto Show from today Pantawane discharged
Kapoor and Sharmilee under
2009, to March 31, 2010, of
which 444 applications were
and pre-monsoon showers of-
ten cause a lot of damage.
two. However, this does not
look like it will happen.
cutting must continue till the
civic body completes its tree
earlier this week, that the PMC
and the PMPML should make
section 239 of the Code of given a positive recommen- Lots of cases of tree-falling “We have had some census and ensures that trees a decision that will enable a
TIMES NEWS NETWORK September 2009. Criminal Procedure due to dation by the expert com- are reported during this pe- stormy days in the last week, are planted against those that smooth transition from the ex-
The show is a one-stop lack of evidence on April 30. mittee. riod and it is necessary to and there have been com- have been cut in the last few isting pilot system to the fu-
Pune: The Times Auto Show destination for car buyers to Priya and Ajay had mar- However, only 66 appli- have them trimmed or cut pri- plaints of trees falling and years,” Jain said. ture system.
— Summer Special — is be- have a look at the latest mod- ried on Jan 29, 2008. Priya cants of the 444 actually went or to the monsoon. We are fac- damage to property Citizens
. “I agree that there are The PMPML’s purchase of
ing organised on May 8 and els rolling on the Indian had registered a complaint to the court and 29 were giv- ing tremendous pressure this claim compensation from us nearly 500 tree-cutting appli- buses has been a bone of con-
9 at Sakhar Sankul, Shivaji- roads. It is also a good op- with the police on March 8, en final approval by the Bom- year since hundreds of ap- for their loss, but we are help- cations pending since one tention between the municipal
nagar. The expo is open from portunity for people planning accusing Agarwal, Ajay and bay HC. plications are still pending less,” Jagzap said. year, but it also means that corporations. The PCMC wants
10 am to 10 pm. On display at to buy pre-owned cars in good other family members of Speaking to TOI, PMC tree and there’s not enough time. Activist Vinod Jain, who the PMC had an entire year to buy buses with door on both
the show will be new and pre- condition. physical and mental torture officer Balasaheb Jagzap said The court has categorically had filed a petition against to ensure that trees were sides, whereas the PMC wants
owned cars. This is the sec- Leading auto finance com- for dowry Priya had accused
. that the department had ap- said that all applications must the PMC, on which the court planted. Why didn’t they get buses with door on the left
ond round of the show, or- panies, banks, insurance her father-in-law of trying proached the HC on Thursday be sent to them for final ap- had given the interim order, the work done? About the since all bus stops within PMC
ganised by The Times of In- companies oil companies and to outrage her modesty and with a plea that the civic body proval,” he added. said that the state govern- dangerous trees, I don’t think limits are located on the left.
dia, after the success of the auto accessory retailers will mother-in-law of misappro- be allowed to give the go-ahead Jagzap pointed out anoth- ment had recently framed the the court has laid restrictions “We are firm on our stand
Times Auto Show held in participate in the show. priating her jewellery TNN
. and cut down trees that posed er reason for the low number tree-cutting rules. on that,” Jain said. that that we need buses with
doors on the left, said PMC
standing committee chairman
NGO to compile inventory of urban bio-diversity
Arvind Shinde, speaking to re-
porters on Friday “Earlier, we
.
had demanded that at least 200
buses should be purchased as
per PMC’s requirement, but
TIMES NEWS NETWORK now we will push for 350 bus-
Pune: City-based non-governmental organi-
sation (NGO) World Institute for Nature (WIN)
has developed a website (www.spandan-
Immediate steps imperative to es as the PMC will bear the bur-
den of the payment of these
buses along with the state and
Centre,” he added.
bip.org) that aims to publish millions of bio-
diversity observations recorded from across
the globe. Citizens can also participate and
contribute to the inventory.
conserve migratory birds: BNHS PWD officials
One just has to take a picture or video shoot TIMES NEWS NETWORK
a plant or animal, add information like the
common name of the specie, location, date of Pune: The Bombay Natural History So-
About 19% of all bird
species are migratory, of granted bail
observation and upload it in any language. The ciety (BNHS) has said it is imperative which 11% are threatened.
data will be validated by a network compris- that immediate steps be taken to con- TIMES NEWS NETWORK
ing 56 experts — including ecologists, envi- serve the large number of migratory
In India, some of the
ronmentalists, taxonomists, botanists and zo- birds, especially the ones on the threat- threatened migratory birds Pune: Special judge Arvind
ologists from 13 countries. ened list, which come to India. include Siberian Crane, Roheee on Friday granted bail
Speaking at a meeting of collaborators on The BNHS on Friday issued a state- Greater Spotted Eagle, to public works department
Friday, Vishwas Chavan, chairman, board of ment on the occasion of the World Mi- Lesser Flamingo, Sociable (PWD) executive engineer
trustees, WIN, said the basic observations from Step By Step gratory Bird Day to be observed on Sat- Lapwing, Spotted Vikram Jadhav and senior
various sources will be compiled and trans- t Information Upload urday and Sunday The objective of the
. clerk Yogesh Tarate in an al-
formed into scientifically useful data. It can World Migratory Bird Day is to cele-
Greenshank, Spoonbill leged bribe case.
