RC recommendation on 27 pesticides
<p>This report is on the review of 66 pesticides under the Chairmanship of Dr. Anupam Varma. The main parameters emphasized by the Committee to review the products were uses approved under the Insecticides
Ministry Of Agriculture
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Drought spoils farm sector's dream run
The agriculture sector witnessed record foodgrains output of 257.44 million tonnes in this year enabling the country to become world's largest rice exporter for the first time, but the monsoon played spoilsport dashing farmers' hopes of an encore in 2013. A hefty increase of Rs 1 lakh crore in farm credit target to Rs 5.75 lakh crore was a major highlight for the sector in 2012, while the continuing farmers suicide and the reports of a Parliamentary panel and a Supreme Court appointed committee recommending ban on field trial in GM crops were setbacks.
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Rashtriya Chemicals stake sale on Cabinet agenda
Meet this week to discuss proposal to increase 2013-14 wheat MSP by Rs 100 Riding high on NMDC stake sale garnering Rs 6,000 crore, the Cabinet is expected to discuss on Saturday a proposal to sell 12.5 per cent of its 92.5-per cent stake in state-run Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF). Officials said the Cabinet is also expected to discuss a proposal from the agriculture ministry to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat for the 2013-14 crop marketing season, which starts from
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Panel finds lapses in development of ‘first indigenous Bt cotton’
ICAR “shielding errant officials” by delaying the report In a damning indictment of the way some Bt cotton varieties were developed and commercialised in the country, a committee headed by Prof. S.K. Sopory, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, found that indigenous Bikaneri Nerma (BN) Bt cotton variety was contaminated by a gene patented by Monsanto. Having found lapses in the “BNLA106 event”, the committee has held as “invalid” the data obtained from bio-safety studies and field trials with BNBt as these were conducted with material that contained Monsanto’s “MON531 event”.
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Maharashtra govt announces SIT probe into irrigationn scam
Maharashtra government today announced a probe by a Special Investigation Team into the alleged irrigation scam, bowing to pressure from the Opposition which stalled the proceedings of the state legislature
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SIT to investigate irrigation ‘scam’
To pre-empt a directive from the Bombay High Court on the PILs concerning irrigation projects, the Maharashtra government on Monday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team under water expert
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Navi Mumbai Airport: Land losers not enthused with Centre's amended Bill
Those affected by land takeover for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport do not expect the Centre’s amended draft of the land acquisition legislation to change things much on their core demands. The Project Affected Persons (PAPs) stand to lose 450 hectares for the project and, in return, want 35-40 per cent returned as developed land. They say they were not ready to accept the state government’s proposal of 12.5 per cent or up to 15 per cent developed land, plus monetary compensation of Rs 10 lakh a hectare.
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Area under rabi crops up by 3%
Farmers had sown rabi crops like wheat and pulses in 48.21 million hectare till last week, about three per cent higher than the year-ago period, according to the Agriculture Ministry. They had sown
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Be pioneer in organic farming: Mahant
ITANAGAR: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Dr Charan Das Mahant today asked Arunachal Pradesh to be a pioneer in organic farming in the country, considering the State’s suitable climatic condition. The minister was addressing the farmers at the valedictory function of the three-day first State-level Krishi Expo and Kishan Mela here this evening. “I appealed to the State government to organize such melas in the districts so that the farmers could reap the real benefits of such important events,” he said. Stating that there would be no dearth of funds from the Centre for supporting the farmers, Mahant informed that his ministry has been providing all support to the small and marginal farmers under various central schemes.
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Land Acquisition Bill may be re-introduced
The Land Acquisition Bill, which strengthens landowners’ rights during acquisition for development, has finally received the nod of the Union Cabinet, and is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the final week of the winter session. The final version of The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday, more than a year after Parliament sent the earlier avatar to a Standing Committee. In the months since, the bill has gone through multiple changes, been vetted by Cabinet — where infrastructure ministries objected to provisions seen as hurdles to investment and industry — and been the subject of three rounds of discussion in a ministerial panel headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
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Consent for projects diluted to 70 % under Land Acquisition Bill
In the latest flip-flop on the Land Acquisition Bill, which is slated to be discussed by the Union Cabinet on Thursday, the Rural Development Ministry has again diluted the consent provisions, reportedly against the wishes of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. According to sources in the government, the latest version of the Bill requires the consent of only 70 per cent of land owners when the government acquires land for a public-private partnership (PPP) project. For all other types of projects, 80 per cent consent will be required.