VV Balakrishna
First Published : 26 Nov 2009 02:58:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
HYDERABAD: In tune with the changing global scenario, chilli farmers in three States -- AP, Karnataka and Orissa -- have formed into a society and launched an exclusive website to encourage organic farming and boost dwindling export of chillies.
In a first-of-its kind initiative in the country, around 95 cooperative societies in the three States have banded together into a Chilli-Growers Cooperative Society which recently launched its website: ``chilligrowers.com’’ to help farmers in all aspects -- from collecting quality seed to improving the quality of produce.
India used to top the world chilli trade, accounting for 25 per cent of it. But stiff competition from China and excessive use of pesticides saw exports dwindle to 17.4 per cent this year.
``Several countries have been rejecting chillies and chilli products from the country after detecting pesticide residues,’’ Chilli Growers Cooperative Society chairman Nadendla Poornachandra Rao told Express.
He said that the society, through its website, would encourage farmers to use organic manure. This, he hoped, would boost exports and ensure the growers remunerative prices.
Rao said the website was receiving good response. The society currently had 40,000 members from Karnataka, 8,000 from Andhra Pradesh and 5,000 from Orissa.It plans to construct around 10 cold chains for farmers in the State. Poornachandra Rao said the website would help farmers keep abreast of international prices on a daily basis, as well as acquire knowledge of standards and useful inputs.
vvbalakrishna@expessbuzz.com
Wednesday 25 November 2009
Friday 6 November 2009
Biotech is the answer to global warming, population
Express News Service
First Published : 06 Nov 2009 02:55:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
HYDERABAD: Biotechnology alone has the answer to the twin challenges of gloabl warming and population growth, Department of Biotechnology secretary MK Bhan says.
Reacting to widespread protests against the approval for Bt brinjal, Bhan says that the regulatory committee will approve its cultivation and consumption after taking all safety measures.
In a chat with Express, he says that the country’s population will reach 1.3 billion by the end of 2030 and Bt is the solution to the growing demand for foodgrains. ``We cannot close our eyes to science.
We are taking decisions on approving Bt varieties case by case.’’ Some drugs and vaccines have been withdrawn from the market as they are not safe for humans. He, however, assures that all safety measures will be taken by the regulatory committee while approving Bt brinjal and other products fit for consumption.
``Trials are being conducted in a scientific way and in accordance with the recommendations made by noted agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan. All Bt varieties of food are not transgenic.
In some cases, `novel makers’ are being identified for development.’’ On the Bt Regulatory Authority Bill, Bhan says that the law department has okayed the draft which will be placed before the Union Cabinet in the next ten days.
Once the bill is passed by Parliament, the Bt Regulatory Authority will regulate Bt agriculture. The Bt industry, which had a 40 per cent growth in the past, recorded 18 per cent growth last year due to the economic slowdown.
The present turnover of Bt in the country is $ 2.8 billion and is expected to reach $ 7 billion by 2013.
Turning to pharmaceutical research, Bhan says, research on malaria (Vivax), dengue, influenza, particularly H1N1 virus, is being conducted in the country. Of the 270 biotech companies in the country, if one or two are grown into larger companies the country will be self-sufficient in pharmaceutical and other sectors, he notes.
First Published : 06 Nov 2009 02:55:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
HYDERABAD: Biotechnology alone has the answer to the twin challenges of gloabl warming and population growth, Department of Biotechnology secretary MK Bhan says.
Reacting to widespread protests against the approval for Bt brinjal, Bhan says that the regulatory committee will approve its cultivation and consumption after taking all safety measures.
In a chat with Express, he says that the country’s population will reach 1.3 billion by the end of 2030 and Bt is the solution to the growing demand for foodgrains. ``We cannot close our eyes to science.
We are taking decisions on approving Bt varieties case by case.’’ Some drugs and vaccines have been withdrawn from the market as they are not safe for humans. He, however, assures that all safety measures will be taken by the regulatory committee while approving Bt brinjal and other products fit for consumption.
