Manipulating Media

10 Easy Tips

By Santosh Desai for City City Bang Bang

The stronger media gets, the easier it becomes to manipulate it. For all the screechy aggression, we see particularly on television, it works on some rudimentary principles. Here are some easy ways to use television to your advantage.

1. Use strong language and splutter frequently with contrived rage. This makes for intense television, and gives the audience a vicarious sense of power. Sock it to 'em, vierwers intone with glazed eyes as a panelist rubbishes another. Intemperate language is a must if you want to be on TV. Ask Varun Gandhi. When was he on our screens before or after?

2. Don't worry about the content of what you say, just speak very loudly and be sure to interrupt the moderator. Remember, his or her primary role is to interrupt the other panelist loudly and frequently and this is war. Nobody will remember what you say in any case, they will only remember how noisy you were. If you do not let others be heard, you win. Of course, the moderator will always win.

3. Use twitter. The same thing said on twitter needs fewer words, little knowledge of grammar, no justification and is for some reason, very cool and new age. You will attract many followers and in the event of the mournful demise of your career because of a twitchy twitter finger, you will be hailed as a new age politician or sports administrator. If you are a celebrity, make sure that the twitter-twatter of your messages includes other celebrities. If you do this, media gets two celebrities for the price of one in a headline.

4. Give television channels something to show. Filling up hours of time is not easy and there are only so many film star spats to cover in slow motion. It helps of course if you are attractive, or a celebrity, but if you are not hang out with those who are. In the worst case, do something that can be shot. Break some windows, if no other ideas spring to mind. Conversely, if you are the subject of a controversy, make sure you give channels nothing interesting to show. Dry up visuals and the story will sooner or later, die.

5. Get outraged easily and publicly. Call yourself an organization, give it a righteous sounding name and launch attacks on cricketers, film stars and any new film. You have to do very little to be on all national channels- maybe rough up a few completely innocent people, file a case in an obscure court thirsting to issue warrants to Sania Mirza, Mandira Bedi or Khushboo or announce a boycott, if you cannot rustle up a fatwa. Don't waste your time getting outraged about things that actually matter- nobody wants to cover thousands protesting against lack of drinking water, but four people talking about the insult to bhangra make for better television.

6. Say nothing deep on television. In particular, do not appear as if you are thinking about you are going to say. Blurt out the first thing that comes to your head and make sure to speak continuously without any pauses. Thinking is dangerous and has extremely limited visual appeal. Besides, it takes up too much time.

7. Always blame someone. Focus on people not issues. Television is about people, not things. And it is about blame, not understanding. Who is responsible, the moderator will thunder. Thunder back. When someone attacks you for something wrong you have done, do not attempt to respond. Instead attack them for whatever wrong they have done. If they bring up Gujarat, it is foolish to try and reply. Bring up Delhi 1984 instead. The fun thing about this game is that is can go on endlessly. After all, both sides are hardly likely to run out of ammunition.

8. Deny wrongdoing stoutly. It doesn't matter if you are caught accepting a bribe on camera, or have slapped a junior officer in public, or have described the minority community in inappropriate terms on national television, dismiss it as a conspiracy. Thanks to the rumours about the progress made by digital technology, we no longer believe our eyes or ears. It can all be attributed to technological manipulation. If for some reason, you have to apologise, remember you can get away by saying anything as long as you use the word 'sorry' in the sentence."I am sorry about the way my remarks were misconstrued and I regret the offence caused by any misunderstanding that might have occurred", for instance is a great way of seemingly apologizing while calling everyone else idiots for not understanding what you said.

9. When attacked, do not defend yourself on the substance of the attack. Seek refuge instead in an emotionally resonant collective identity. This is a good time to remember that you are a dalit, a woman in a man's world or a Malayali proud of his heritage. An attack on you is an attack on your collective. It works even better if you can use some local word like manoos or asmita.

10. If everything fails, wait. The media gets bored easily. Either offer them tedious explanations or just lie low. You will be forgotten, and even better be remembered only for being once famous. The more brazen you are, the more you will be respected. In this country everybody gets a second chance. You can be captain of your cricket team, fix matches and still get to be fielded successfully as a candidate for the Parliament. Who could I be talking about? Can't remember.

