Central govt refused to procure parboiled rice produced in Rabi season, and Telangana has asked farmers not to cultivate rice. Experts say parties politicking over genuine problem.
Meanwhile, the Haryana BKU chief has said farmers will protest outside houses of MPs, MLAs of ruling BJP-JJP in the state if the govt fails to begin paddy procurement on 1 October.
Punjab govt has taken a number of steps to curb stubble burning, but has still registered 16,058 incidents between 21 September and 26 October this year.
Farmers in Punjab have to now rely on local workforce due to labour shortage after migrant workers’ exodus. Many have had to buy direct seeding machines.
Govt data says export of non-basmati rice declines by over 37% — from 50,48,000 MT in April-November 2018 to 31,41,000 MT during same period last year.
Plan for paddy states with severely depleted groundwater levels is part of 5-yr vision document that agriculture ministry will present before PM Modi this week.
Punjab Agricultural University is developing paddy varieties that will give farmers 15 extra days before sowing wheat, eliminate need for stubble burning.
The solution is to shift more farmers of Punjab & Haryana from paddy to vegetables, fruits. Govt has to nudge farmers using incentives & disincentives.
Several terror attack cases have been concluded by following the methods Maharashtra ATS used in the 7/11 case. It’s surprising that the high court didn’t find them worthy of legal scrutiny.
Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.
The Chinese are said to have hired ex-fighter pilots & air force operators from NATO countries over the past several years to help them fine-tune their operational & flying capabilities.
Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.
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