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Father of the "green revolution" Norman Borlaug Passes away

Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died on 12th sep 09. He was 95. The Nobel committee honored Borlaug in 1970 for his contributions to high-yield crop varieties and bringing other agricultural innovations to the developing world. Many experts credit the green revolution with averting global famine during the second half of the 20th century and saving perhaps 1 billion lives.

Thanks to the green revolution, world food production more than doubled between 1960 and 1990. In Pakistan and India, two of the nations that benefited most from the new crop varieties, grain yields more than quadrupled over the period.

Borlaug realized improved crop varieties were just part of the answer, and pressed governments for farmer-friendly economic policies and improved infrastructure to make markets accessible. "He made the world a better place — a much better place. He had people helping him, but he was the driving force." Borlaug began the work that led to his Nobel in Mexico at the end of World War II. "Three or four decades ago, when we were trying to move technology into India, Pakistan and China, they said nothing could be done to save these people, that the population had to die off," he said in 2004.

Borlaug often said wheat was only a vehicle for his real interest, which was to improve people's lives. "We must recognize the fact that adequate food is only the first requisite for life," he said in his Nobel acceptance speech. "For a decent and humane life we must also provide an opportunity for good education, remunerative employment, comfortable housing, good clothing and effective and compassionate medical care."

He remained active well into his 90s, campaigning for the use of biotechnology to fight hunger and working on a project to fight poverty and starvation in Africa by teaching new drought-resistant farming methods. "We still have a large number of miserable, hungry people and this contributes to world instability," Borlaug said in May 2006.

We in India remember him for enabling us to be self sufficient in food production and pay our heart felt respects billion times for his great services to humanity. A P130909

2. Area under kharif paddy down 63 lakh hectares :

Farmers have so far planted 308 lakh hectares (lh) under paddy, down 63 lh from the 371 lh covered during this time last year. The States where acreages are currently lagging behind last year’s corresponding levels include Uttar Pradesh (40 lh versus 60 lh), Bihar (21 lh versus 34 lh), Jharkhand (7 lh versus 15 lh), Andhra Pradesh (15 lh versus 21 lh) and West Bengal (41 lh versus 44 lh).

Jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and groundnut are the other major crops, in which sowing has been either significantly below normal or behind last year’s levels. In all other crops – cotton, soybean and pulses – sowing has been fairly good and one could expect a more or less decent harvest.

3. Skewed Distribution of Ownership Holdings of Land (2003-04, in %) :

proportion	of	house	holds
Landless	Less than0.4 ha	0.4-1 ha	1-2 ha	2-3 ha	3-5 ha	5-10 ha	>10 ha
31.12	29.82	18.97	10.68	4.22	3.06	1.6	0.52

Proportion	of	Area	owned
landless	Less than 0.4 ha	0.4-1 ha	1-2 ha	2-3 ha	3-5 ha	5-10 ha	>10 ha
0	5.11	16.89	20.47	13.94	16.59	15.21	11.77

Gini Co efficient- 0.7605

31% of rural house holds are landless. 60% of house holds own 2 ha or less accounting for 42% of agricultural land. Only 2% of land holdings are 5 ha and above, yet accounting for 27% of agricultural land.

4. Hike in mandated lendings to MSME on the anvil :

In order to boost MSME productivity and encourage exports, the government is reportedly considering a hike in the sub-limit within priority sector lending for the micro sector, from 4.9 per cent to 6 per cent. To top it, a credit monitoring cell is also being set up to resolve issues that MSMEs face in their dealings with banks.

» Sub limit for small farm holders is essential

Posted by K.R.S.Reddy on 2009-09-02 19:10:38.082166+05:30

A hike in the sub-limit within priority sector lending for the micro sector, from 4.9 per cent to 6 per cent is a welcome measure.Arjun Sengupta Commission recommended that a sublimit of 10% for loaning to small farm holders out of 18% limit for agri loaning.We hope that the government will simultaneously fix the sublimit for loans to small farm holders along with enhancement of sublimit for micro sector. Credit monitoring cell should be established to quicken the processing of farm loans also.

5. Empowering Farmers by display of produce prices :

The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) plans to install tickers at major mandis to display agricultural produce prices in the spot and futures markets. In the initial phase, 1,000 tickers will be installed, mostly in mandis that have been computerised. The prices displayed will be relevant to that region. The objective of installing the tickers is that farmers can find for themselves the prevailing prices before they sell their produce. This will increase their bargaining power. BL 100909

6. Fall in C/D Ratio in Kerala by 8% :

The credit-deposit (CD) ratio of the State’s banks fell from 70.16 per cent in June 2008, the CD ratio dropped to 62.54 per cent in June 2009. The SLBC attributes the decline in CD ratio to a fall in agricultural advances consequent on the waiver of agricultural loans waiver and other relief measures extended to farmers under the Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme.

7. Poor Credit growth :

Deposit growth during the current year was Rs 2,48,000 crore. However, credit growth has slowed down to Rs 32,000 crore (1.2%) in the current year up to August 28, 2009, as against Rs 98,000 crore (4.2%) during the previous year up to August 2008. RBI has projected credit growth of 20 per cent for the current financial year. It may not be possible to increase credit growth by 19% in next 7 months. Credit off take has slowed down as industry is not yet seeing rebound of demand for products. Agri credit too slowed down due to drought conditions prevailing.

8. Shortage of Rs 5 lakh cr in funding for country's power projects :

The latest estimates of the government today revealed that there is a shortfall of about Rs 5 lakh crore for financing power projects in the country. The power sector as a whole requires a huge investment and there is gap of around Rs 5 lakh crore in financing the power generation capacity addition projects. PTI 100909

» Funds can be found internally for Power Sector Posted by S.R.Ram on 2009-09-11
By reducing revenue foregone by half, by collecting tax arrears, by selling loss making PSUs and by curtailing wasteful expenditure, by 10%, top priority should be accorded for investment in power sector funds can be invested in the most essential power sector. All development depends on availability of power and hence top priority should be given for investment in this sector.