Govt allows sugar exports of up to 5 lakh tonnes

The government allowed sugar exports of up to five lakh tonnes amid sharp decline in retail prices and prospects of surplus production in the current season. The decision was taken by an empowered group of ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Earlier, there were differences on the export quantity, as the Agriculture Ministry favoured five lakh tonnes, while the Finance Ministry was wanted to restrict it to two lakh tonnes. Sources said, as a caution against the risk of price rise, the exports have been limited to five lakh tonnes, although the country is estimated to have an exportable surplus of 1.5 million tonnes in the 2010-11 sugar season (October-September). "Yes, we have allowed export of five lakh tonnes of sugar," a senior minister who was part of the EGOM told reporters after the meeting. Reacting to the government's decision, Indian Sugar Mills Association President Narendra Murkumbi said: "It is a welcome move and will improve the ability of mills to pay farmers on time." Recently, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had written to Mukherjee stating that sugar export should be allowed to prevent a situation of cane arrears to farmers. "If sugar prices are not stabilised and cash flows to mills are not improved, I fear that we will end up paying a huge subsidy to clear cane payment arrears of farmers," Pawar had pointed out in his letter. With India's sugar production estimated to rise to 24.5 million tonnes in 2011-12 (October-September), against domestic demand of 22 million tonnes, the government had earlier allowed mills to meet their export obligations of about one million tonnes under the Advance Licence Scheme (ALS). The Food Ministry had also allowed and notified export of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar under Open General Licence (OGL), but the decision was kept on hold in view of high inflation and the matter was referred to the EGOM. Sugar industry has been demanding export of sugar under OGL as there is a exportable surplus of about 1.5 million tonnes after meeting the export obligation under ALS. They also pointed out about ex-mill price of sugar has fallen below the cost of production. In Uttar Pradesh, cost of sugar production is Rs 2,950 per quintal, while ex-mill price is Rs 2,800 per quintal.Similarly, in Maharashtra, cost of production is Rs 2750 per quintal, ex-mill price is Rs 2,600 per quintal. Retail prices of sugar have declined sharply in the national capital to Rs 30-32 per kg from nearly Rs 50 per kg in January last year. Apart from Mukherjee and Pawar, Food Minister K V Thomas, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Defence Minister A K Antony, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh attended the meeting. .

India’s buffer stocks are at comfortable levels and the country is expecting a bumper harvest of grains, he was quoted by Financial Express as saying.

Food ministry data says that as on February 1, about 47 million tons of food grains are stored in the warehouses of Food Corporation of India. 27.8 million tons of rice and 19.37 million tons of wheat ranks above the strategic reserve and buffer stocks norms.

Further, India is expected to record wheat output to the tune of 81.47 million tons in 2010-11, against 80.71 million tons in the previous year. Rice output would be to the tune of 94 million tons this year as against 89 million tons for previous year, while sugar output is expected to touch 24.5 million tons production mark for 2010-11 compared with 19 million tons of previous year. (Annual Indian domestic sugar demand is pegged at 22 million tons while opening stocks of the commodity is at 5 million tons).

Given the scarcity of rice and wheat in the international market, the prices of grains, globally, are staying up. China is the latest in a row to fall prey to the scourge of drought and some analysts are of the view that China may even consider importing of wheat; something which it has not done for decades.

In India, a ban has been in place for exports of wheat since February 2007 and non-basmati rice since April 2008.

Climate change may result in foodgrain demand-supply gap

India’s annual foodgrain production could fall short of demand by 20 million tonnes by the end of next decade, if urgent measures are not taken to minimise the impact of climate change, according to the ministry of agriculture.

The ministry has sought Rs 1,08,000 crore in the form of additional budgetary support till 2016-2017 for various initiatives to reduce the impact of climate change on agriculture. Of this, 60 per cent will be spend on technological advancement and 29 per cent on building infrastructure.

According to ministry’s estimates, the demand for foodgrain (wheat, rice, coarse cereals and pulses) during the next ten years will rise to 281 million tonnes from the current 220 million tonnes, whereas production will only rise to 261 million tonnes, if no steps are taken to nullify the impact of climate change on the yield of crops.

“This would leave a shortfall of around 20 million tonnes between demand and supply,” the ministry said in a recent presentation to the Planning Commission.

To prevent the shortfall, foodgrain production will have to rise to 301 million tonnes by 2020, which, when compared to the projected demand, will then leave a surplus of 20 million tonnes.

The ministry said climate change impacts farming in multiple ways. It leads to lower productivity and poor quality of crops and results in degradation and depletion of soil and water resources. It also increases the chance of additional heat stress on livestock and impacts aquatic habitat.

“All this could lead to massive agrarian distress,” the ministry said. Agriculture emanates 17.6 per cent of the total greenhouse gases, which is second only to power generation. “Of this, 63.4 per cent is contributed by livestocks and 20.9 per cent by rice cultivation,” the ministry said.

While climate change is expected to raise temperatures by 0.2 degree Celsius every decade, mean summer rainfall would also rise and dry spells would become longer and more intense. “Contraction of snow cover and a rise in sea levels are the other adverse impacts of climate change,”

33 % Forest cover target unrealistic

Not long ago much of India was covered in vast and varied forests. Today just over one-fifth (21%) of the nation remains under forest cover, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) but an ambitious plan hopes to bring the forest cover percentage to 33%, or one third of the country. However that goal has been dubbed 'unrealistic' by none other than Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh.

The goal is "unrealistic in a country like India where the population is 1.2 billion and set to become 1.6 billion by 2040. With the population and development pressure in our country, to expect India to suddenly grow a green cover from the present 21% to 33% is totally unrealistic,” Ramesh said at a Green Landscape Summit. India is currently the world's second most populous nation after China.

However, even the 21% forest cover is a misnomer, since 15% of those forests are plantations. Ramesh further pointed out that nearly half of India's forests are degraded.

India recently announced a $10 billion plan to expand forests and improve tree cover in degraded forests.

The Indian government has approved a bold plan to expand and improve the quality of its forests as a part of the nation's National Action Plan on Climate Change. The reforestation plan, dubbed the National Mission for a Green India (NMGI), will expand forests by five million hectares (over 12 million acres), while improving forests quality on another five million hectares for $10.14 billion (460 billion rupees).

TNAU signed MOU with Mali

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the Republic of Mali inked an MOU, which will see the transfer of agricultural technology to the west African country.

