Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Agriculture department releases booklet on alternatives to paddyedit
The New Indian Express – Online
With no guarantee that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) would procure Rabi paddy from the State’s farmers, the Agriculture Department is on a mission to divert the farmers towards alternative crops. Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Monday released materials highlighting alternative crops and requested farmers not to raise paddy in the ensuing Rabi. As part of the department’s efforts, a 40-page booklet titled “Yasangilo variki baduluga itara pantalu sagu cheddam” (let us raise crops other than paddy in Rabi) is being widely circulated among farmers. “Raising paddy in Kharif and also in Rabi is not ensuring crop diversity in the State. The Centre has already announced that it will procure ...
Agriculture Courts Will Now Resolve All Farmer & Agriculture Issues; Draft Readyedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
In Haryana, the state government is going to take an important decision to resolve all the disputes related to agriculture and farmers. On completion of seven years of its tenure, the state govt. can announce the opening of agricultural courts in every district. After the opening of agricultural courts, all kinds of disputes including delay in payment, non-payment of compensation and alleged arbitrariness of crop insurance companies can be challenged. The Haryana government believes that after the opening of agricultural courts, disputes related to farmers will be resolved expeditiously. On October 27, the seven years of the BJP government are going to be completed. In these seven years, the ministers of the Haryana government have gone ...
Competition
‘National priority’: Anand Mahindra shares solution to tackle stubble burning in Delhi’s neighbouring statesedit
Business Today -Online
Mahindra Group chairperson and Padma awardee Anand Mahindra has a solution for tackling the issue of stubble burning – one of the issues at the heart of the worsening air quality in Delhi. Mahindra retweeted a tweet by CEO of the Naandi Foundation Manoj Naandi and wrote, “Let’s scale it up Manoj Naandi. It’s a national priority.” Mahindra tagged Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Bhupender Yadav and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Naandi shared a video wherein crop residue was converted into nutrient dense top soil by mixing it with microbial biomes, cow dung and other ingredients. For this technique to be successful, it is critical that the crop residue was collected before the farmers burned ...
Events
FICCI will host a Virtual Agriculture Summit on November 17-18edit
Krishi Jagran – Online
On November 17 and 18, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will host a virtual agriculture summit and awards ceremony. The summit ‘Envisioning Smart & Sustainable Agriculture’ aims to bring together all important stakeholders and policymakers on a single platform to develop a workable smart and sustainable agriculture plan. “The initiative’s main goal is to discuss and identify practical paths for large-scale promotion and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, as well as to raise awareness about the already available solutions for smart and sustainable agriculture,” according to FICCI officials. The plenary sessions will cover topics such as improving agri-inputs for long-term productivity and farm incomes, post-harvest interventions for a sustainable ...
Govt. Policies
Arunachal Deputy CM underlines lack of funding, urges Centre to take noteedit
The Economic Times – Online
Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and Minister-In-Charge of Finance in Arunachal Pradesh Chowna Mein pointed to Centre that Government of India to give due consideration to the fact that the State is deprived of funding from any of the Multilateral Development Banks and as such the same needs to be duly compensated while planning for the investment decisions for state of Arunachal Pradesh. Multilateral Development Banks are refraining from giving funds to Arunachal Pradesh as China has often claimed Arunachal as part of Southern Tibet. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a meeting with Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers/Finance Ministers of the States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories via virtual conference mode ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Fields submerged due to non-restoration of Marudaiyaru river in TN, farmers demand actionedit
The New Indian Express – Online
Over 15 acres of paddy and maize fields were submerged due to the non-renovation of the Marudaiyaru river at Panangur in the district. Residents said since the situation is the same every year, the authorities should immediately renovate the river. The Marudaiyaru river runs for around 3-4 km at Panangur village of Kunnam taluk. More than 200 acres of paddy and maize have been cultivated along the river. As the Seemai Karuvelam trees grow high in the river, it overflows during the rainy season and enters the farmlands. People have been petitioning the district administration for five years to remove all these trees. But so far no action has been taken. In this situation, due ...
