Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farm Pollution: Happy Seeder produces not-so-happy results on groundedit
Punjab farmers have sown 4.50 lakh hectares (lh) wheat area this time using Happy Seeders. This is nearly 13% of the total 35.08 lh planted under the rabi cereal crop in the state. Not bad, it would seem, for a relatively new technology, which allows wheat to be directly seeded in combine-harvested paddy fields without any need to burn leftover stubble or loose straw that is a source of environmental pollution.
How Did We Go From ‘Food Surplus’ in 2018, to Five-Year High Retail Inflation Now?edit
In December 2019, India’s retail or CPI inflation reached 7.35%, the highest recorded in the last five years.
Food inflation touched a high of 14.12%. It was primarily caused by the rise in prices of milk (4.2%), eggs (8.79%), meat and fish (9.57%), pulses (15.44%) and vegetables (60.5%). Edible oils prices have risen only by 3.11% but with firming up of global prices, it is possible that they will also rise in due course.
In a slowing economy, food inflation could not have come at a worse time, especially for the poor, who have been struggling with job losses and stagnant wages.
Haryana Govt not paying heed to plight of farmers: Seljaedit
Haryana Govt is not paying heed to the plight of farmers in the state as within three months of the formation of this govt, there was a big scam in the first paddy procurement, Haryana Congress President and Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Farmers were protesting on road and the sugarcane farmers badly hit. Neither the farmers are getting right prices for their crops nor are the crops being procured”, she claimed
Locust menace in Rajasthan to worsen if bugs breededit
As farmers on the western border of Rajasthan face the worst attack of locusts coming from neighbouring Pakistan, there is now danger of the swarms of insects laying eggs which can lead to even more damage to crops.
Officials said that one locust lays around 100 eggs and hence it will be very tough to control the menace. The locusts have already affected around 11 districts in the state including Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Sriganganagar, Jalore, Hanumangarh, Nagaur, Churu, Pali, Sirohi and Dungarpur. Both khareef and rabi crops spread over lakhs of hectares of land have been damaged by them.Budget
₹2,100-crore project to boost agriculture gets state govt nodedit
The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved the implementation of the ₹2,100-crore State of Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) project for the backward districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha.
The project aims to build storage and marketing infrastructure for farm produce, promote e-trading platforms, and link agricultural marketing committees. Its motive is to increase the income of farmers and also ensure production of safe food for consumers.
Marathwada and Vidarbha region are suffering from farm distress and majority of the state’s farmer suicides are reported in these two regions.
Technology in Agriculture
Indian Agriculture Goes Hi-Tech With New Technologies Like AI, ML And IoTedit
As India still grapples with the ongoing agrarian crisis, a ray of hope emerges with Agriculture technology taking the reins. For a nation that has maximum livelihood in agriculture, government policies and acceptance of new technology have shown great results. While there has been a consistent rise in internal demand, the exports have increased multifold at US$ 38.54 billion in 2019. But, can new technology in agriculture be a saviour for India?
Stubble Burning
SC Issues Slew Of Directions To Curb Air Pollution In Delhiedit
On Monday, the Supreme court passed the slew of directions to address the protracted problem of air pollution in Delhi.
The bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Deepak Gupta has passed several directions, dealing right from the problem of stubble burning to vehicle emmision and construction dust. In this regard, the Municipal corporation of Delhi and Govt of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP have been asked to file action taken report within three weeks, along with compliance report of previous directions.
Uncategorized
IMD to announce new dates for exit, onset of monsoonedit
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is set to announce new dates for the onset and withdrawal of the south-west monsoon this year, a government official and the weather department said on Wednesday, in a move that could affect millions of farmers who depend on the rainy season for a bumper yield of kharif crops.
The normal monsoon onset date over Kerala is June 1, and the withdrawal date is September 30, according to IMD. These dates are based on the monsoon pattern between 1901 and 1940, but India has recorded significant shifts in the pattern over the past decades, M Rajeevan, secretary in the ministry of earth sciences, said at IMD’s 145th foundation day on Wednesday.