Kartik Lokhande's blog

15-04-14 The pilot project is to be implemented in total 150 hectares spread over Nagpur, Amravati, and Wardha districts By Kartik Lokhande  Oranges and Vidarbha are inseparables. In fact, Nagpur is also known as Orange City because of orange cultivation and export of oranges to other parts of the country and abroad. However, over the years, things have not remained the same as far as quality and productivity of orange fruit is concerned. Considering this, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Directorate at Nagpur has decided to undertake a novel project. The MGNREGS Directorate has chalked out a plan to implement a pilot project on orange cultivation under the widely popular scheme in three districts of Vidarbha. The project is proposed to be implemented in Nagpur, Amravati, and Wardha districts. In each district, 50 hectares of land will be covered under the project. At present, Vidarbha region has 1.48 lakh hectares of area under o...

Industry, agriculture must join hands: President * President of India Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates the country’s biggest-ever agriculture fair-cum-exposition ‘Krishi Vasant’ * The five-day exposition will continue till February 13 By Kartik Lokhande NAGPUR, Feb 9: President of India Pranab Mukherjee, on Sunday, called for industry and agriculture working hand-in-hand to achieve the desired growth rate of economy. He also advocated investment in research, food processing, and other sectors related to agriculture to provide a boost to economy. Mukherjee was addressing a gathering of farmers from various parts of the country, after inaugurating ‘Krishi Vasant’ agriculture fair-cum-exhibition at CICR campus here on Sunday. Union Ministry of Agriculture and Government of Maharashtra have organised the five-day exposition, in strategic partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Referring to Food Security Act, Mukherjee said that sceptics were questioning how was it possib...

After 5 years, President gives assent to Money Lending (Regulation) Act * The law provides for five years’ imprisonment and fine up to Rs 50,000 to unauthorised money lenders * At present, there are 12,000 authorised money lenders who have lent farmers Rs 737 crore By Kartik Lokhande It is five years since the announcement for a stringent law to punish private money lenders exploiting farmers. In October 2013, the Centre returned the draft of this much-awaited law to Maharashtra for the seventh time. After such a long wait and several changes, the President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to Maharashtra Money Lending (Regulation) Act on Friday. In 2008, the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had announced to amend Bombay Money Lending Act to incorporate stringent punishment for private money-lenders exploiting farmers. His announcement had come after the then Deputy Chief Minister (now Home Minister) R R Patil had announced to punish money lenders hard, f...

18-09-13 Crop loan disbursement to farmers dips this Kharif * NDCCB has not received refinance from Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Staff Reporter The farmers in Nagpur district expected good harvest this year but their hopes were dampened by hig-intensity rainfall causing floods. Many were forced to opt for re-sowing this Kharif season. For the purpose, they required money. However, officials figures show that even the institutionalised crop loan disbursement this time is lower than that in the previous year. As per the official data, the crop loan disbursement was Rs 141.18 crore in 2008-09. As against the target of Rs 266.66 crore, the actual disbursement was only 52.94 per cent. The next year, disbursement was 102.96 per cent of the target. In 2010-11, it declined again to 79.88 per cent of target; followed by slight rise to 83.36 per cent of the target the next year. In 2012-13, the target for crop loan disbursement was Rs 650.19 crore and actual disbursemen...

DF Govt extends term of SIT on irrigation scam * The committee headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley was to submit its report by June 30, has been given extension till December 31 * With the extension, the Government has avoided smartly discussing various aspects related to SIT during monsoon and winter sessions of State Legislature By Kartik Lokhande What will come out of the Government-initiated probe into multi-crore irrigation scam? Taxpayers and betrayed farmers of Maharashtra will have to wait for the answer. As expected, Democratic Front (DF) Government has given an extension of six months to the Special Inquiry Team (SIT) headed by water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley. Following the pressure mounted by the opposition parties and media, after ‘The Hitavada’ expose of multi-crore irrigation scam in May last year, DF Government had announced constitution of SIT in December 2012. ‘The Hitavada’ had exposed influential contractors and contractors-turned-politicians of NCP, BJP and t...

Published in The Hitavada on June 13, 2013  Upper Wardha: 48 years of farmers’ deception * Cost escalation, poor quality work, diversion of water have raised serious questions about utility of the multi-crore irrigation project By Kartik Lokhande Dreams, dreams, and dreams. People of Vidarbha region are first shown dreams of various irrigation projects. Then, there are long delays on part of various Government machineries. Finally, when the dreams are ‘realised’, policy decisions are taken at the level of the Government and water from these projects is diverted to non-agricultural purposes, leaving the farmers high and dry in rainfed region. Though there are several such cases in the region, the case in point now is Upper Wardha irrigation project. Why this project? Because, despite cry of the farmers for long, it has caught attention of politicians only of late. The project will be in news for next two days as the main opposition party in Maharashtra -- Bharatiya Jana...

Funds for Vidarbha never diverted: Tatkare (Published in The Hitavada CityLine on July 7, 2013) * Water storage Gosikhurd project to be built up to 242 metres this year * Proposals for revised administrative approval to 45 works from Vidarbha pending before State Cabinet Staff Reporter Under fire over diversion of funds meant for irrigation development in Vidarbha region to other parts of Maharashtra over the years, Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare said, “This has never happened. Vidarbha’s funds were never diverted, and will not be diverted.” “I am stating this as Water Resources Minister of Maharashtra,” said a visibly irked Tatkare when he was asked about diversion of Vidarbha funds to Rest of Maharashtra. Adv Madhukar Kimmatkar, Expert Member of Vidarbha Statutory Development Board (VSDB), had pointed out some time ago that funds to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore were diverted from Vidarbha to Western Maharashtra in violation of Governor’s directives over last 16 years....

