Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Indian agriculture: The route post-CoP 26edit
DownToEarth – Online
India’s pledge of Panchamrit (five-fold strategy) to fight climate change, announced during the 26th Conference of the Parties (CoP26) at Glasgow, Scotland, has caught global attention. The country’s new commitments include reaching 500 gigawatt (GW) of non-fossil fuel energy capacity by 2030; producing 50 per cent of energy requirements via renewable energy sources by 2030; a reduction of 1 billion tonnes of carbon by 2030; reducing the carbon emission intensity of the GDP by 45 per cent by 2030; and most importantly, achieving the target of net-zero emissions by 2070. A basket of agreements was signed by groups of countries during the Glasgow Summit. Here, we focus our discussions on agriculture and food systems and how ...
Budget
Agri sector budget wishlist: Experts discuss required reformsedit
CNBC TV18 – Online
The budget is around the corner and every sector has its host of wishes that they hope the government will fulfill and the agri sector is no different. Following another year of pandemic-induced supply chain disruption which was exacerbated by adverse weather events, the agricultural sector is in need of a government push. Luckily for the sector, a special emphasis is expected, given upcoming assembly elections in farming states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.Prioritisation of minimum selling price and a credit guarantee scheme seems to top the list of expectations with higher allocation expected in agri-related schemes. The repeal of the controversial farm laws last year left the Indian government with the challenge of boosting ...
What the Budget can do to support farming, in five chartsedit
Mint – Online
In 2016, the BJP-led government set itself the target to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. An inter-ministerial committee set up to recommend strategies to meet this target highlighted seven sources of income growth, mostly revolving around better cropping practices and a shift to non-farm occupations. In time, the Centre buttressed this with schemes targeting key dimensions of farming—income, insurance and lending. Three such schemes accounted for 82% of central budgetary allocations to the ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare in 2021-22, against 18% in 2018-19: cash transfer scheme PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi), PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana), a crop and yield insurance scheme, and interest subsidies on short-term credit to farmers. Between 2018-19 ...
Technology in Agriculture
Digitalising agriculture: A platform for farmers to connectedit
Financial Express – Online
Driven by the farm sector, India’s rural economy has continued to grow despite the pandemic. Agri-tech and digitalisation have played a tremendous role in recent times to facilitate this growth. Gurugram-based agritech startup Krishify, a mobile app-only networking platform dedicated to the farming community, is one such enabler with a user base of six million farmers and agri-facilitators. Co-founder and CEO Rajesh Ranjan says, “Using the Krishify platform, a farmers’ Facebook of sorts, farmers interact with peers to exchange knowledge and best practices. It also enables transactions for the farming community across multiple verticals including livestock, used tractors, equipment, etc., in addition to providing an unmatched knowledge base.” Founded by IIT graduates Rajesh Ranjan, Avinash ...
Govt. Policies
Subsidies on smartphones, tractors raised, says Gujarat govtedit
The Indian Express – Online
State Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel listed a few important measures implemented by his ministry since the formation of the new government, during a press conference held in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. Sources said the media briefing was part of an effort of the BJP government to win public confidence in the run up to the assembly elections scheduled later this year. Notably, the Bhupendra Patel-led state government completed 121 days in office earlier this month. The minister said the government has increased the subsidy for farmers to buy smartphones (priced Rs 15,000 or less) to 40 per cent of the product or Rs 6,000. Earlier, the subsidy provided was 10 per cent or Rs 1,500, ...
Stubble Burning
Crop residue burning contributes to secondary particulate matter: Studyedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Crop residue burning in October and November contributed to around 31% of PM 2.5 concentrations (in the range of 15% to 47%) in Delhi and around 21% in the range of 6% to 36% in Kanpur during those months in 2013 and 2014, according to a new research paper.The paper by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur scientists Pavan K Nagar and Mukesh Sharma was published in Elsevier journal on January 5. It used a Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry and another hybrid chemical transport model to study the impact of crop residue burning from October to November in 2013 and 2014. During the study period, the contribution of crop residue burning ...