Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
The Landless women: Only 12.9% Indian women hold agricultural landedit
Business Standard – Online
Look hard. Do you see any woman among the protesting farmers? The reason is simple — Women hardly own agricultural land.
Lakshadweep and Meghalaya are the best among all the 35 states and Union Territories at providing land rights to women; Punjab and West Bengal are the worst, according to an index created by the Bhubaneswar-based Centre for Land Governance, an arm of consultancy firm NR Management Consultants.
The index was prepared using the data on women’s operational holdings from the agriculture census of 2011, the share of adult women owning farm land from the Indian Human Development Survey of 2011-12, the share of women-headed households owning land from the Socio-economic Caste Census of 2011, and the share ...
Impact of COVID-19 on India’s agritech sector and other key findings from an Accel-Omnivore Studyedit
YourStory – Online
Like all other industries, India’s agriculture sector — the biggest contributor to the nation’s GDP — was faced with huge uncertainties after the coronavirus outbreak. Things worsened after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown on March 25. Food supply chains froze, farmers struggled to purchase inputs right ahead of the harvest season, access to marketplaces and mandis was limited, agri-logistics and transport systems were broken, post-harvest loss mounted, and the cost of unsold produce pinched farmer finances. All in all, the sector was in complete disarray.
Stubble Burning
In absence of immediately available clean air options, urban India will continue to breathe toxic air for yearsedit
MenaFN – Online
As poor air quality coupled with hazardous smog continues to perpetually choke the capital and other Indian cities, lack of urgency to respond is both frustrating and appalling. With an overwhelming policy thrust on EVs and a complete dearth of focus on immediate clean air solutions, millions of Indians are likely to continue breathing toxic air for years. As we observe National Pollution Control Day, it is pertinent to note that by banking totally on long term solutions like the EVs, India is missing out on low hanging fruits that can help bring about an immediate difference in air quality. Clean gaseous fuels such as Auto LPG are one such under-utilised solution that can bring about immense ...
Farmer agitation: Use iron fist in a velvet gloveedit
The Times of India – Online
The agitating Punjab farmers can be painted as saints or sinners. On the one hand, they spearheaded the Green Revolution in the 1960s when India was starving, helping India become not just self-sufficient but a grain exporter. For this they were rightly called heroes.
But by growing water-guzzling crops like rice in a low-rainfall state, Punjab farmers lowered the water table dramatically. First, all drinking water wells ran dry. Then the shallow tubewells of smaller farmers ran dry. The richest farmers with the deepest wells benefited while hurting others and destroying aquifers. Besides, they now burn their crop stubble in October-November for early wheat planting, injuring and killing thousands in Delhi and surrounding areas ...
One in three farmers in Punjab are absentee landlords, MSPs paid to middleman through DBT: Here is how Punjab farmers play by different rules than rest of countryedit
OPIndia – Online
Even as ‘farmers protests’ rage around the highway entrances to Delhi, causing inconvenience to the common man, more details are emerging out that shed light on how the farmers in Punjab play by different rules, especially in procurement and Direct Benefit Transfers than the rest of the country.
Amidst the debate over the credibility of such ‘farmer’ protests, interesting details about the extent of absentee landlordism in Punjab and its influence on the ongoing protests have come out. A report by Indian Express has revealed that at least 30-35% of Punjab’s farmers who cultivate land do not actually have any lands, but do farming in lands that belong to government employees, NRIs and permanent urban residents within and outside ...
Delhi: In year of ups and downs, farm fire season came early, but left a more lasting impactedit
The Times of India – Online
Crop stubble fires not only began to impact Delhi’s air much earlier this year, but their contribution to pollution was also much higher compared with last year, data analysed by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found.
CSE analysed the data compiled by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) till November 30 and found that on seven days this season the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration was over 30% compared with only three such days last year.
Farm stubble to biochar — to boost crop yieldedit
The Times of India – Online
Instead of being a source of air pollution, stubble can be used to improve soil health and crop yield by converting it into biochar — a black charcoal-like product, JNU’s School of Environmental Sciences (SES) has suggested. Track the pollution level in your city
According to professor Dinesh Mohan of SES, who has been in the global list of highly cited researchers for the past seven years, biochar can not only solve the problem of stubble burning but also, in the long run, “reduce carbon from the carbon cycle, improve soil fertility and increase yield”.Making stubble changesedit
The Pioneer – Online
Every year, between October and November, Delhi gets choked due to stubble burning in States of Punjab and Haryana and citizens struggle with breathing. Stakeholders tell SHALINI SAKSENA that there are several alternatives available for the farmers if only they would change their mindset
It was a bumper harvest in Punjab and Haryana this year, which meant that there was so much more residue to burn. Stubble burning is not a new problem. Each year, Delhiites struggle to breathe during the months of October and November. Each year, there is a hue and cry on how one can prevent these fires but to no avail.
According to data released by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, the State recorded ...
Tractor industry
Talk of the town: With solar panels atop tractors, farmers stay mobileedit
The Times of India – Online
It is 17 days since the farmers left their families behind and congregated at the Singhu border. The only way they can stay connected with home is through mobile phones. So, farmers have found creative ways to charge their mobile phones, some installing solar plates on their tractors, others using their tractor engine power to fuel their phones.Hardeep Singh of Karnal put up two solar panels behind his tractor. Singh, who as a member of Nirmal Kutiya Karnal, has engaged in langar service at the protest site, said, “At night, we require light to be able to distribute food. The 10 of us in the team need our phones to stay in touch with ...