Pune : The National Housing Census and National Population Register drive in Pune district will begin on May 1. This is the seventh population census to be undertaken by 2011.

Pune district is expected to record a 25 per cent increase since the last census, about 10 years ago. In the last census, Pune district had recorded a population of 72.67 lakh. The projected population for the district now is 91.42 lakh. The drive will see the entire population, including foreigners, being covered and will record all data of every individual living in the country.

Pune : With increasing congestion in the Pune district court premises due to the presence of large number of vehicles of litigants, the Pune Bar Association (PBA) has proposed that all litigants visiting the court at Shivajinagar should park their vehicles outside the premises. The PBA has decided to hold a general meeting of advocates to discuss the issue soon. Around 12,000 people visit the district court everyday.

In a tiny shanty in Sultanshahi in Hyderabad's old city, a group of 10 and 15-year-old girls is drawing. One drawing makes artist and and Deccani-Urdu poet Jameela Nishat stop in her tracks.

"Isn't something missing?" she asks the 14-year-old, about the bird drawn without wings. The teenager promptly draws a cage over the bird. In the next day's class, Jameela asks them to answer "Main kaun hoon". "Nothing" was the only, and seemingly, most natural response. Jameela says she made her beginning on that note. With young girls who believed they were 'nothing'.

MUMBAI: Searches by the Pune anti-corruption bureau (ACB) at the residences of a PWD executive engineer from Sangli have revealed assets worth Rs
2.17 crore. Ashok Bhalkar was arrested on March 5 while accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from a contractor, Santosh Salunke.

PUNE: The deep baritone voice of Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan will be heard during the valedictory function of the 83rd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan — the prestigious all-India Marathi literary meet scheduled in Pune from March 26 to 28.

The veteran thespian, who will chair the concluding session of the meet on March 28, will read a Marathi poem, possibly by renowned poet Suresh Bhat, and verses from ‘Madhushala’, the immortal work of his father, the late Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

MUMBAI: The Adani Group, based in Ahmedabad, and the Dhoot family of Pune are likely to be the highest bidders for the two new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises up for sale.

Gautam Adani, the 48-year-old chairman of the trading and export company, whose personal wealth is believed to be valued
at $6.7b, has bid for the Ahmedabad franchise. Highly placed sources said the bid is in the $260-280m range.

The airport police arrested a man for creating trouble at the Pune International Airport on Wednesday. The arrested has been identified as Kris Thomas, a resident of White Field in Bangalore.

Assistant inspector AS More of the Airport police station said Thomas had started a quarrel with the Kingfisher Airlines staff at its counter over flight delay and later indulged in a scuffle with the CISF personnel at the airport.

PUNE: The Times Group continues its dominance in Pune. While The Times of India has been the overwhelming market leader among English dailies for a long time, it has now been confirmed that its sister publication, Pune Mirror, is the undisputed No. 2.

According to the certificate (July-December 2009) of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) — the gold standard for mapping newspaper circulation figures — Pune Mirror has a daily circulation of 1,32,908 copies. This puts to rest claims of other No. 2 aspirants.

PUNE: The city witnessed an unusual winter this year where the minimum temperature was below the normal for just three days, says data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD's meteorological season which takes into account the minimum temperature in January and February shows that it dipped below normal only on three times and that too only in January. February did not have a single day with less than normal temperature.

According to IMD officials, India technically has only two months of winter and December is considered a cooler month since it heralds winter .

Pune : Additional director general of police (railways) Raj Khilnani on Wednesday said security arrangements at the Pune railway station would be improved in the wake of German Bakery blast.

However, when asked about the poor security system at the Pune railway station, Khilnani said that it was not possible to check each and every person at the railway station.