THIS year's agriculture census 2008-09 is in progress in the country, and the time fixed for sample surveys at field level was May 11-29. The survey report will be released in June 2009. It will be good if the report can be publicly available in time. The last report of the agriculture census, 1996, was released in July 1999. An agriculture census is essential to obtain the detailed data/statistics/information necessary to keep the nation informed of the changes in the country's agriculture.
The State Forest department has started annual wildlife census from May 14 to 20. Forest department officials said that while they would conduct pugmark count till Sunday, there would be a night watch on May 19 -20, which are the full moon nights. The census is on in the entire limits of the national park, including the Yeoor hill regions, Tungareshwar, Phansad and Karnal.
The anomaly in the latest tiger census in the state including at the Kawal wildlife sanctuary in Adilabad has raised doubts over the methods of tabulation followed by the officials. The variation in the figures were revealed when Kawal sanctuary officials increased the tiger count from nine to 19 on being questioned by senior officials in Hyderabad on the low number of the animals.
In a recent census on tiger population carried out in Papikondalu wildlife sanctuary, forest wildlife management authorities identified the presence of five tigers, including four adults and a cub and 15 leopards. With the exception of the addition of a newly born cub to the existing tiger population, forest authorities did not confirm whether the number of tigers has gone up or dwindled in the sanctuary. However, they confirm that there were no reports of poaching of tigers in the sanctuary limits.
Forest officials of Srisailam Tiger Reserve have begun tiger census in the Nallamala forest. During the weeklong exercise, the teams will count the pugmarks at water-holes. Nearly 200 teams are scurrying the forest existing on 3,000 sq km. Assistant Conservator of Forest and in charge of bio-diversity wing Tulasi Rao told The Hindu that the survey was meant for annual review and updating of records. According to him, only tigers and panthers would be counted during the current exercise, which would end on May 7.
The preliminary data of a tree census conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is bound to give nature lovers in the city a cause for celebration. According to the data there are over 18 lakh trees in Mumbai. The civic body has said that the figure indicates an increase in the green cover over the last five years. However, the figures could also be attributed to the new parameter of measurement which categorizes a 4 feet high sapling with a diameter of 4 meter as a tree. The civic body will provide cash incentives to citizens to increase the green cover of the city.
The Union home ministry has suggested that the data obtained in the coming Census 2011 needs to be kept out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The Registrar-General of India (RGI), the body under the home ministry entrusted with the task of generating data on population statistics, has said that the "confidentiality" guar anteed to the informants by the Census Act in respect of census information has been "partly eroded" after the enactment of the RTI Act of 2005. "This position will need to be restored in the interest of quality of census data," it has said.
The Census 2011 is expected to do away with the questions on "age at marriage" and "fertility". The question on "number of married couples having independent room for sleeping" can also be out. These questions have "posed challenges" at the time of data collection in terms of eliciting a clear response from informants, the Union home ministry has been informed. Other questions that might not figure in the 2011 Census are, "travel to place of work" and "households engaged in cultivation /plantation".
