– अगर हमारी अग्यानता की जड़ें गहरी व मज़बूत हैं ? –
– तो क्या आगे का पथ सरल व आसान हो सकता है ?
– शुरुआत कहाँ से की जाय ?
——-
१ – किसके लिए ? –
२ – मसीहा या पथ ? –
३ – लक्षण क्या अौर कैसे ? –
४ – आधुनिक, सरल व साधनों के अनुरूप ? –
५ – ग्यान की कमी, साधनों की कमी, या विश्वास की कमी ? –
क्या यही एक कारण है जिसकी वजह से पतलून पहनने वाले, व फर्राटे की अँग्रेज़ी बोलने वाले, आपको पछाड़ रहे हैं, अथवा आपको अपने हक से वंचित रखे हैं ?
– यह न समझें कि हिन्दी भाषी होने का अर्थ पिछडे होना है
– हिन्दी पाइथन सीखें व सिखाएँ –
– अौर अपने कार्य पर तत्परता से लग जाएँ
Cricketers Maharashtra Ministers and Indian Cattle
Graze Cattle on Indian BT Fields ? Trust Indian Dairy Products ? Think Again ! !
If you are reading this news item in English, chances are that you are lucky not to be grazing sheep and cattle on Indian BT cotton fields of Andhra Pradesh. However, if you are a non vegetarian, be ready for taking risk assessments for your own health if you eat meat from sheep grazed on Indian farms.
Indian Agriculture ministers have a very dubious record of justifying acceptable limits of pesticides in the milk that Indian mothers feed their new born babies.
Indian sheep have been dying of mysterious reasons, totally unexamined by Indian agricultural and scientific establishment. Maybe Indian agricultural research establishment is composed of only of scientists who are totally vegetarians.
Courtesy leading Indian daily Hindustan Times :
The Andhra Pradesh government has advised farmers not to allow animals to graze on Bt cotton fields after four institutes reported the presence of toxins in them.
Goats and sheep grazing on post-harvest Bt cotton fields were found dead in Warangal and Adilabad districts in 2006 and in the first two months of 2007.
The Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory, the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, the Western Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and the department of agriculture, NG Ranga Agriculture University found the presence of nitrates and nitrites, and residues of organophosphates in Bt cotton plants.
Dr L Mohan, director, Andhra Pradesh animal husbandry department, said: “The deaths have resulted in huge economic losses for farmers.”
Andhra Pradesh, which had earlier moved the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices tribunal against the high price of Bt seeds, said no bio-safety studies of Bt cotton seeds had yet been conducted.
MK Sharma, managing director, Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech India Ltd, makers of the genetically modified Bt cotton, said: “Bt cotton is being grown in nine states, and no such complaint has come except from a few villages in Andhra. We conducted safety studies before the trials and all Bt seeds were found to be safe.”
The Andhra government has informed the union ministry of environment and forests about its findings. The ministry has ordered a probe.
Email : chetan@hindustantimes.com
India US Wheat Row – Wheat and Weeds
Indo – US Wheat Row – Weeding Out Wheat
It is a queer case of double standards. Claiming highest quality standards in the world when it comes to agricultural imports, the United States has no qualms in exporting sub-standard wheat to India. In fact, diplomatic pressure is being built upon India to import weed-infested wheat.
Failing to reach an agreement after recent bilateral discussions on plant health, a statement from the US Embassy in New Delhi said “… Substantial hurdles still remain, as the US cannot agree to import standards that are impossible to certify and are not in line with international norms.” At the heart of the row are the quarantine norms that do not allow wheat consignments with dangerous weeds beyond the permissible limit.
The American wheat comes laced with 21 obnoxious and alien weeds, which are not known to exist in India. As per the weed risk analysis done by the Ministry of Agriculture, all these weeds are of quarantine importance and carry high risk. More worrying is the presence of two weeds Bromus rigidus and Bromus scealinus — better known as foxtail wheat, which is similar in appearance to wheat and therefore difficult to identify.