Ever since Mali established its embassy in New Delhi, the African nation has been trying to improve ties with India and collaborate with the country across all sectors.

Under the MoU, the varsity will transfer technological know-how, provide equipment and give crop varieties suitable for growing in the African nation. In return, Mali, which is the highest producer of cotton in Africa, will export its cotton to India. TNAU will send two experts to Mali to study our soil conditions and will advise us on what sort of crops to grow and when.

India’s first hi-tech mandi

By the end of 2011, the diamond city will have India's first modern wholesale market to be set up by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC). It will offer to consumers vegetables, fruits and flowers directly plucked from the farmlands of south Gujarat, neighbouring states and imported from abroad at cheaper prices.

The Rs 350 crore state-of-the-art wholesale market at Sahara Darwaja on the sprawling 17,000 square yard land would be equipped with all amenities like separate display racks for vegetables, fruits, flowers, cereals and pulses, general shopping mall for grocery, clothes, jewellery, shoe etc.

A brainchild of 65-year-old APMC chairman Ramanbhai Jani, the wholesale market will be a one-stop shop for city residents. They will be able to shop anything and everything under one roof at discounted prices. Each of the green vegetable and fruit displayed in racks inside the mall will provide vital information on health benefits and other advantages.

Facilities like testing and certification laboratory, central electronic auction system, online spot commodity trading platform, ripening chamber and cold storage, agriculture training centre for farmers, banking facilities, mechanised material handling system etc. will be set up inside the market.

In the second phase of the market project, the APMC plans to develop facilities like setting up a five-star hotel for foreign traders and visitors, rest rooms for farmers, commercial office space for dealers, collection centre for farmers in the villages and towns in south Gujarat, facilities like grading cleaning, packaging and weighing, banking facility, information kiosks, agri-clinic and extension services, total banking support etc.

"I have been to many countries like Germany, France, Paris, London, US to gather information on the concept of modern vegetable market before zeroing on the concept of modern wholesale market," Jani said. "About 95 per cent of the building construction is over and we intend to start the market sometime in the end of this year," he said.

According to Jani, the dream of every farmer to sell their commodities without the interference of middlemen will come true in this market. Moreover, the market would benefit the end consumer who would be satisfied not only with the quality of the commodities, but also on the price front.

"Today, the end consumers are paying 100 per cent more on the purchase of vegetables and fruits from the retail shops. At the wholesale market, the same products will be available at much cheaper prices," Jani added.

Huge sum paid for the untimed rains

Unseasonal rains cost Rs 3,312 cr to Gujarat agriculture alone, leaving aside the damages caused across the states of western, central and some fringes of southern India.

Heavy damages estimated for in cotton, chana, castor crop.

Unseasonal rains in the state of Gujarat during September - November, 2010 has cost the state agriculture sector Rs 3,312 crore with key cash crops including groundnut, cotton, castor seed and pulses taking a major blow among other agriculture commodities.

The minister further informed that the rains during the month of November, 2010 had damaged the crops of cotton, chana (chick pea), jowar and some of the horticulture crop cultivated in the Surendranagar district. The district alone saw an estimated damage worth Rs 382.15 crore.

Among oilseeds, castor and soybeans were badly affected. The state tops in castor production in India. This year, the castor production was estimated at around 8.60 lakh tonnes up 17 per cent over previous year. The crop was sown on 4.83 lakh hectares in the state.

Meanwhile, the Rapeseed-Mustard production in Gujarat was expected to rise by 15,000 tonnes during the current rabi season 2010-11 as the area under the crop also rose by 4 per cent at 216,700 hectares over last year. A survey by Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) had estimated the state's rapeseed production at 3.30 lakh tonnes against 3.15 lakh tonnes registered in 2009-10.

The Banaskantha district, which is among the worst affected due to unseasonal rains, had seen a growth of 22 per cent in the area under rapeseed cultivation against to 123,100 hectares for the current season against 101,000 hectare in 2009-10.

Other badly affected districts included Kutch, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar and Rajkot. The state assembly was informed that over 16,000 hectares of crop area was affected due to the ill-timed rains covering as many as 21 districts across the state.

The minister further noted that so far the central government had not responded to the representations made by the state government to give relief for the damage.

Bumper wheat produce may face rotting

With only a few days to go before farmers begin to harvest what is expected to be the country's highest ever wheat crop, the threat of large quantities of grain rotting yet again because of inadequate storage facilities looms large.

The union ministry of agriculture had in early February estimated that the 2010-11 harvest of foodgrains will be, at 2,321 lakh tonnes, the second highest of all time. Of this, the rice harvest was estimated at 940 lakh tonnes and wheat at 815 lakh tonnes, a record.

Additionally, sources in the ministry of food and consumer affairs told TOI that the harvest predictions were likely to be further revised upwards, as late rains and the late frost in Madhya Pradesh had not had as damaging an effect on the winter wheat crop as feared. Indeed, just six days into its procurement season, Madhya Pradesh is already reporting that its storage capacities are swamped. Wheat harvests in most other states are expected to begin after Holi and procurement from April 1 on.

However, this bumper harvest is likely to pose significant storage challenges. As of mid-February, the total effective capacity available for storage stood at less than 300 lakh tonnes of which more than 75% was in use. The governments foodgrain procurement target for the upcoming season is of 263 lakh tonnes. This is only an indicative target and can rise if harvests are higher.

