Agriculture ministry data shows area under rice cultivation in Punjab this season reached a record high of 32.46 lakh hectares. Yet, the produce is lowest ‘since 2016’.
Farmers have complained of low yield & procurement issues with the Punjab Agricultural University-developed variety. Oppn says govt promoted it without proper yield testing.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann thanked farmers for accepting the ban and staying away from the water-guzzling paddy variety Pusa-44. But convincing them about the larger public good is a work-in-progress.
Haryana govt says farmers already being incentivised for sowing crops other than 'non-native' paddy. Farmers, though, point out wheat & paddy both came to the region with green revolution.
2009 law restricts the sowing & transplantation period of paddy to monsoon, resulting in delayed harvesting & purportedly less time to prepare the field for wheat, leading to stubble burning.
Stunting is being caused by Southern Rice Black-streaked Dwarf virus, which has previously led to yield losses in China, Vietnam & Japan, finds Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Mystery disease cause for worry in high rice-yielding states of Punjab, Haryana, western UP, and Uttarakhand. Experts to rule out possible causes through DNA, RNA sequencing tests.
KCR was joined by farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and TRS MPs & MLAs at protest in Delhi. Amid chants of 'Jai KCR', Telangana CM taunted Piyush Goyal as 'Piyush Golmaal'.
Paddy, wheat farmers from Lakhimpur Kheri noted they are often forced to sell their produce to commission agents as government officials cite various excuses to avoid buying their produce.
I was in Islamabad when Mark Tully broke the news of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto being hanged. I held it against him—he could have tipped me off. But he was a journalist before he was a friend.
Premier David Eby, the leader of the minerals- and gas-rich province of British Columbia, spoke with executives at Tata Steel and Reliance Industries on a trade mission to India.
President Murmu has also conferred Kirti Chakra on Major Arshdeep Singh of 1 Assam Rifles for eliminating armed cadres when patrol led by him came under fire along Indo-Myanmar Border last May.
No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.
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