``Trials are being conducted in a scientific way and in accordance with the recommendations made by noted agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan. All Bt varieties of food are not transgenic.
In some cases, `novel makers’ are being identified for development.’’ On the Bt Regulatory Authority Bill, Bhan says that the law department has okayed the draft which will be placed before the Union Cabinet in the next ten days.
Once the bill is passed by Parliament, the Bt Regulatory Authority will regulate Bt agriculture. The Bt industry, which had a 40 per cent growth in the past, recorded 18 per cent growth last year due to the economic slowdown.
The present turnover of Bt in the country is $ 2.8 billion and is expected to reach $ 7 billion by 2013.
Turning to pharmaceutical research, Bhan says, research on malaria (Vivax), dengue, influenza, particularly H1N1 virus, is being conducted in the country. Of the 270 biotech companies in the country, if one or two are grown into larger companies the country will be self-sufficient in pharmaceutical and other sectors, he notes.
Supreme Court order can’t be generalised: TDP
VV Balakrishna
First Published : 19 Oct 2009 05:26:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 19 Oct 2009 08:59:19 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The main Opposition party, Telugu Desam, is opposing the Supreme Court’s order on Hyderabad `free zone’ for implementation of GO 610 for police department. It feels that the SC order serves only a limited purpose and it cannot be generalised.
``Any decision against the Six-Point Formula or Presidential Order is not acceptable to TDP,’’ a TDP leader from Telangana told Express here Sunday.
The party studied the SC order and opined that there was no word `free zone’ in the order. The order was limited to only two groups of employees in the police department.
The court order was based on a technical point that Hyderabad city police were not covered under Zone VI in the Presidential Order.
``The TDP sticks to the Six-Point Formula, the Presidential Order and the GO 610. Any deviation or judgment against these three is not acceptable to the TDP,’’ a Politburo member of the party said.
The same opinion would be expressed by the party at the all-party meeting to be convened by the government Monday. Party leaders Nagam Janardhan Reddy, MV Mysoora Reddy and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will attend the all-party meeting.
The party leaders felt that there was no word `Hyderabad as free zone’ in the Supreme Ccourt order. Such word was never found in GO 610, the Presidential Order or in the Six-Point Formula, they said.
The `free zone’ issue never came up, a party leader said and felt that no one can imagine Telangana state without Hyderbad.
TDP leaders are livid with TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao for making an issue out of nothing. He had no issue on hand and was therefore using Hyderabad free zone issue to derive political mileage, a TDP leader alleged.
``Everyone should understand that the SC order was limited to a particular department and it never stated that Hyderabad was a free zone,’’ a TDP leader asserted after going through the SC order. For all other purposes Hyderabad was a part of Zone VI, he added.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
First Published : 19 Oct 2009 05:26:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 19 Oct 2009 08:59:19 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The main Opposition party, Telugu Desam, is opposing the Supreme Court’s order on Hyderabad `free zone’ for implementation of GO 610 for police department. It feels that the SC order serves only a limited purpose and it cannot be generalised.
``Any decision against the Six-Point Formula or Presidential Order is not acceptable to TDP,’’ a TDP leader from Telangana told Express here Sunday.
The party studied the SC order and opined that there was no word `free zone’ in the order. The order was limited to only two groups of employees in the police department.
The court order was based on a technical point that Hyderabad city police were not covered under Zone VI in the Presidential Order.
``The TDP sticks to the Six-Point Formula, the Presidential Order and the GO 610. Any deviation or judgment against these three is not acceptable to the TDP,’’ a Politburo member of the party said.
The same opinion would be expressed by the party at the all-party meeting to be convened by the government Monday. Party leaders Nagam Janardhan Reddy, MV Mysoora Reddy and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu will attend the all-party meeting.