In August last year, several newspapers reported that thousands of tonnes of grain were rotting in the open in Punjab and other states because of insufficient godown facilities. Over the last ten years, 10 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have rotted in FCI godowns. An incensed Supreme Court, while hearing an ongoing PIL on various food security-related issues filed by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, ordered the government to distribute the grain free if they were not able to store it.

However, the government is confident it can meet the challenge. We are getting a good response to our Private Entrepreneur Guarantee scheme. We will get 50 lakh tonnes of space within three months, K V Thomas, minister of state for food and consumer affairs (independent charge), told TOI. More space can be hired at the time of procurement if needed, Thomas added. There was a problem of 70,000 tonnes of foodgrain that rotted last year and this should not happen, but this is only 0.08% of the total grains procured, Thomas said.

The space for foodgrain storage is made available to the FCI through its own godowns and those hired by state governments, the Central Warehousing Corporation, State Warehousing Corporations and private parties. 10% of the total storage space is Cover And Plinth, i.e. it is not covered on all sides, and has been criticized in the past by experts and the Supreme Court as being inadequate.

Roughly half of the total space is owned by the FCI. This proportion is declining and there has been a very slow rate of increase in the FCIs storage capacity. It was able to add only 28,000 tonnes of constructed space (1% of the total) between 2007 and 2010. Nor is there likely to be much increase in space constructed by the FCI itself: The labour laws that one has to follow with the FCI, i.e. full employment instead of short-term contract jobs, makes it not very profitable for the government to have the FCI involved in construction. We would prefer to rent from private parties, said a senior official in the ministry of food and consumer affairs on condition of anonymity. Budgetary allocations to the FCI have also been declining.

For several years now, the union government has been trying to get private parties to construct godowns instead, which it could then hire. Faced with a poor response from the private sector which found the conditions too stringent, the government raised the period for which it would guarantee to hire the space from five to seven to now ten years, and several restrictions were dropped. The government has sanctioned the creation of 150 lakh tonnes of additional storage. But as of end-February 1.13 lakh tonnes of storage space, or less than 1% of this, was constructed.

Experts like agricultural economist M S Swaminathan have long said that the storage problem can be easily fixed by the government using decentralized solutions, and have described the handing over storage facilities to the private sector as a potential national disaster. Chhattisgarh, for instance, discarded the PPP model and authorized district collectors to build warehousing space with great results, said Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the office of the Supreme Court commissioners on food security, who worked closely with the Chhattisgarh government on its PDS reform.

CMIE projects India’s growth rate at 8.8%

The Indian economy is set for a robust performance in the 2011-12 financial year with real GDP growth of 8.8 per cent, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in a report released today.

The Indian economy is expected to close the current financial year with an average 9.2 per cent growth, CMIE said in its projection.

"We project that real GDP will grow by 8.8 per cent during the fiscal, " CMIE said in its report.

The agriculture sector is projected to grow 3.8 per cent, the industrial sector by 9.4 per cent and the services sector by 9.9 per cent, according to CMIE.

Foodgrain production in the country is expected to grow 3.7 per cent and touch a record 236.9 million tonnes, assuming that the monsoon does not play spoilsport.

Foodgrain production will be boosted by higher output of rice and wheat, which in turn will raise the levels of disposable incomes, CMIE said.

The report projects growth in industrial production to be driven by a rise in consumption demand and investment demand.

Consumption demand, in turn, will be driven by a rise in corporate wages, fresh employment generation and lower inflation.

Corporate India is also expected to spend 14.7 per cent more on salaries and wages in 2011-12, leaving more money in the hands of urban consumers as well.

According to CMIE, projects cumulatively valued at Rs8,00,000 crore are scheduled to be commissioned in 2011-12, against projects worth Rs3,600,000 crore in the current fiscal.

The largest contribution to these capacity additions will come from the electricity sector, it said.

"We estimate that real GDP has grown by 9.2 per cent in fiscal 2010-11, though the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has pegged the growth rate at 8.6 per cent," CMIE said, adding, "CSO's estimate is lower because it had revised its GDP growth estimate for 2009-10 upward from 7.4 per cent to 8 per cent on 31 January. Over the un-revised number, its growth estimate for 2010-11 would have worked out to 9.3 per cent."

The agriculture sector is estimated to have grown 5.1 per cent in 2010-11, the industrial sector by 9.5 per cent and the service sector by 10.2 per cent.

Consumer spending is back on track as purchasing power has increased. Private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) is estimated to have grown by 8.6 per cent in 2010-11, compared to 4.3 per cent in the preceding fiscal.

Exports account for about 15 per cent of the country's GDP, according to CMIE.

Grape exports down by 50% as domestic market improves

Grape export from the state has so far registered a drop of about 50 per cent as a result of increasing number of farmers preferring to sell their produce in domestic market at higher rates. Usually, Maharashtra accounts for 95 per cent of country's grape exports.

Pandurang Watharkar, director, processing and planning, department of agriculture, said, "Last year, a number of consignments from Maharashtra were rejected at various ports of the European Union (EU) countries. Though importers bought some grapes for the EU markets, it did not fetch significant profit. The farmers, this year, are selling their produce immediately at higher rates in local markets."

