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Day after day, we pour millions of tons of untreated sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes into the world’s water systems. And the poor continue to suffer first and most from pollution, water shortages and the lack of adequate sanitation. Pollution from wastewater is quite literally killing people, indeed at least 1.8 million children die annually as a result of contaminated water. If the world is to thrive, let alone to survive on a planet of six billion people heading to over nine billion by 2050, we need to get collectively smarter and more intelligent about how we manage waste including waste waters. UNEP 230310
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Agri Growth 2%, only half of targeted growth of 4%: MTA, Planning Commission
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In the first three years of the 11th Plan, while the overall economic growth is pegged at 7.7 %, average Agri growth works out to be only 2% per cent per annum, considerably short of the desired target of 4 per cent average. The agriculture sector is likely to record an average growth rate of 3 per cent during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), up from 2.3 % in the previous Plan.
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“Most states do not give agriculture the priority it should receive. Funds for irrigation must be used more effectively to expand irrigation and soil testing must be expanded to encourage balanced use of fertilisers and soil nutrition, the document said as some of the required initiatives.” MTA, Planning Commission
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The Planning Commission has scaled down the growth rate for the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) to 8.1 per cent from 9 per cent, but it would be better than the 7.8 per cent achieved in the Tenth Plan period. Following the global meltdown, the growth rate slipped to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 from over nine per cent in the preceding three years. In the current fiscal, the growth rate is pegged at 7.2 per cent despite poor contribution from the farm sector, which is projected to shrink by 0.2 per cent. The Commission expects the economy to expand by 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and rise to 9 per cent in the terminal year of the Plan period.
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Mid-term review: Link prices of fertilizers with MSP : |
The review reasons that during the last five years, MSP of wheat and rice has risen by more than 50 per cent while prices of urea have remained constant, adding to the subsidy burden of the government. |
| It observes that fertiliser subsidy as a ratio to the value of the crop output, was around 3-3.5 per cent between the period 2000-2006, and fertiliser subsidy as a ratio increased to 10 per cent in 2008-09 from 6 per cent in 2007-08. The review states that the reason for high fertiliser subsidy has been the nominal constant prices for a long period of time. |
The plan review has also asked that the MSP system be made more flexible and delinked from the procurement price. It states that MSP has prevented farmers from diversifying into crops other than foodgrains. BS 230310
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| Comments: K.R.S.Reddy |
March 23 , 2010 ,08:45 IST |
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It is stated that the mid-term review has suggested linking prices of fertilizers with the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat, rice and sugarcane. Such linking in isolation is meaningless.MSP is fixed on the basis of cost of cultivation and yields. Merely linking MSP with fertliser prices ignores soaring cost of labour diesel and double digit cost of living. While employees of Govt. including in Planning Commission are given DA hike by 8% for increase in cost of living, farmers are not compensated. Hence there should be a holistic approach in fixing MSPs based on NFC recommendation of C2 cost plus 50% to make farming remunerative. As it is, farming is a losing and risky proposition and 40% of farmers want to quit farming. When there is no security for livelihood of farmers how can there be food security?
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‘Farm sector outlay inadequate'
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Dr Swaminathan said the Budget 2010-11 had “flagged off” important concerns in agriculture, but the allocations were inadequate.
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ICRISAT will work with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) as it devises plans for pulses revolution in 60,000 villages across the country. The Union Government has decided to improve the production of pulses through a massive nationwide programme. “We will be giving them the relevant germplasm of pigeon pea and chickpea”. BL 24/260310
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Higher GDP growth without Agri GDP growth unsustainable
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| The strong GDP growth in the present decade was somewhat lopsided, with about two-thirds coming from services, less than 10 per cent from agriculture and the remainder from industry. Long-term sustainability requires a more balanced pattern, with higher contributions from agriculture and industry. Shankar Acharya, B S, 250310 |
| Growth powered by agriculture |
| India would have experienced an economic take-off much earlier, had it not been led into a socialist misadventure with its emphasis on the ‘paramountcy of the public sector', and ‘priority for heavy industries.' An agriculture-led growth could have been double-digit, at least since 1970 when the ‘Green Revolution' proved itself. |
| Economic reforms in agriculture should include abolition of all restrictions on the movement, storage, trade, export and processing of agricultural produce, and recognition of futures markets rather than the APMCs as default mode of agricultural marketing, supplanting the CACP-FCI-PDS racket. |
| For 60 years since independence we have tried industry-led growth. The service sector boom happened because of the genius of the Indian people, often in spite of, rather than because of, government policy. Sharad Joshi, BL, 240310 |
| Pepsico engages 12,000 farmers in contract farming |
| Riding on high sales of its snacks brands like Lays and Uncle Chipps, Pepsico has engaged 12,000 farmers across the country for contract farming of potato. There are 12,000 farmers doing contract farming of potato for us involving 16,000 acres of land. BL 240310 |
| Shrinking acreage hits seed production in AP |
| Normally 75 per cent of the country's seed requirements was met by A.P State. Not any longer. Cottonseed production, for example, has plummeted, with the production acreage coming down to 15,000 acres this year from 45,000 acres a few years ago. The State has lost out to Gujarat and Karnataka in cottonseed output. |
The seed production area for sunflower has shrunk from 15,000 acres to 8,000 acres, while that for hybrid rice has gone down to 45,000 acres from 70,000 acres in Karimnagar district. However, it is cottonseed production that has been affected the most. Several factors have contributed to this situation, the main being the skyrocketing cost of production and introduction of Bt technology. Bl 270310 |
| PSU banks to open 2,500 branches in rural India |
Public sector banks, both big and small, are together planning to open around 2,500 branches in smaller towns in the six months. This follows the liberal branch authorisation policy of RBI, by which banks, excluding foreign and rural regional ones, are free to open branches in tier 3 to tier 6 centres (with population of up to 50,000) without prior permission. FE 210310 |
| Comments : |
| » Opening more rural branches will help in rural development |
Posted by K.R.S.Reddy on 2010-03-21 18:43:55.48623+05:30
Percentage of rural branches to total branches declined from 58% in1991 to 39% by Sep 09. Had at least 50% of the branches are opened in rural areas, the number of rural branches would have been 40,500; about 8,700 more branches would have been catering to the banking needs of the rural people. It is good news that 2,500 branches will be opened in rural areas in the next one year. It is hoped that the ratio of 50% rural branches would be reached in 3/4 years. |