The party leaders felt that there was no word `Hyderabad as free zone’ in the Supreme Ccourt order. Such word was never found in GO 610, the Presidential Order or in the Six-Point Formula, they said.
The `free zone’ issue never came up, a party leader said and felt that no one can imagine Telangana state without Hyderbad.
TDP leaders are livid with TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao for making an issue out of nothing. He had no issue on hand and was therefore using Hyderabad free zone issue to derive political mileage, a TDP leader alleged.
``Everyone should understand that the SC order was limited to a particular department and it never stated that Hyderabad was a free zone,’’ a TDP leader asserted after going through the SC order. For all other purposes Hyderabad was a part of Zone VI, he added.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
Naidu’s visit cheers up flood victims
VV Balakrishna
First Published : 08 Oct 2009 03:21:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
MUNAGAVANI DIBBA: For the first time in nearly a week, around 250 families in this non descript village on the banks of river Krishna who have lost everything had some reason to smile.
TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu made a visit to the hamlet and liberally donated what they badly needed. Naidu embarked on a five-day tour in the floodaffected areas. As part of it, Naidu first descended on this village and distributed 25-kg rice bag to each family, apart from towels, blankets, sarees and lungis.
Before Naidu’s convoy reached the hamlet, the material for which theflood victims were badly waiting for, reached the village. Naidu distributed the material under the aegis of NTR Memorial Trust for which he is the managing trustee.
``TDP MLA Ravula Chandrasekhara Reddy saved our lives by shifting us forcibly to a relief centre. Otherwise, there would have been loss of life in the village. And we are happy that Naidu visited our village and provided succour,’’ 55-yearold Sanjanna told Express. ``We resisted leaving the place and the MLA too said he would remain with us,’’ Sanjanna reminisced.
Finally, we agreed to move out of the houses, he recalled.
The village was completely submerged under thick sheet of Krishna water flowing 12-feet deep in the village.
Distributing essentials to victims, Naidu said he would bring pressure on the State Government for more sops to the victims.
The TDP leaderdemanded the State Government to relocate the village to a safer place and provide cash to the villagers to rebuild their lives.
Naidu then proceeded to Alampur, Gadwal and other flood-affected areas inthe district with relief material on hand.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
First Published : 08 Oct 2009 03:21:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
MUNAGAVANI DIBBA: For the first time in nearly a week, around 250 families in this non descript village on the banks of river Krishna who have lost everything had some reason to smile.
TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu made a visit to the hamlet and liberally donated what they badly needed. Naidu embarked on a five-day tour in the floodaffected areas. As part of it, Naidu first descended on this village and distributed 25-kg rice bag to each family, apart from towels, blankets, sarees and lungis.
Before Naidu’s convoy reached the hamlet, the material for which theflood victims were badly waiting for, reached the village. Naidu distributed the material under the aegis of NTR Memorial Trust for which he is the managing trustee.
``TDP MLA Ravula Chandrasekhara Reddy saved our lives by shifting us forcibly to a relief centre. Otherwise, there would have been loss of life in the village. And we are happy that Naidu visited our village and provided succour,’’ 55-yearold Sanjanna told Express. ``We resisted leaving the place and the MLA too said he would remain with us,’’ Sanjanna reminisced.
Finally, we agreed to move out of the houses, he recalled.
The village was completely submerged under thick sheet of Krishna water flowing 12-feet deep in the village.
Distributing essentials to victims, Naidu said he would bring pressure on the State Government for more sops to the victims.
The TDP leaderdemanded the State Government to relocate the village to a safer place and provide cash to the villagers to rebuild their lives.
Naidu then proceeded to Alampur, Gadwal and other flood-affected areas inthe district with relief material on hand.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
Drill down to find a puddle of sad truth
First Published : 23 Aug 2009 12:06:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 22 Aug 2009 01:13:21 AM IST
Till early this month, Perugu Ramaiah hadn’t lost his hope. Every day, the 65-year-old farmer of Anantram village would visit his 3.5 acres of fields that raised maize and paddy, in the hope that it would rain. Finally, the crops withered (as across his district of Medak). On August 7, he collapsed in the fields due to hypertension. Four days later, he died in hospital.