In local markets, grapes are sold around Rs 50 per kg. The prices of grapes supplied by Maharashtra are higher in Kolkata and other markets in north India.

The state has so far exported 754 containers to EU countries, as against the previous year's figure of 1,500 containers during the same period. Total 3,500 grape farms are registered with grapenet, a network promoted by the state government to facilitate grape exporters.

Last year proved to be a nightmare for the farmers who had made huge investments but incurred losses after their produce was not accepted in several EU countries due to high residue of a growth hormone, despite the fact that the hormone was not banned by EU countries.

Unlike previous year, this year the rates for domestic grapes are higher, said a grape exporter from Pune.

"In the last few years, I have been exporting grapes to EU countries, as well as selling them locally, mainly in Kolkata and Delhi markets. As links have been established in these markets in recent years, the demand is increasing, offering higher returns to farmers. If the domestic prices continue to be on higher side, I would prefer to sell grapes in domestic market than exporting, as it would save my expenses on documentation and testing of various chemicals," informed Watharkar.

IMDA flays govt for withdrawal of Bt-maize field trials

A national body on maize today expressed concern over the government move to withdraw field trials for Bt-maize and said the decision could threaten the crop's overall development and hit small farmers.

"The decision puts at risk the future success of small and marginal Indian farmers, particularly maize farmers, who toil to meet the escalating demand of maize in the country," said Indian Maize Development Association (IMDA).

"We have achieved higher productivity in maize through introduction of single Cross Hybrid (SCH). The next frontier is transgenic maize that can help reduce cost of cultivation and address problems of maize, 8O per cent of which is grown in rainfed area," an IMDA statement said.

It quoted IMDA President Sain Dass as saying that the halting technology advancement is a matter of "serious concern."

Following a strong complaint from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to Environment minister Jairam Ramesh last week, the field trial of Bt-maize by US-based Monsanto at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) campus in Samastipur district was stopped.

Kumar said the company started trials of Bt-maize at IARI campus in Pusa on February 21 before receiving a go-ahead letter from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC).

He reminded Ramesh of an earlier letter in 2009 in which he had written about the state government's reservation on the introduction of Bt-brinjal.

However, Dass said, "For India to prosper and use the power of agriculture, there needs to be clarity on the government's policy on agriculture biotechnology. These abrupt decisions may discourage agricultural researchers. With the success that maize has achieved over the years, there is significant scope to repeat Bt cotton story with maize and put India rightfully on the world map."

Dass said according to a report, in 2010 alone, biotech maize has been planted on 46.8 million hectares in 16 maize growing countries including Philippines, Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina and USA and 8 European Countries.

Bt cotton seed firms seek price hike

Bt cotton seed companies have sought an increase in the prices of both single and double gene technologies from the Andhra Pradesh government.

At a meeting convened by state agriculture minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy here, they said if the prices were not enhanced, the supply-demand gap would widen next kharif besides bleeding the companies.

Representatives and members of both the National Seed Association and the Seedsmen Association of Andhra Pradesh sought an increase in Bt 1 and Bt 2 cotton seed price to a minimum of Rs 825 and Rs 1,050 per packet (450 gm) from the present Rs 650 and Rs 750 respectively.

The companies asked the minister to formulate a pricing mechanism that takes into account the increase in cost of production and other factors before deciding on the price, each year.

The present prices were fixed in 2008 by the government under a special enactment made earlier for this purpose. The companies argued that the procurement price alone had increased 58 per cent in the last four years to Rs 419 per packet in 2010 from Rs Rs in 2006 and they could not sustain on the present MRP. Agreeing with the contention that a long-term policy in this regard was imminent, the minister said the government would come out with a reasonable proposal on the price revision for next kharif by next week.

Any price revision by the AP government will have a national impact on cotton seed operations as other governments have been following the AP pricing as a benchmark in their respective states.

Union Minister Sharad Pawar wrote a letter to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy yesterday advising the latter to lift the control on pricing as the move was hurting the agriculture sector and also companies, according to the representatives.

Bt cotton seed companies in Andhra Pradesh account for 50 per cent of the total seed production in the country. It was in 2006, when the state government first intervened, fixing the price at Rs 750, which was was ruling around Rs 1,800, owing to higher royalty being paid at that time to technology provider Monsanto.

When the Bt-2 variety was introduced in the country in 2007, the state government allowed a price of Rs 925 while keeping the Bt 1 price unchanged.

However, the state government again reduced the price of Bt 1 and Bt 2 to Rs 650 and Rs 850 respectively in the following year.

Governments of several states followed suit asking companies to reduce the prices, thus impacting the cotton seed operations across the country.

Bt cotton seed production stands at 28 million packets apart from a carryover stock of 6-7 million packets as against the projected demand of a minimum of 42 million packets in the next kharif, according to P Sateesh Kumar, secretary of the state association of seed companies.

He said as companies were unable to pay a higher procurement price on account of a cap on their selling price, seed producing farmers were being discouraged from taking up cultivation leading to a large-scale dip.

National Seed Association secretary Harish Reddy said the government should take into account the increase in minimum wages of the labour that accounts for 60 per cent of the production cost of the seeds apart from linking the pricing to the inflation index. Punjab and Haryana governments have already increased the price of Bt 1 and Bt 2 to Rs 825 and Rs 1,000 respectively, he pointed out.