Rs 400 cr worth crops destroyed in Kerala rains: Minister P Prasad……edit
Mathrubhumi – Online
Heavy rains that continue to lash almost all districts of Kerala for the past few days has caused damages to agricultural crops worth Rs 400 crore, said a state Minister. State Agriculture Minister P. Prasad told the media on Monday that the damage to crops is around Rs 400 crore. “We will now approach the Centre for the compensation and for that to happen, we request all those who have suffered damages to their crops in the next 10 days to raise their request for it,” said Prasad. Heavy rains have thrown life out of gear in many parts of Kerala including the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, besides Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, and Kasargod districts. Chief Minister ...
Odisha’s agriculture department looks the other way as farmers sufferedit
The New Indian Express – Online
Even as large parts of the State are being battered by low-pressure induced rains for the last couple of days causing extensive damage to standing paddy crops, the Agriculture department seems oblivious to the plight of farmers. The unseasonal rains during harvesting of paddy, the principal kharif crop of Odisha, has reportedly damaged crops in the coastal districts of Ganjam, Balasore, Puri, Khurda, Kendrapara, Jagatsingpur and Nayagarh districts. With 135 mm rainfall, Ganjam is the worst affected and chances of harvesting the crop appear remote in the district. With no official information on the extent of damage to kharif crops, the only option left is the government e-governance portal Agrisnet which delivers ...
Paddy in India
Why the state and Centre are at war over paddyedit
The Times of India – Online
While TRS and BJP are at war over procurement of rice, records suggest the state held the country’s second-highest procurement, with 94 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) in 2021. Paddy production has risen from 50 lakh metric tonnes per year to more than 2.5 crore metric tonnes per year. The Centre says that it only purchases fine varieties of rice, despite the fact that the state demands that all rice be purchased.
Cloudy atmosphere leaves paddy farmers in Raichur, Yadgir worriededit
The Times of India – Online
The countdown to harvesting paddy having begun in the earnest in Raichur and Yadgir districts, the gloomy weather prevailing almost across Karnataka, has the farmers understandably perturbed. The overcast sky may result in the colour of the rice in the crop going black, which will subsequently translate to huge losses for the farmers, who will be forced to sell their crop at a throwaway price. On Monday, the farmers in the two districts greeted the Sun with visible delight, for the bright light rent asunder the gloom that had hung over the sky for the past four days. Rice mill owners are unlikely to purchase the blackened crop, and if they ...
When Telangana went wrong with paddy measureedit
The Hans India – Online
Are political bosses trying to shield bureaucrats? Did they mislead the Telangana government on the extent of the cultivation of crops? These questions assume significance with the contradictory data reportedly sent to the Centre regarding the extent of paddy cultivated in the State. Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy claimed that the officials from the Telangana government participated in an all-India meet of the civil supplies officials to finalise the allocation of paddy procurement and had agreed to procurement of about 40 lakh metric tonnes in August 2021. Later, the Centre received another letter from Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao requesting the Centre to peg the procurement allocation at ...
Pollution to prosperity – Punjab’s 1st plant to covert paddy stubble into bio-CNG to be commissioned in Jan 2022edit
Times Now News – Online
Punjab’s first plant to convert paddy stubble into compressed biogas (CBG) or bio-CNG is set to be commissioned in January next year, reports say. Stubble collection for the operation of the plant has already begun. Burning of paddy straw in Punjab and other states leads to a pollution emergency in Delhi-NCR and aggravated health risks during the winter season every year. As a part of efforts to prevent farmers from burning stubble, the bio-CNG plant has been set up in Sangrur district of Punjab, with an investment of Rs 220 crore, as per reports. The Times of India reported that the unit, one of the largest in the country, has the capability to collect and ...
At 188 lakh tonnes, Punjab procures 4% less paddy this year, but still second highest everedit
The Indian Express – Online
Punjab has procured 4 per cent less paddy this year compared to last year with the figure currently standing at around 188 lakh tonnes. The current kharif season had also seen around 5 per cent less area under paddy (non-bbasmati) this year compared 2020. However, this is still Punjab’s second highest procurement overall after one of the highest per hectare yield ever, according to the Punjab Agriculture Department’s Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) across 23 districts of the state. Total 187. 86 lakh tonnes of paddy arrived in Punjab’s mandis this year for the government purchase on MSP till November 14, while last year total 203 lakh tonnes paddy – the highest ever — ...