Last year, Ramaiah had married off his youngest daughter, spending Rs 3 lakh. Later, he took on lease others’ lands as well, hoping to clear his debts. But, interest on borrowings and medical expenses only pushed him into a debt trap.
Rains did fall in Andhra Pradesh later, but Ramaiah was dead by then. Unofficially, over 150 farmers ended their lives in the last two months. The government, though, maintains not all deaths are drought-driven.
In the rain-fed Telangana and Rayalaseema regions or even along the canal-fed coastal belt, the fields remain parched. Of the total cropped area of 80 lakh acres, sowing during kharif season took place in only 40 lakh acres, and most of the crop is already lost. The loss per district — the state has 23 of them — is in the range of Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore.
Venkat Reddy of Vattikodu village in Nalgonda is used to growing sweet lime orchards in five acres for the last 10 years. The investment per acre comes to around Rs 1 lakh. As the monsoon failed, he dug new borewells, but they too didn’t yield water. That was when he tried to divert water from a nearby borewell, two km away from his field, by offering to pay Rs 10,000 per month. By then, the dry spell totally damaged 300 trees on three acres while 200 trees in the
remaining two acres were partially damaged. He had to cut them.
The plight of groundnut growers in Rayalaseema’s Kurnool and Anantapur districts or the cotton farmer in Karimnagar district is no better. Farmers were happy when the government announced a minimum support price of Rs 3,000 per quintal of cotton, but the entire crop of many withered. When the government announced an MSP of Rs 3,000 a quintal of cotton, Rajaiah of Nachupalli felt happy. But the entire crop of his five-acre village has withered. In Kadapa district, so disgusted was a farmer that he set fire to his banana plantation after it failed owing to poor rainfall.
Such stories abound. Not surprising, given that as many as 1,020 out of the 1,128 mandals have received scanty or deficit rainfall this season. The average rainfall received was only 163 mm as against the normal 368 mm — a 55 per cent deficit.
Take Eevuri Venkatarami Reddy of Nakrekal mandal in Guntur. He borrowed Rs 20,000 at a monthly interest of four per cent. His repayment in the promised four months looks unlikely now that his paddy field has dried up. The drought has forced him to postpone his daughter’s marriage. “My last hope is the chief minister.”
The government has chosen not to declare any district drought-hit. Reason: the CM believes banks refuse funding if an official declaration of drought is made. Yet, he has urged the Centre to sanction an
additional Rs 2,000 crore under the NREGS to provide work to farmers and labourers. For now, this employment scheme and a loan waiver by the state government last year are providing some succour.
(with inputs from bureaux.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com,
Last Updated : 22 Aug 2009 01:13:21 AM IST
Till early this month, Perugu Ramaiah hadn’t lost his hope. Every day, the 65-year-old farmer of Anantram village would visit his 3.5 acres of fields that raised maize and paddy, in the hope that it would rain. Finally, the crops withered (as across his district of Medak). On August 7, he collapsed in the fields due to hypertension. Four days later, he died in hospital.
Last year, Ramaiah had married off his youngest daughter, spending Rs 3 lakh. Later, he took on lease others’ lands as well, hoping to clear his debts. But, interest on borrowings and medical expenses only pushed him into a debt trap.
Rains did fall in Andhra Pradesh later, but Ramaiah was dead by then. Unofficially, over 150 farmers ended their lives in the last two months. The government, though, maintains not all deaths are drought-driven.
In the rain-fed Telangana and Rayalaseema regions or even along the canal-fed coastal belt, the fields remain parched. Of the total cropped area of 80 lakh acres, sowing during kharif season took place in only 40 lakh acres, and most of the crop is already lost. The loss per district — the state has 23 of them — is in the range of Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore.
