With only a few States having sent in their comments on the Food Ministry's draft National Food Security Bill, 2011, till the closing date on Friday, the Centre is planning to extend the date by a month or two, official sources said.
As per the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture here on Friday, the area under rice cultivation is 260.36 lakh hectares against 244.79 lakh hectares sown this time last year. Sown area has increased in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. However, it is lower in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjabdue to insufficient rain.
The Right to Food Campaign on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set aside the government draft of the Food Security Bill which “minimises government's obligations, restricts people's entitlements and is devoid of any accountability”. Rejecting the government's draft Bill, the Campaign gave a national call for action.
“The archaic Land Acquisition Bill is being misused to displace farmers and take away their land and livelihood but the amended Bill that is coming is even worse,” said farmer Pritam Chaudhary from Saharanpur.
While the Centre on Monday said the area under Bt cotton is estimated to have expanded to 90 per cent of the total area sown under cotton in 2010-11, several non-government organisations alleged th
Good monsoon, higher MSP help
The country is heading for a record foodgrains production in the 2010-11 crop year at 241.56 million tonnes, with wheat and pulses output touching an all time high of 85.93 million tonnes and 18.09 million tonnes respectively.
Bird flu has struck the country again. This time at the State Duck Breeding Farm in Agartala that has been ordered to cull all poultry within a radius of three kilometres of the farm.
With the realisation that climate change was impacting resources of water, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), under the Ministry of Water Resources, has urged the States to make it mandatory for institutions to adopt rooftop rain water harvesting and promote artificially recharged ground water. The principle is to catch every drop where it falls.