Already, surreptitiously imported along with wheat, several weeds and pests have turned into a national menace. India is spending crores of rupees every year in fighting these alien invasive species.
Earlier too, India had in 1996 rejected wheat imports from America on reasons of inferior quality, and had instead imported one million tonne from Australia. In 2006, when India imported 5.5 million tones of wheat from Australia and some other countries, the US was unable to find a foothold into India’s burgeoning wheat market. Aware that India is likely to turn into a major wheat importer in the years to come, the US has stepped up diplomatic and political efforts to exert pressure.
Not that the Australian wheat is much superior. In 2006, bending backwards to allow the highly contaminated wheat shipments from Australia, Indian Food and Agriculture ministry had turned a blind eye to the presence of 14 weeds, two fungal diseases and one insect pest that the import consignments contained. Of the 14 weeds, 11 species are not found in India.
Interestingly, while the US accepts that its wheat contains 21 weeds, it has expressed its helplessness in cleaning wheat shipments to bring it in tune with the Indian threshold limits. At the Portland port from where much of its wheat is exported, the US grain merchants were unable to clean wheat of the menacing weeds. The US is seeking import norms of 0.3 per cent weed infestation, India is insisting on not more than 100 weeds in a consignment of 200 kg of wheat.
At 0.3 per cent weed infestation, the total number of weed seeds per 200 kg of wheat comes to a massive 12,000.
Although the US is publicly claiming that its “wheat is among the highest quality in the world and is safely shipped to over 110 nations including every importer of significance except India”, the fact remains that much of the American wheat imported by rich and developed countries like Japan is actually for milling purposes. In India, wheat imports are used as grain by farmers and therefore the worry that the weeds will take roots.
Several of the minor weeds that came along with PL-480 wheat shipments into India in past have turned into biological nuisances, often the weed becoming a national menace. Lantana camera was among such weeds, which entered India three decades ago. Today, it has spread wide and wild, and has withstood all control measures. Being poisonous, not even the cattle feed on it. Phalaris minor too came with the wheat consignments from the United States. This weed, already resistant to chemicals in the US and Australia, has established itself as a strong competitor of wheat in India. The weed has also become resistant to chemicals in India and is responsible for reducing wheat yields by an estimated 25 per cent.
It is not the first time that the US is trying to export sub-standard agricultural products. In September 2000, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent a delegation to press for opening up the Indian market for what would have turned into the first major import consignment of genetically modified soybeans. If allowed, the soybean imports would have brought along five exotic weeds and at least 11 viral diseases, of which two are economically dangerous. The US did insist that the accompanying pests would not pose any problem for Indian agriculture.
Earlier too, during 1998-99, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) had received 359 samples of transgenic soybean from the USA for quarantine. Nearly 143 of these were rejected because of the presence of downy mildew fungus (Peronospora manshurica), which is known to cause serious losses and is not known to occur in India. Bulk imports, however, fail to eliminate the threat of import of nematodes, viruses and several fungi.
For reasons unexplained, the Food and Agriculture ministry appears more eager to allow for sub-standard imports. In 2006, it relaxed most quality norms for Australian wheat by asking the exporting country to provide a certificate saying that the imports are “essentially free from weeds”. At the time of tender, the requirement was “free from weeds”. Over-ruling all objections raised by the plant quarantine directorate to import of exotic weed species, the Food and Agriculture Ministry has relaxed the provisions of Plant Quarantine Order 2003.
After the din dies down, India might relax quality norms for American wheat. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has already been quoted as saying: “It is true that talks have been held with the US government. We want that the US should also participate in our wheat import process.” What is however not being perceived is that the US participation cannot be at the cost of softening the quarantine standards.
At a time when international quality parameters are being tightened the world over to ensure that invasive alien species do not use the vehicle of commodity trade to enter into a country, India should not relax the quality norms thereby opening the floodgates to noxious weeds, deadly insect pests and dreaded plant diseases.