Venkat Reddy of Vattikodu village in Nalgonda is used to growing sweet lime orchards in five acres for the last 10 years. The investment per acre comes to around Rs 1 lakh. As the monsoon failed, he dug new borewells, but they too didn’t yield water. That was when he tried to divert water from a nearby borewell, two km away from his field, by offering to pay Rs 10,000 per month. By then, the dry spell totally damaged 300 trees on three acres while 200 trees in the
remaining two acres were partially damaged. He had to cut them.
The plight of groundnut growers in Rayalaseema’s Kurnool and Anantapur districts or the cotton farmer in Karimnagar district is no better. Farmers were happy when the government announced a minimum support price of Rs 3,000 per quintal of cotton, but the entire crop of many withered. When the government announced an MSP of Rs 3,000 a quintal of cotton, Rajaiah of Nachupalli felt happy. But the entire crop of his five-acre village has withered. In Kadapa district, so disgusted was a farmer that he set fire to his banana plantation after it failed owing to poor rainfall.
Such stories abound. Not surprising, given that as many as 1,020 out of the 1,128 mandals have received scanty or deficit rainfall this season. The average rainfall received was only 163 mm as against the normal 368 mm — a 55 per cent deficit.
Take Eevuri Venkatarami Reddy of Nakrekal mandal in Guntur. He borrowed Rs 20,000 at a monthly interest of four per cent. His repayment in the promised four months looks unlikely now that his paddy field has dried up. The drought has forced him to postpone his daughter’s marriage. “My last hope is the chief minister.”
The government has chosen not to declare any district drought-hit. Reason: the CM believes banks refuse funding if an official declaration of drought is made. Yet, he has urged the Centre to sanction an
additional Rs 2,000 crore under the NREGS to provide work to farmers and labourers. For now, this employment scheme and a loan waiver by the state government last year are providing some succour.
(with inputs from bureaux.
vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com,
Nature’s fury engulfs even Alampur Sakti Peetham
Lord Shiva temple under water at the Nagarjunasagar Pushkar ghat.
First Published : 05 Oct 2009 04:21:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: Even God could not escape Nature’s fury as the gushing waters of Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers swamped several historic temples in Krishna, Nalgonda, Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts.With the Krishna being most furious in its 100-year history, several temples, which have a great history and religious importance, were submerged in the flood water.The Alampur Jogulamba temple in Mahaboobnagar district, one of the nation’s 18 Sakti Peethams, was submerged under Tungabhadra waters.The 7th-century Siva temple there is sacred and considered by devotees as the Dakshina Kasi (southern Kasi).The Nava Brahma temples in Alampur, believed to be built by the Badami Chalukyas, were also inundated.Krishna water entered the famous Narasimha temple at Vedadri, near jaggayyapet, in Krishna district. As the water entered Muktyala village, the historic Siva temple was closed.Another famous temple, Mattapalli Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Nalgonda district, was also submerged.Now, only a small portion of the temple’s pinnacle could be seen jutting out of water. The Prahlada Yogananda Lakshmi Narasimha, the presiding deity of Mattapalli, said to be selfexistent, was founded by Machireddy Prabhu some 1,100 years ago.Another famous siva temple, `Sagar temple’ near Najagarjunasagar, was fully submerged under the flood waters.In Guntur district, the historic Buddhist site in Amaravati, 2 km away from the Siva temple, is under water. Water is flowing one foot above the platform of the historic Amaravati Siva temple. The platform was used for car parking and performing marriages.Though, flood water receded from the Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralayam, the flood damaged the properties of the mutt to some extent.Around, 70 cows died there. There is no usual rush at the temple now.Krishna water has entered the Dattatreya temple in Kurgadda near Maktal in Mahaboobnagar district. There is no power supply in the temple and devotees are unable to reach the shrine.vvbalakrishna@epmltd.com
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