be used for scientific analysis as well as help- t Common name of the organism brate the wonderful phenomenon of Sandpiper, Imperial Eagle, The duo were released on a
ing in climate change modelling. t Language of common name bird migration and to highlight threats Houbara Bustard and personal bond of Rs 30,000
“For instance, how long an organism will faced by most migratory birds, which Wood Snipe each with two sureties of the
survive, whether there is a suitable place for t Region where common name is used are crucial indicators of environmen- like amount. The officials were
the organism to grow, changes seen over the t Date/period of observation tal conditions and can have far-reach- piper, Imperial Eagle, Houbara Bustard in number. All these large migratory directed by the court to report
years in its habitat and its impact can be record- ing impact on humans. and Wood Snipe,” says the BNHS release. birds require wetlands,’’ he added. to the state anti corruption bu-
ed. Over the next five years, it will be possible t Locality where observation was made The release says that the BNHS, Asad Rahmani, director, BNHS, says According to Rahmani, the conser- reau (ACB), Pune, every Mon-
to compile over a billion scientifically useful t Observer details which is the Indian partner of BirdLife that with a large number of migratory vation of wetlands is not only impor- day between 10 am and 11 am
biodiversity observation records through this International, has been focusing on mi- birds in India on the threatened list, tant for migratory birds, but also for till the end of April.
citizen movement,” he said. t At least one photograph of the observed gratory birds through its migratory immediate steps should be taken to con- water security and agriculture. Out of They were further direct-
According to Chavan, people’s partici- plant/animal species birds study centre at Point Calimere in serve them. “India falls on the South- more than 1,200 species of birds re- ed to report to the ACB on the
pation in biodiversity monitoring and con- t Biodiversity experts, naturalists, taxonomists Tamil Nadu, bird studies in Chilika Asia migratory route and is the largest ported from India till date, nearly 350 first day of every month till
servation is essential. At present, such an and ecologists can join the network of Lake (Orissa) and Uttar Pradesh. Ac- country in the region, making it very species are migratory including a very
, further orders. Lawyer Pratap
interaction between scientists and citizens experts for validating as well as value adding tivities like the annual Flamingo Fes- important for the winter sojourn of large number of forest birds — which Pardeshi appeared on behalf
is lacking and this project will correct the to the records contributed by citizens tival have also been creating awareness many migratory species. A few species have further suffered due to destruc- of the officials.
shortcoming. about such birds. reach up to Sri Lanka, but the bulk stays tion of their habitat. The ACB had arrested Jad-
Several campaigns, like road shows, will value added by our team of experts, these di- “With increasing human-driven in India. The location of the Indian The release says that Birdlife In- hav and Tarate for accepting
be conducted over the next 10 months to cre- versity observation records will be published threats and decreasing natural habitat, peninsula is unique, because, other ternational chief executive Marco Lam- a bribe of Rs 1 lakh for clear-
ate awareness. It will include ‘urban biodi- through Spandan,” said Chavan. over 12.4% of the total bird species are than Sri Lanka, there is no major land- bertini feels international collabora- ing a bill of Rs 35 lakh of a
versity inventory’, ‘tree counting campaign’, WIN is seeking strategic collaborations threatened worldwide. About 19% of all mass further south where such birds tion is the only way to conserve mi- road contractor on April 4.
‘bird observation competition’, and ‘go to na- and partnerships with individuals, institu- bird species are migratory of which 11%
, can go,” he said. gratory birds as they pass along their A search conducted at Jad-
ture reserves’. It will cover 30 cities in the tions, civil society organisations, academi- are threatened. In India, some of the “Besides, the globally threatened bird flyways. He says that BirdLife Part- hav’s residence at Revenue
country, added Chavan. cians as well as biodiversity experts for co-or- threatened migratory birds include species and even some common migra- nership, with over 100 national organ- colony in Shivajinagar had led
“To help citizens document the exact lati- dinating various campaigns and competitions Siberian Crane, Greater Spotted Eagle, tory species — such as the Bar-Headed isations across continents, can make a to the recovery of 1.68 crore
tude and longitude position of where a par- for Spandan. At present, there are three co- Lesser Flamingo, Sociable Lapwing, Goose, White-Eyed Pochard, Black Stork great difference in providing safer cash, gold ornaments worth
ticular observation is made, google map in- ordinators, one each in Maharashtra, Kar- Spotted Greenshank, Spoonbill Sand- and White Stork — are also decreasing routes for migratory birds. 9.27 lakh and silver ornaments
terface has been provided. Once validated or nataka and North East. worth 44,462.