<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Arun Tiwari Vs State of Uttar Pradesh dated 06/05/2024.</p> <p>In the application, the allegation is of illegal mining of soil upto 10-15 mtrs.
Standing paddy across 10,000 hectares have been destroyed by unseasonal rains. No labour was in supply to harvest the crop in time. Mechanical harvesters couldn't be used since the CPI(M)'s union refused to give timely permission It requires union consent for Kerala farmers to bring in labour from outside or use machines Five farmer suicides in the last fortnight.
The government is going to construct new warehouses and repair old ones soon to enhance the storage capacity of food, Food and Disaster Management Adviser A M M Shawkat Ali said yesterday. The initiative has been taken up since the existing storage capacity will not be enough to store the targeted amount of food grains.
The government on Monday said it was not in a position to undertake any new responsibility by way of another loan waiver scheme for farmers as the priority before it was to implement the Rs. 60,000-crore scheme announced during the budget. Replying to supplementaries during the question hour in the Lok Sabha, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the immediate task was to fulfil the commitment made to small and marginal farmers. "Let us implement the loan waiver scheme first and see the results before initiating any new scheme.'
The provincial directorate of Animal Husbandry has advised livestock owners and farmers to get their animals vaccinated against black quarter, foot-and-mouth, enterotoxemia and sheep pox diseases that usually surface during April and June. Talking about the risks of the diseases, Dr Hafeez Shaikh, in-charge of the Government Veterinary Hospital, Landhi, told Dawn that all the four diseases were quite common and posed serious threats to the animals' health, at times resulting in a low milk production.
THE government is considering a proposal to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in food retail albeit with a caveat that all companies would have to meet mandated export obligations. The Ratan Tata-led Investment Commission has favoured permitting FDI in food retail, especially fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, with export commitments.
The Punjab government has released over Rs 2,000 crore to farmers of the state for wheat procured up to last week. Chief Minister said his government had fulfilled its commitment of ensuring payment within 48 hours and of lifting of their wheat immediately on arrival in mandis. The Punjab government has announced that it has set aside Rs 11,000 crore for total procurement season to ensure hassle-free payment to the farmers. Out of this, Rs 8,000 crore has been placed at the disposal of the Food and Supply Department for the month of April alone.
Britain will push for changes in European Union biofuels targets if a review of British policy shows rising biofuels production drives up food prices and harms the environment, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday. Brown is due to meet development experts and retail and farmers' representatives later on Tuesday to work on a plan to tackle rising food prices. His government ordered a review of the environmental and economic effects of biofuels production in February.
The Basmati Growers Association, protesting rumours of ban on rice export has urged the government to stay away from interfering in the rice trade. The Association's President, Chaudhry Hamid Malhi fears that at the time of sowing of paddy such a step could result in lesser production. He said that rice production in the country was double of domestic requirements. Malhi said that pressing of rice price would only damage the farmers as how they would meet the increasing cost of production. He claimed that seven million farming families were attached with rice growing besides businessmen.
Farmers are inclined towards large-scale farming to cut down the cost, while increasing the productivity in the sericulture sector.
Developing countries are fighting hard to retain the right to increase farm im-port tariffs in spite of slashing them rapidly to cope with the global food crisis. Faint signs of progress in the troubled "Doha round" of global trade talks last week in Geneva were imperilled by a fresh dispute over poor countries' ability to protect their farmers with tariffs.
