Tribune India

The Command Area Development Authority (CADA) has proposed using surplus water from overflowing ponds in villages for irrigation to reduce usage of groundwater for the purpose.

The CADA has studied 11 ponds in villages in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Ambala and Yamunanagar districts. After testing water and calculating daily available runoff, the area which can be irrigated from surplus water was calculated on the basis of crop water requirement in 11 villages, CADA officials said. Sedimentation chambers were constructed to separate coarse sediments and obtain clear water.

Tribune India

INDIA faced major foodgrain shortage up to the late 1960s. The development of high-yielding wheat seeds and the availability of other inputs like fertilisers, irrigation water and credit led to the Green Revolution in the second half of the 1960s. It was followed by the development of high-yielding varieties of paddy. To promote the cultivation of paddy, a non-traditional crop in Punjab, the government gave financial support to the farmers for purposes such as drawing groundwater.

Bhaskar

 In future, tractors will run on water instead of diesel. Scientists from Gujarat and Mihir Jai Singh of Gimpex Biotechnology have prepared a kit for this. It will be performed in February. Using this will not only reduce the cost of farming of the farmer in the country, but will also drastically reduce air pollution.

Indian Express

The winter chill is likely to give a skip to Pune and adjoining areas during this week as the Met department has forecast light rainfall.

Officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, said that cloudy and overcast conditions will dominate the city during the next three to four days, resulting in the rise in mercury levels.

The Hindu BusinessLine

The prospects of a bumper wheat crop this rabi season may overwhelm procurement agencies. Saddled with huge stocks they may lower prices, hitting farmers adversely. As on Friday, the total wheat acreage was 330.2 lakh hectares (lh), up 33.22 lh compared to the previous rabi season’s 297 lh. A back-of-the-envelope calculation, which takes into account the increase in sowing in various States and their yield levels in the past, shows the output could go up by nearly 9 million tonnes (mt) when compared to last year if weather conditions continue to be favourable. According to the 2018-19 fourth advance estimates, wheat production last year was projected at around 102 mt.

The Print

India’s agriculture policy makers have the herculean task of not only delivering time-sensitive responses to farmers’ needs but also accounting for personnel, topographical, weather, and logistical variations within each state. But the growing calls for modernising agriculture, however, has been merely focused on spurring mechanisation and increasing research to improve farmer productivity.

India Today

In western Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, large groups of pink swarming locusts loom large over lush green fields laden with Rabi crops. And they have been the bad omen for farmers in at least ten districts of the desert state could have easily done without.

Hundreds of millions of them, in what has been a fresh arrival on Sunday, flew over large swathes of land and destroyed crops spread over vast hectares of land, within a matter of minutes.

Indian Express

Although the Union budget is basically an accounting exercise of revenues and expenditures for the coming year, economy-watchers anxiously wait for the finance minister to announce major economic reforms. In that sense, the budget of 1991 remains a historic one that changed the course of Indian economy from being largely a socialist, state-controlled to a somewhat more liberal and market oriented economy. The results of exchange rate correction, trade policy changes, and delicensing of industry are there for everyone to see.

Economic Times

The Centre could include a host of off-budget spending and other government liabilities on its books to give a clearer picture of finances though this could raise the fiscal deficit sharply.

Top government officials have held discussions on the move amid budget preparations and there is a growing view that a full picture is needed. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on February 1.