Kakodkar Committee to submit report on GM crops this month Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government’s committee on allowing field tests to genetically modified (GM) crops, headed by eminent nuclear scientist Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar, is finalising its report. The panel is expected to submit its report to the Government this month. According to Umakant Dangat, Agriculture Commissioner, the committee has prepared its draft. It conducted meetings including one at Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) in Nagpur in the month of May. “The process of finalising minutes of the meetings and compiling the consultations into a report form, is under progress. By the end of this month, the report will be submitted to the Government,” he told ‘The Hitavada’. Asked about general tone and tenor of the consultations held so far, Dangat said that it would come out only in the report. Once the report was submitted to it, the Government would take appr...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on June 7, 2013 Govt to assess impact of chain weirs Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government has decided to assess the impact of chain cement-concrete weirs constructed to store water of nullahs across the State. The weirs are being constructed on a large scale to achieve the desired impact of water refilling. However, no deadline has been set for evaluation. The scheme of construction of chain weirs was launched in the year 2012-13 to ensure increase in groundwater level, protected irrigation for agriculture, tackling drinking water problem for humans as well as animals, and to increase employment and self-employment opportunities. For the purpose, funds are being utilised through various existing schemes and heads. However, now the Government wants to evaluate changes effected by the weirs. Water Conservation Department of the Government has fixed parameters on which performance of these chain weirs will be evaluated. These parameters includ...

(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on June 5, 2013) 511 villages in Nagpur Division are flood-prone * Around half of these villages are in Nagpur district alone * 30 tehsils in the division report more deaths in lightning strikes Staff Reporter With the pre-monsoon showers dropping enough hint of monsoon coming soon, the administration has stepped up its initiatives for better disaster preparedness. In a recently held review of situation in Nagpur Division, it came to fore that as many as 511 villages in six districts of the division are flood-prone. The review also revealed that 30 tehsils in the division saw more number of deaths due to lightning strikes. Of these 521 villages, maximum 228 are in Nagpur district alone. The district has seven main rivers namely Wardha, Wainganga, Kanhan, Vena, Pench, Nand, and Jami. A senior officer in the administration said that rise in population had created a tricky situation for all. The new poor families prefer to construct huts o...

World Environment Day Special Maharashtra lost more forest land for agriculture than developmental projects * Forest land diverted for developmental projects was 6,625 hectares as against 93,467 hectares diverted for agricultural purposes under distribution of forest rights Staff Reporter If one goes by hue and cry over utilisation of forest land, one gets an impression that more and more forest land is being lost for developmental projects. However, official data received by an NGO reveals a different picture. As per the data, Maharashtra has lost 14 times more forest land for agriculture (under distribution of forest rights) than developmental projects in six years between 2006-07 and 2011-12. Forest Department statistics available to Satpuda Foundation has brought to fore this shocking fact. The entire forest land diverted under Forest Conservation Act for all developmental (infrastructure) projects in Maharashtra during 2005-2011 was 6,625 hectares. This much of forest lan...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine and Vidarbha Line on April 22, 2013 Gosikhurd: Silver jubilee of a disappointment! * Even after 25 years since April 22, 1988, the mega irrigation project is still incomplete. Barely 15 per cent of planned irrigation potential of 2,50,800 hectares has been created so far despite spending Rs 6,073.71 crore, which is over 16 times the original estimated cost of the project * While farmers are still waiting for irrigation benefits to the desired extent, the project got mired into controversies with several official committees pointing out irregularities, violation of norms, sub-standard work etc By Kartik Lokhande Bigger the dream, bigger the disappointment. This is true in case of Gosikhurd mega irrigation project. Conceived in the year 1983, the project attracted much attention as none other than the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi performed its bhoomipujan on April 22, 1988. Since bhoomipujan, 25 years have passed by. On ground, the ...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on April 2, 2013 Amendment to money lending law in cold storage since 5 yrs By Kartik Lokhande When the issue of farmers’ suicides had occupied centre-stage some years back, Maharashtra Home Minister (the then Deputy Chief Minister) R R Patil had announced to punish money lenders hard. The then Chief Minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh, in 2008, had announced that Bombay Money Lending Act would be amended to incorporate stringent punishment for private money lenders exploiting the farmers. However, despite strong statements by Maharashtra’s top two authorities, the amendment bill is in cold storage since five years. Maharashtra forwarded the Bill to the President’s office, which sent it back with some queries. Savkargrast Shetkari Samiti has been following up the issue and it staged demonstrations at Azad Maidan in January this year to register protest against State Government’s inaction in this regard. The Bill comprised an important amendment...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on April 1, 2013 Pvt money lenders tightening grip over farmers in State Number of money lending licences issued and renewed has increased steadily in past five years while that of suspension/cancellation of licences has decreased By Kartik Lokhande With rising penetration of banks in rural areas, institutional finance is increasing. At least, this is popular perception. However, reality is far from this. In fact, in Maharashtra Government’s own admission, number of private money lenders is increasing steadily in the State. More shockingly, number of borrowers from these private money lenders has doubled in past five years! The Government’s own authentic data incorporated in Economic Survey of Maharashtra for past five years reveals that number of licences issued to private money lenders by the Government has increased steadily. In 2008, the Government had issued new licences to 1,212 private money lenders. The figure rose to 1,595 in...