The Millennium Post

One of the best things about ambitious challenges is that it compels one to think and think ‘out-of-the-box’. So when the 94th Foundation Course (FC) which is scheduled as a week-long program at the Statue of Unity (October 26-31) worked on five thematic subjects- a) agriculture and rural transformation, b) inclusive urbanisation c) jobs, skills and education, d) health and nutrition and e) sustainable resource management. It is  important to mention that the agriculture sector has to compete for land and water. In recent years the demands from infrastructure, housing and urbanisation are posing a real challenge. Without a major technology intervention in the management of land and water, it may not be possible to make ...

The Times of India

The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) has begun the process of identifying farmers, who own farmlands, to be brought under the Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (Kusum) scheme. Under the scheme, farmers, who are connected to the grid, would be invited to invest in solar energy. The state government hopes to generate 3,600MW of solar energy through the project over a three-year period.

The Indian Express

A flagship programme of the central government, the majority of PMFBY premiums are paid jointly by central and state governments, while farmers only pay 2 per cent of the amount. The state is divided into four clusters and bids are invited from both public sector and private insurance companies to implement the scheme.

The Economic Times

To curb alarming pollution levels in north India, especially during winter months, CII on Sunday said it has adopted over 100 villages and 100,000 acres of farm area in Punjab and Haryana to enable zero crop residue burning. The industry body has adopted Ludhiana, Barnala and Patiala districts in Punjab, and Rohtak, Sirsa and Fatehabad in Haryana.

The Economic Times

India’s first plant to convert paddy straw into biogas that can be used as CNG in automobiles will come up at Karnal in Haryana as agencies double effort to prevent burning of crop stubble that is said to be the main reason for pollution in the national capital region. E S Ranganathan, managing director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the largest CNG distribution company in India, led the ground breaking ceremony of the plant to convert paddy straw into compressed biogas (CBG) at Karnal on October 18, a company statement said here.

The Print

Noted economist Prabhat Patnaik Saturday called for a new methodology to rejuvenate India’s agro-economy. “Agriculture growth rate should be the new growth rate for India rather than GDP and other data points,” Patnaik, a former professor at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at JNU, said Saturday.

The Indian Express

After grappling for decades with its 2,800-odd polluting brick kilns, Punjab has got most of them to switch to a new technology, thereby cutting emissions by an estimated 70 per cent. After a few initial hiccups, officials of the state pollution control board say they have been able to convince the owners of at least 1,800 kilns to opt for the newer ‘induced draft’ kilns with zigzag brick settings. In the new kilns, the bricks to be baked are arranged in a zigzag pattern, allowing hot air to cover a longer path, unlike in traditional kilns, where the bricks are arranged in straight lines. As the air takes this zigzag path, it improves the heat transfer ...

Sunday Guardian

“The new technologies have opened up doors and we should use these to be able to produce food needed by 8.2 billion people in future,” said Nobel Laureate Norman Earnest Borlaug, adding that “good public sector supported programs in biotechnology, linked with genetics and breeding are called for.” The words of the “father of the green revolution” uttered in New Delhi in March 2009 are proving prophetic. As India is half way in realising its national mission of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022, agriculture biotechnology seems to be emerging as a great enabler in unfolding another green revolution, transforming its distressed fields into a farming paradise.