RAIPUR, 7 MARCH: Blame it on a flawed policy, India is set to shed about 40,000 acres of its prime double-crop agriculture land to dozens of upcoming power projects in a district that is billed having the country

Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Taj Mohi-ud-Din today said that two hydro-electro projects namely Dul Hasti and Baglihar under the implementation of Water Regulatory Authority Act will generate Rs. 331.70 crore.

He was replying to the question by Khalid Najib Suharwardy in Legislative Council during Question Hour today.

Mr Taj said bills for an amount of Rs.

During the 1970s, major policy debates on the role of mechanisation in agricultural and rural development in south Asia took place; by the early 1990s, such debates had largely faded. Yet today, countries such as Bangladesh possess some of the most productive, mechanised and labour-intensive agricultural industries in south Asia.





With the growing threat of food insecurity and a largely erratic rainfall pattern, Kerala, despite its very high rate of annual precipitation, has embarked on a series of large budget irrigation schemes. However, with the shift in acreage in favour of certain cash crops which demand relatively less moisture, the requirement of water in agriculture may change.

Bhopal: The Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran co ltd (MPKVV) has started preparations to supply needed electricity to the farmers for irrigation during the Rabi season. MPKVV is going to take effective measures to make arrangements to supply adequate electricity to the farmers and prevent as much as possible undeclared power-cuts during the Rabi season.

Eight years after N Chandrababu Naidu scrapped the free power supply scheme to the farm sector and paid the price, the ruling Congress government is under pressure to do the same or at least regulate power supply so that other sectors are not affected. As the state reels under severe power crisis, voices of dissent are beginning to grow louder.

A group of experts from the World Bank is to meet state government officials and review reforms in departments such as municipal administration, power, public distribution system and irrigation projects.

UK fund managers are selling investments in jatropha plantations as a wallet-swelling, planet-saving financial bonanza. But the reality for poor farmers is very different.

PSERC says it will take this step if subsidy is not paid to PSEB
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 28

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