Land of ‘opportunities’
The Hindu
Cash-strapped govt. eyes upward revision of land values as a means of garnering additional revenue, while COVID-19-hit builders and buyers seem to be averse to shouldering any additional burden
The spectre of a revision in the market value of lands is looming large as it has been the practice to make changes once in two years in the villages and every year in cities and towns. The Registration and Stamps Department is expected to increase the values in both rural and urban areas this year but obviously by a different measure. The market grapevine is that the increase could be between 10% and 50%. The values in cities and towns were increased by up to 30% last year which fetched just under ₹1,000 crore. The registration rates were not enhanced at that time. The market value revision is seen as an essential means to garner additional revenue as the cash-strapped government is looking for a steady stream of money that will replenish the coffers to some extent.![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20250217064624.jpg)
When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.