News Clips from Goa
 

Goa's coconut trees to be insured http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/goas-coconut-trees-to-be-insured-19005.php Indo-Asian News Service, Friday April 2, 2010, Panaji Click to enlarge The humble coconut is to Goans what perhaps the camel is to desert dwellers. So nearly 100,000 coconut palms in the coastal state of Goa are now set to be insured in an unprecedented exercise, complete with a physical examination of their girth! Satish Tendulkar, director of agriculture, says since coconut is an important commercial crop, the state government along with several other government agencies had decided to ensure comprehensive insurance cover for farmers who depend on them. "The coconut farmer will have to pay only Rs.1.60 paise per tree annually. In case a coconut palm dies, he stands to get Rs.1,200 per palm," Tendulkar said. He said 75 percent of the premium was sponsored by several agencies like the Coconut Development Board, the state agriculture department, a local horticulture collective and Zuari Agro Ltd, a pesticide manufacturing company, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR). Goa is the first state in the country to undertake such a comprehensive insurance drive for coconut palms, he said. The Agro Insurance Company of India, a central government concern, has undertaken to insure the coconut palms, the official said, adding nearly 18,000 palms had already been insured. Explaining the procedure, Tendulkar said agriculture officials were scouring the countryside and physically examining the coconut palms as required by insurance specifications. The thing that these officials are looking out for is the palm's girth - the broader the girth the healthier the tree - along with thick foliage, etc. "The insurance covers the trees for cyclonic uprooting, death by disease and drought," Tendulkar said. The insurance policy, however, does not cover the death of a tree due to silt accumulation, a common phenomenon in the state's expanding mining belt, where fine silt created by constant mining of iron and manganese ore settles on the soil, slowly choking vegetation to death. Coconut farming, along with that of cashew and betel nut, is one of the most popular commercial farming activities in Goa. The coconut, with its fleshy white kernel, a hard shell covered with a gritty, husky exterior, is used for multiple purposes by Goans. While the grated kernel is used in most signature Goan dishes like fish curry, caldin and xacuti, the husk is used to manufacture coir ropes, the fringed palm leaves are thatched together and then used as canopy against the sun and the palm's long, firm stem is commonly used as roof timber.

Goa to provide recreation base for warships Posted: 03 Apr 2010 07:10 AM PDT | Goa Blog (goablog@gmail.com) Goa is all set to provide Rest and Recreation (R&R) base for the warships calling the port from across the globe. You may also want to see “An exclusive berth is being constructed at the port and the work is expected to be over by March 2011,” Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) chairman Praveen Agarwal told reporters today. The Rs33 crore facility with a length of 270m and which will be 22m wide is expected to augment warship traffic to the port, which usually call for R&R facility. “Soldiers usually take break once in six months for rest and recreation and Goa could be the most preferred place for the purpose,” Agarwal said. MPT, which is one of the biggest port trusts on the Western Coast currently receives few ships for rest and recreational purposes. Agarwal also pointed out that an added benefit of the new facility is that the soldiers who land for a break tend to spend lavishly which will boost the economy of the state. Meanwhile, realising that the tourists arriving in Goa through cruise ships are required to land near a coal dump or iron ore heaps, the port trust is also developing an exclusive berth for these ships. “This berth costing about Rs47 crore will be for berthing non-cargo vessels including cruise ships,” he said. The chairman said that the work on the project has commenced and will be completed by December 2011. The MPT catered to 19 cruise vessels during FY 2009-10 bringing in 18684 passengers. Courtesy: DNA

More areas lose rural character in Goa http://www.goablog.org/posts  | Posted: 04 Apr 2010 04:22 AM PDT Goa’s march towards urbanization continues with the Census Operations Department recently declaring 26 new villages as census towns. “Goa now has 70 towns, including 14 municipal (statutory) towns and 56 census towns,” a census department official said. While enumeration for census 2011 has commenced now, the department recently completed an exercise to assess the balance of the state’s urban and rural frame for the 2011 census. The state had 30 census towns in the 2001 census. Villages are declared as census towns if the population crosses 5,000. Two other key parameters include density of population and people’s occupations. “If the density of population is 400 per sq km and more than 75% of the male population is working in non-agricultural occupations, then it shows that the village has gained an urban character,” a census department source said. Urbanization may mean more concretization and influx from rural areas, but citizens stand to benefit by way of more civic and sanitary facilities. “They may not benefit much directly, but better sanitary, recreational and other facilities are put in place for them. The poor in urban areas become eligible for central government schemes,” said an official. After being declared a census town, the government may further consider the entity for upgradation as a statutory town, resulting in possible changes in land use and FAR. “Depending on the population, the town may be upgraded into a statutory town. The change in land use and floor area ratio depends on the local self-governing body and planning authorities,” officials said. Talukas showing a high rate of growth are Bardez with a maximum 13 census towns-Tivim, Anjuna and Salvador do Mundo added to ten existing ones. Salcete ranks second with 12, seven declared earlier and five-Verna, Loutulim, Nuvem, Raia and Curtorim-added in the latest exercise. But as compared to only one municipal town of Mapusa in the northern taluka, Salcete has two municipal towns of Margao and Cuncolim. Courtesy: TOI

Goa allocates Rs.5 crore for safety of tourists 2010-03-28 05:30:00 Concerned about the safety of tourists visiting Goa, in the wake of recent high-profile crimes against foreigners, the Goa government has allocated Rs.5 crore in its annual budget towards setting up a 'beach safety management system'. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, also the finance minister, in his budget speech in the Goa legislative assembly said that at least 1,000 Goan youth would be recruited under public-private participation (PPP) for the purpose. 'My government desires to take up confidence building measures by enhancing security of tourists... Accordingly a provision of Rs.500 lakh (Rs.5 crore) is made in the budget 2010-11,' Kamat said. Safety of tourists in the state has been a major area of concern, with a significant rise in the numerous instances of attacks on tourists being reported here. The rape and murder of 15-year-old British teenager Scarlett Keeling in 2008 and the subsequent rapes and body crimes against Russian tourists, had also put the issue of safety of tourists in Goa under the spotlight. After threats by Russian embassy officials to issue an adverse travel advisory and personal intervention of the union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja, the Goa government was forced to expedite the process of setting up a tourist security force, manned by ex servicemen. The Goa government has already put in place an advanced beach safety management system in order to save tourists from drowning off the shores of Goa, by privatizing beach lifeguard services. Goa receives 2.4 million tourists annually, nearly half a million of whom are foreigners.

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