India is an agrarian country. This is perhaps the first thing anyone studying the country learns about it. But is India still agrarian? Of late, the issue has been seriously debated. Agriculture still employs half of India’s population. Ensuring self-sufficiency in food is still a national goal. But the country …
New Delhi : In a bid to shift a chunk of area under water-intensive paddy cultivation in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh to maize, oilseeds and poplar-based agroforestry, the government has allocated more than R450 crore in the current fiscal for their promotion. Sources told FE that agriculture ministry …
The endemic of chronic renal failure (CRF) emerged in 2002 in the farming provinces of Sri Lanka. An estimate of dietary cadmium intake was between 15 and 28 microg/kg body weight per week. The mean urinary cadmium in patients diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure was 7.6 microg/g creatinine and …
Two Bad Years Impacted Overall Growth The Green Revolution is said to have revolutionized agriculture in India. However, government data shows more or less the same rate of growth of yields for various crops from 1951 to about 1990, suggesting that the ‘revolution’ might not have been as momentous as …
British environmental activist Mark Lynas, who once “demonised” geneticially modified crops and now campaigns for their cause, blames Jairam Ramesh for being “cynical” and “politically opportunist” and setting back India’s progress in biotechnology when he was environment minister. After years of being a central figure in Greenpeace’s anti-GM campaign, Lynas …
The Punjab government has approved a multi-phased Rs36 billion mega project namely "Punjab Irrigated Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project" with objective to increase per acre yield and boost socio-economic condition of the farmers and growers across Punjab. The mega project will also help pave the way for bringing green revolution in …
It is a prize from Monsanto to Monsanto, says one NGO A selection committee chaired by M.S. Swaminathan awarding the World Food Prize for 2013 to three scientists including American multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto’s chief technology officer, despite prevalent controversies and concerns over the technology of genetically modified organisms, …
We will oppose the Bill in Parliament, says Yechury Cutting across party lines, several political leaders participated on Tuesday in a joint campaign with civil society groups and farmers’ organisations against Genetically Modified crops and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill at Jantar Mantar here. Participating in the …
India is increasingly focusing on its rainfed areas due to demand for food and nutrition security, and escalating farmer distress. But agricultural policy paralysis has meant that the familiar, external input-intensive, technological approaches of the Green Revolution are to be transferred to these rainfed areas – despite their diverse and …
Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by the TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme …
The need for achieving food security is felt significantly in the recent years due to enormous pressure from the ever increasing population in India. Owing to the change in preferences in crop production techniques over a period of time, several new challenges draw attention to food security. This article discusses …
State government is trying to decrease area under paddy In order to give a fillip to maize research and cultivation in the state, the Punjab government has approved transfer of 100 hectares in Ladowal near Ludhiana free to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for setting up a Directorate …
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha appears to have missed the second green revolution, already. Even though the state received Rs 217.25 crore under the centrally-funded 'Bringing the Green Revolution to Eastern India' (BGREI) programme in 2012-13, second to only West Bengal's allocation of Rs 269 crore, the yield has actually nosedived in Odisha …
Budget 2013-2014: speech of P. Chidambaram, Minister of Finance. Read Finance Minister P Chidambaram's budget speech February 28, 2013 Madam Speaker, I rise to present the Budget for the year 2013-14. 2. I recall my last tenure as Finance Minister and acknowledge with gratitude the splendid support that I received …
The Budget has provided ample resources for farmers and the farm sector even in a year of fiscal blight. The finance minister announced an allocation of Rs 27,049 crore to the agriculture ministry, an increase of 22% over the revised estimates for the current year. This includes Rs 9,954 crore …
The Union Budget sought to consolidate the "remarkable progress" achieved in government's efforts to extend green revolution to eastern India by deciding to continue with the Rs 1,000-crore support. Finance Minister P Chidambaram made a fresh allocation of Rs 500 crore for crop diversification in Northwest India to offset the …
The budget signals a decisive shift to high-value agriculture with allocations for crop diversification in the Indo-Gangetic belt, nutri-farms for growing fortified food crops, Farmer Producer Organisations to facilitate contract/lease farming, ‘green revolution’ in eastern India and setting up of Indian Institute of Agriculture Bio-Technology that will research among other …
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday announced a sharp increase of Rs 1.25 lakh crore in agriculture credit target to Rs 7 lakh crore for next fiscal and allocated additional Rs 10,000 crore in subsidy for implementing the Food Security Bill. He also allocated 22 per cent more funds to …
Economic Survey 2013: Agriculture reforms must, says report. With agriculture growth rate falling short of the 4 per cent target in last five years, the sector needs urgent reforms to boost crop yields and private investment in infrastructure so as to motivate farmers and feed the growing population. The farm …
The agriculture ministry is seeking more budgetary support to increase farm sector growth rate to 4% per annum from 3.5% at present. “The allocation this year would be more as the country needs to produce more to provide food security to the nation,” an agriculture ministry official said. “The scheme …
The govt will take steps to reduce its shortcomings through the tools of modern communication and information, says Sonia Gandhi Congress President Sonia Gandhi today strongly pitched for utilising MNREGA to increase agricultural production, saying the flagship scheme can play a big role to usher in second green revolution in …