What Sharad Pawar needs to understand is that the same wheat that we imported from Australia (or we plan to import from America) if exported back would not be accepted for reasons of the same quality standards that we are being asked to do away with.
Food Policy Group – http://www.groups.google.com/group/foodpolicy
Buniyad Group – http://www.groups.google.com/group/buniyad
1. I recently saw the interview on DoorDarshan of Shri Devinder Sharma, noted Indian agriculture policy analyst, and his comments regarding the New Thrust to Agricultural Policy and Prime Minister directives to Planning Commission for next 5 Year Plan.
2. I was happy to note that the rhetoric of Second Green Revolution was not being bandied about even though the suggestions of pushing ball into the court of states was seemingly indicative of the humility of the Emperor’s courtiers, in the face of twin failures of presiding over agrarian crisis and falling production levels.
One should not however be fooled by this new Congress strategy of trying to appear as if its role is a maganimous one, in terms of extending a helping hand to the states in propping up agricultural produce, as the alrm bells regarding inflationary pressures due to supply side constraints on agricultural front have begun disturbing the sleep of the Indian Sensex Minister and Cricket Minister.
But what essentially are the details of this new strategy of support to the states ?
And what role is Bahu Sharad Pawar playing in all this ?
This needs to be very closely followed.
We all know how Shri Pawar has publicly defended high pesticide levels in mother’s milk to Indian infants, and import of wheat from Australian farmers at prices higher than he is willing to give to Punjab farmers, as he bravely juggles the roles of managing Indian cricket team, the urban food supply chain and the agricultural output of Indian farmers.
One wonders when he has such multifaceted talents, why is he not able to set up a regime of sustainable crop insurance for Indian farmers.
3. The focus now seems to be on empty agricultural productivity targets, and how falling agricultural production, is seen as a gaping hole in the Strategies of the Urban Economists like Montek Singh Ahluwahlia and Chidambaram.
So who will do the farming, mahila kisans ?
The Left has been conspicuously silent especially after all the negative publicity that their Chief Minister in Bengal has managed to win for them via Singur and Nandigram. They have no role to play ?
I think time is ripe for building political networks of a new generation of youth leadership, who can take on such out of touch politicians presiding over Indian agricultural and agrarian debacles.
All the years of Mrs Indira Gandhi’s efforts to build the foundations of Green Revolution are being dismantled by three economists.
4. No mention was made of separating Food Ministry from Agriculture Ministry, much as I would like to see this development. In my opinion this is essential.
http://foodminister.blogspot.com/
I would also like to see the concept of a separate Kisan Budget taking shape. Afterall, if other businesses and companies have the right to balance their accounts books why not the Indian farmer ? – http://www.kisanbudget.blogspot.com/
5. I was also extremely disappointed to see the quality of arguments of Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices Prof T. Haque.
Was this luminary really serious about propagating the theory of interlinking of national rivers and canals and irrigating the hinterlands with surface water ?
Such patently absurd theoreticians are in charge of agricultural research, extension and praxis ?
No wonder Americans are being invited to reinvent Indian agriculture.
Prescriptions for Indian Farmers – http://merakisan.blogspot.com/
Unpatented Brilliant Ideas – http://nopatent.blogspot.com/
Mahila Kisan – http://mahilakisan.blogspot.com/
Kisan Mantri – http://kisanmantri.blogspot.com/
AgriBusiness, AgriEmpire – Seeking legitimacy in Indian Markets – http://www.agriempire.blogspot.com/
Farm Suicides Tracker – http://www.farmsuicides.blogspot.com/
Indian Rural women Narratives – http://www.zubani.blogspot.com/
Malnutrition and Indian tribals – http://janjati.blogspot.com/
AgriEmpire and AgriBusiness – Pushing for stakes in unregulated food markets of India
IIM Lucknow is organizing a conference on agri business, food industry in association with Tennessee State University and South Carolina State University. It is titled International Conference on “Agribusiness and Food Industry in Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges” to be held August 10-12, 2007, at Indian Institute of Management campus in Lucknow.
AgriBusiness - AgriEmpire 