Ludhiana: Amidst the din of aggressive campaigning for promotion of BT cotton in Punjab, scientists from Punjab Agricultural University have called for a more proactive role of the agriculture industry in trainer training, farmers' training and more research on bio-transgenic crops before allowing them into the food chain.

Acknowledging the need of having census on farm suicides, Punjab has finally thought of conducting a survey in the state. The state government has asked the economics and sociology departments of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) to initiate the study to ascertain the exact number of suicides committed by farmers.

The quantum of energy produced in Punjab through new and renewable energy sources will be around 917 million units (MU) by 2011-12, a sizeable 10 per cent contribution to the total power generation in the state. The proposed enhancement of 916.59 MU will come at a tentative investment of Rs 5,156.32 crore.

The Rs 18,900-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refineries Ltd (GGSRL) being commissioned at Bathinda by a HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd JV is expected to kick-off by 2011. According to GGSRL managing director B S Sant, the project, which will make Bathinda one of the major petrochemical hubs in Asia, is expected to get operational by 2011.

Criticism reflects muddled view of commercial banks' functioning The fact that the country's largest bank was forced to withdraw an innocuous internal circular on farm loans only indicates the inability of even well run banks to take independent decisions. A farmer in his field in Punjab.

The ministry of rural development has sanctioned Rs 696.39 crore to the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) and the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana (PMGSY) for the period ranging 2004-05 to 2008-09 respectively. The amount will be received by the respective state rural roads and national rural roads development agencies. An amount of Rs 6 crore has been sanctioned as the first installment of grants-in-aid to the NRRDA during 2008-09 for meeting the expenditure on its activities.

The need for a reduction in carbon emissions was debated at the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development (The Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, resulting in the adoption of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty on environment. The Kyoto Protocol, 1998, was adopted by the parties to the UNFCCC with the objective of achieving quantified emission limitations through specific policies and measures to minimising the adverse effects of climate change.

The water-harvesting structures constructed in six villages to provide irrigation and agriculture sustainability in the area have proved to be a bane for villagers as the dams have not been desilted since their inception.