Stubble Burning
In Punjab’s paddy fields: Where the seeders are happy but the farmers are notedit
Firstpost – Online
Evening was coming on; a yellow full moon hung over the Patiala road as a cool breeze swept across the land. All day we had been flanked by green paddy fields, ready for harvest. But things were about to change. As the darkness descended, we saw at a distance, pyre-like fires. We sped up only to discover that the fires extended across swathes of open land, a landscape that was an open oven billowing twisted columns of smoke. This was it, the parali zone, and the flames we were looking at were at least a big part of the reason for the winter season’s extreme pollution in north India. Carefully, I walked into the burning remains ...
As Government says fires surged recently, Punjab’s farm chorus: ‘It’s majboori’edit
The Indian Express – Online
On stubble burning, the refrain from Punjab’s farm fields can be summed up in one word: “Majboori (helplessness)”. Here, fields go from yellow to a scorched black in a few minutes — a quick burning that takes its toll on the air overhead and further away, in the national capital where the contentious practice is at the heart of a Supreme Court hearing on air pollution. On Monday, Punjab’s numbers were flagged in an annexure to the Centre’s affidavit in the apex court. The annexure — the minutes of a meeting Sunday of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas —states that in Punjab, “about 42,285 incidences ...
SC directs Centre to hold emergency meeting to control air pollutionedit
Financial Express – Online
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to call an emergency meeting on Tuesday to take measures like stopping non-essential construction transport, power plants and implementing work from home. A bench, headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, directed the concerned secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab and Delhi to attend the meeting to make their submissions before the committee formed by it. “The affidavit filed by respondents and after hearing we come to the conclusion the major culprits of pollution are construction activity, industry, transport, power and vehicular traffic apart from stubble burning in some parts. Even though some decisions were taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the ...
Farm Fires Up By 48 Per Cent In Haryana In 2021; Stubble Burning Contributing 35-40 Per Cent To Pollution In Delhi-NCRedit
Swarajya – Online
Farm fire incidents in Haryana have seen a substantial increase this year compared to 2020. The affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court today (15 November) also consists of minutes of the 7th meeting held yesterday (14 November), of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas which revealed these details. So far 5,400 incidents of stubble burning have been reported in Haryana in 2021 till 13 November compared to 3,635 in the corresponding period last year which translates to 48 per cent increase. This when harvest season has been delayed this year due to late monsoon rains lashing the state drenching the crops and farmers had to wait longer to ...
Why stubble burning is so hard to fixedit
Mint – Online
In early November, as the national capital was gearing up for its annual encounter with toxic smog, Bhupinder Singh, a farmer from Sangrur, Punjab, had to make a swift decision. He had to decide whether to spend ₹60,000 to remove the paddy stubble, which was left over after the rice harvest on his 15 acres of cropland, or simply set it alight. The matchstick was the obvious choice. “I also care for the environment, but how can I spend more than ₹60,000 in one go?” asks Bhupinder Singh. Apart from the price tag, there was also a practical reason. “These machines (used for crop residue management) need a more powerful tractor than what I own. Plus, diesel is ...
‘Cat is out of the bag’: SC on data saying stubble burning accounts for only 4% of Delhi’s air pollutionedit
India Today – Online
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Delhi government over its affidavit citing reasons for the rising air pollution in the national capital. The central government, in an affidavit filed before the Apex court, cited a scientific study to say that stubble burning accounts for only 4 per cent of Delhi’s air pollution (PM 2.5) in winters and 7 per cent in summers. Reacting to the affidavit, Justice DY Chandrachud remarked, “In fact, now the cat is out of the bag, the farmers’ stubble burning contributes to 4 per cent of the pollution as per the chart. So we are targeting something which is totally insignificant.” The top court added that ...
Area under stubble burning has reduced: Punjab govtedit
The Times Of India – Online
Relieved by data presented in the Supreme Court that highlighted stubble burning in Punjab and its neighbouring state of Haryana contributed to less than 10% air pollution in Delhi, the state government said that area where crop residue was burnt since October has reduced considerably compared to last few years. Punjab recorded 1,761 incidents of crop residue burning on Monday, increasing the total count this season to 67,165 incidents. The state’s agriculture minister, Randeep Singh Nabha said that as per the weekly report from Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, the area under paddy stubble burning was 10.34 lakh hectare till November 10, 2021 compared to 15.21 lakh hectare in 2020. He said the colossal ...