After the introduction of Bt technology in 2002, country’s cotton production reached 503 million bales in 2010 from 302 million bales in the first year.

Recommendations of Working Group on Agriculture

The Working Group on Agricultural Production, comprising Chief Ministers of Haryana (Chairperson), Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar has recommended a number of measures for increasing agricultural production and productivity. A summary of major recommendations of Working Group are as follows: - 1. Bridge the horizontal and vertical gaps in yield by ascertaining these through specific studies and address them through appropriate interventions like timely sowing, balanced use of fertilizers and soil ameliorants, improving water use efficiency etc. 2. Expansion of area under boro (winter) rice by increasing cropping intensity especially in the states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal. (Extending Green Revolution to Eastern India programme launched to address this) 3. Assam should also be included in the Extending Green Revolution to Eastern India programme. (Included) 4. As electric power is unlikely to be available to the extent required, it is necessary to assist farmers partly in meeting higher cost of diesel pumping sets for lifting water in eastern states. A scheme on the lines of Diesel Subsidy Scheme of Bihar should be launched in other States also. 5. Undertake an ambitious time bound programme of ground water use through bore-wells, shallow wells and lift irrigation schemes in eastern India. 6. Additional investments are required to maintain canals and to fund research on conjunctive use of brackish water with canal water. 7. Develop and upscale integrated farming systems including crops, horticulture, livestock etc. to generate both on-farm and off-farm employment for small and marginal farmers. 8. Include short duration summer mung-bean varieties under zero tillage in areas under irrigated cereal production systems of the country, and Reintroduce pulses in sugarcane production systems areas. In eastern India, relay cropping of zero till planting of winter legumes (lentil, chickpea etc) should be focussed in ‘rice-fallows’. 9. Promote production of hybrid seed aggressively and provide incentives to Private Sector. 10. Improve seed replacement rate of oilseed crops. Popularise Cyto-plasmic Male Sterility (CPM) based hybrids as they promise substantial productivity enhancement. Superior sunflower hybrids should be developed and promoted in northern India. In castor, special focus is required for the development of hybrids and varieties resistant to abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity. 11. State Seed Corporations should either be reformed/re-organized to make them vibrant organisations or should be closed to allow development of alternative mechanisms. 12. Fertiliser companies should produce right kind of mixtures of nutrients to suit the specific requirements of soils in all agro-climatic zones. Target to bring at least 10% area under bio-fertiliser application. Encourage use of liquid fertilisers. 13. There is need to create appropriate pesticide/ bio-pesticide quality control set up and to provide deterrent punishment for the sale of spurious pesticides. 14. New irrigation technologies like furrow irrigation, mulching, drip and sprinkler irrigation etc. need to be promoted as a national priority. Micro irrigation systems (i.e. drip and sprinkler) must be promoted as a matter of priority in both canal command and rainfed areas. In situ water conservation is the best solution for stability and sustainability of agriculture, and improving yields of crops in the rainfed areas. 15. Institutional development across States is a priority area for equitable flow of credit. Credit should be made available at not more than 4% per annum rate of interest. 16. Farm mechanisation is not only necessary for increasing productivity, but has become essential in view of emerging labour shortage and needs considerable support from Government. A Technology Mission on Farm Mechanisation should be started. 17. Encourage establishment of agri-business centres by Self Help Groups to purchase, maintain and provide farm machinery to farmers under custom hiring. 18. All types of tools, implements, machinery and equipment should be allowed to be freely imported without any import duty. 19. States may consider taking up segregation of feeders for dedicated availability of power to agriculture sector and making power available in un-served areas especially in eastern India. 20. Much needed emphasis to encourage use of solar, biomass and wind power in agriculture is required. It will be highly desirable to initiate a National programme on Harnessing Bio-energy in Agriculture. 21. A time bound programme to fill up existing vacancies in all KVKs and Extension Directorates should be prepared and implemented. 22. Train and Develop Technology Agents through vocational training at State Agricultural Universities for establishment of Agri-Clinics. 23. It is necessary to bring in private sector investments for developing marketing infrastructure to give better choices to farmers and for developing more efficient supply chain for better handling of agriculture produce. 24. System of Spot Electronic Trading, one of the biggest institutional reforms in agriculture marketing system, needs to be institutionalised. 25. Funds available under the Scheme ‘Gramin Bhandaran Yojana’ should be fully utilised to create a network of rural godowns in the country. 26. Methodology of calculating costs of cultivation of Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices (CACP) must be reviewed in the context of need to provide economic and remunerative prices to the farmers. The Working Group supports acceptance of the National Commission on Farmers’ report suggesting 50% higher price over the actual cost of cultivation or adoption of Bureau of Industrial Cost and Prices (BICP) formula used for estimating industrial costs. 27. Minimum Support Price (MSP) for vegetables, especially Potato, Onion and Garlic, should also be fixed by GOI. 28. Market for agricultural produce must be immediately freed of all sorts of restrictions on movement, trading, stocking, finance, exports etc. No monopoly, including that of APMCs or corporate licensees, should be allowed. 29. Agriculture land ceiling for corporates could be fixed at 25 times the ceiling for individual farmers. 30. Proper policy should be put in place for land lease and contract farming. Guidelines need to be chalked out for contract farming/leasing, to ensure that the rights of both land owner and tenant are safeguarded. 31. Indian companies can be encouraged to buy lands in foreign countries for producing pulses and oilseeds under long term supply contracts to Indian canalising agencies. 32. A consolidation exercise should be taken up by the Planning Commission to convert existing CSSs into a few focussed schemes. 33. From the Twelfth Plan, it will be advisable to extend the NFSM to cover all the districts of wheat producing States. Crops such as maize and coarse cereals (sorghum and bajra) should be included in NFSM. 34. Entire statistical system needs to be revamped to cover all crops and to increase accuracy of data collection and elimination of higher or lower bias. 35. A national system of collecting and monitoring identified weather parameters should be developed and put in place using RKVY and other funds. Market information along with daily weather conditions should be provided to the farmers using modern ICT tools and techniques (SMS, Panchayat e-services, FM radio, AIR, TV etc.). 36. The States may consider setting up separate Universities of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. Union Government should also set up a Livestock Mission 37. Efforts to promote use of plastics in agricultural operations should be encouraged. 38. A coordination mechanism for Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Public Distribution, Irrigation, Fertilisers and Power in the Central/State Government is urgently needed. A Scientific Advisory Council on Agriculture should be created under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister. 39. States may consider bringing all agriculture and allied sector related production programmes under the Agriculture Production Commissioner, for coordinating with other allied departments. 40. A comprehensive policy for insurance coverage of all important food crops and live stock needs to be put in place on priority and the same should be implemented with additional funding support from the Centre, with village as a unit instead of the Block. 41. Norms of Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) should be revised and the compensation for the loss of crops due to natural calamities like flood/drought/frost should be enhanced to at least Rs. 25,000 per hectare. 42. A massive effort for building modern silos to arrest post harvest losses of foodgrains is needed at the national level through both public and private sector interventions as a national priority. 43. In addition to use of location-specific technology, suitable policy initiatives in terms of insurance, preferential credit, strengthening infrastructure and extension services are also needed for climate proofing rainfed agriculture.

Agricultural output to rise by 3.8% in FY12: CMIE

India's agriculture output is expected to rise by 3.8% in 2011-12 on assumption of favourable weather conditions, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review here.

"We project that agricultural output will grow for the second consecutive year in 2011-12. It is expected to rise by 3.8%, over an estimated 6.5% growth in 2010-11," CMIE said.

Our projection is based on the assumption that weather conditions will be favourable during the fiscal. Production of major crops is projected to grow by 3.1% in 2011-12, while output of minor crops is projected to expand by 5%, it said.

Foodgrain production set to grow by 3.7% to 236.9 million tonnes in FY12. It will surpass the record level of 234.5 million tonnes achieved in 2008-09. Higher output of rice and wheat will power this growth. Rice holds a share of 40% and wheat 35% in total foodgrain output.

Wheat output has been growing consistently for the last seven years and this trend is expected to continue in 2011-12 fiscal. Wheat output is expected to touch record levels of 82.3 million tonnes in FY12. This increase will be largely driven by wider cultivation in the country's key wheat granaries-Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.

In 2009-10, acreage of wheat was an impressive 286.8 lakh hectares. Coverage during the ongoing rabi season has been even more remarkable. By January 2011, it had crossed 290 lakh hectares. This, complemented by a prolonged cold wave in north and central India, is expected to boost production. In 2010-11, wheat production is expected to grow by 1.1 per cent.

Prospects for the rice crop are positive for 2010-11 and 2011-12. Output is expected to grow in both the years on account of increased acreage and yield.

Pulses production is also expected to touch record levels in 2011-12. High accruals from pulses will motivate farmers to enhance coverage in 2011-12 as well. Hence, we project that pulses production will expand by 19.3 per cent in 2011-12, CMIE said.

Oilseeds production is expected to revive in 2011-12, after declining for two successive years. The demand-supply gap in oilseeds has inflated prices considerably for the last three years.

Conducive weather conditions alongwith incremental returns, has encouraged farmers to increase the acreage of oilseeds in 2010-11. Hence, output is projected to recover by 15 per cent in 2010-11. In 2011-12, it is projected to grow by 2.9 per cent as steady demand will lead to healthy coverage.

Bt-maize reignites Jairam vs Pawar tiff

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has turned down Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's request to drop his opposition to field trials of genetically modified Bt maize.

Participating in a debate on environment in the Legislative Council, Kumar said that Pawar had called him to reconsider his resistance on the ground that stopping the field trials of Bt maize would demoralise scientists. "I told the agriculture minister that I have no objection to scientific experiments by scientists of the public-funded Indian Council of Agricultural Research. I am opposed to opening up our state for field trial by MNCs."

Notably, Bihar's stand has revived the policy tussle between Pawar and environment minister Jairam Ramesh on the introduction of genetically modified crops in India. This is the second time that they are facing off: the earlier round went to Ramesh whose opposition to the field trial of Bt brinjal prevailed against a front that comprised other ministers as well. In the latest edition, Ramesh seized upon Nitish's opposition to withdraw the permission for field trials, his promptness earning praise from the Bihar CM in the debate in the Bihar House started.

The environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee gave the green light to field trials of Bt corn developed by Monsanto on December 24, last year in five locations for rabi 2011 in the states of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It also gave the go ahead to the multinational seed company to conduct trials in nine locations in kharif 2011 in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Reacting to his opposition, Ramesh instantly cancelled the permission to conduct trials in Bihar, over-ruling the GEAC. Ministry's rules do not provide the need to seek the approval of the state government, but Ramesh has ordered that states must be given a month to agree or disagree with GEAC's advice before the final decision is taken.

India: CRPF men to help in mushroom farming

Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa, in Samastipur district is mulling over a proposal to engage paramilitary forces and retired army men to disseminate the technology of mushroom farming in the State.

“Because of its nutritional and medicinal qualities, farmers take up mushroom production. But we want to shore up their earnings. This is precisely why we intend to engage CRPF men, who will be trained by the scientists of RAU and then these men-in-uniform will teach the villagers how mushroom farming could be done at a low cost,” said RAU Vice-Chancellor ML Choudhary.

Mushroom farming has played a vital role in boosting rural economy and facilitate opportunities of livelihood to the farmers. “The university has developed low cost technology of spawn production from the mother culture of mushroom to facilitate the demand of seeds,” said Choudhary.

The rural people will be trained in mushroom farming under an agriculture innovative project. The university will sign a memorandum of understanding with the paramilitary force stationed at Muzaffarpur.

K'taka govt cancels private market yard licence of Metro Cash & Carry

The traders of agriculture produce in Bangalore have won their battle against the state government move to grant private market yard licence to German retail giant Metro Cash & Carry.

The traders, who had shut down their shops indefinitely to protest against the move from today, tasted victory in just one day with the chief minister B S Yeddyurappa ordering for the cancellation of licence to Metro Cash & Carry India Pvt Ltd with immediate effect this evening.

"We met the chief minister for last two days and apprised him of the grave situation of the traders. He was convinced with our argument that the private market licence issued to Metro would harm the traders’ interests and in no way benefits the farmers. He agreed to cancel their licence and issued the order this evening evening," Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, President, Bangalore Wholesale Food Grains & Pulses Merchants’ Association told Business Standard.

The state government had issued licence to Metro Cash & Carry India Pvt Ltd on January 18, 2011 to trade in all 112 notified agriculture commodities including pulses and cereals from both its outlets outside the APMC yard in Yeswantpur. This had surprised the traders in the state as they said, "the license had been issued in violation of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act (APMC Act)". The Act stipulates that no private trader can sell notified commodities within a 25 km radius from the APMC yards in the state.

Confirming the cancellation of the licence given to Metro Cash & Carry, V B Patil, director, department of agricultural marketing said, "We have cancelled the order issued on January 18 to Metro Cash & Carry. However, the company can continue to trade in perishables like fruits, vegetables and flowers."

After the failure on the part of the department of agricultural marketing to cancel the licence issued to Metro Cash & Carry, the traders met the chief minister over the last weekend and convinced him to cancel the licence.

"We will withdraw the trade bandh with effect from March 1 after informing all our 25 member associations about the cancellation order," Lahoti said.

When contacted, officials of Metro Cash & Carry offered no statement on the cancellation of their licence by the state government.

More than 3,500 shops dealing all the 112 notified agriculture commodities including perishables like onions, potato and vegetables had shut down their shops in three main APMC market yards in Bangalore like Yeswantpur, Old Taragupet and New Taragupet.

'We need to stick to farming'

Coming out strongly against the idea of moving people out of agriculture, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) director general S Ayyappan has called for bringing a ‘profit-prestige partnership’ model to farming through innovation and entrepreneurship.

“We need to stick to farming,” he said, stating that agriculture is directly connected to food, nutrition, health and environment of 52 percent of Indian population. “Villages have become old-age homes as youth move out in search of mobility. With pride and profit as ‘agri-preneurs’, why would they go to cities?” he said, delivering the inaugural address at the two-day Global Agri-business Incubation Conference at Icrisat (International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics) here today.

Supporting the agri-business incubation set-up started by Icrisat, he said there were 10 such centres working in five universities in varied agricultural conditions in the country. These have facilitated commercialisation of 44 innovative technologies so far, he said, and called for continuous dialogue between scientists and farmers on an level footing.

The next paradigm in the farm sector was a move from 'primary' to 'secondary' agriculture, which involves steps beyond harvest and value addition to the produce. He said ICAR would create an agri innovation foundation by the end of this year to provide a platform to enable faster spread of innovations and connectivity to markets. In keeping with this, ICAR would modify its National Agricultural Innovation Project to a National Agriculture Entrepreneurship Project.

Pointing out the trend of growing number of women in agriculture, Ayyappan said 36 percent of the 35,000 students in agricultural universities were women and that it was growing. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, it would provide for facilities like creche for women workers in the farm sector.

Explaining the rationale behind agri-business incubation, Icrisat director general William D Dar said the conventional channels of commercialisation through national systems were not enough. The agri-business incubation, conceptualised by the Department of Science and Technology, started with six seed companies in 2000 and now had 40 partners, he said.

The incubation system has so far commercialised 44 technologies through 180 business ventures directly employing close to 1,000 people and has seen a total investment of $18 million, he said. The two-day meet of the Network of Agri-business Incubators would provide a networking forum for investors, innovators and other stakeholders and a platform for sharing experiences and ideas, Dar said.