Production of disease free quality planting material is a major constrain in potato cultivation

Production of disease free quality planting material is a major constrain in potato cultivation and country needs large quantity of good quality potato seed- Shri Radha Mohan Singh

At present level of farm management practices we are actually able to harvest only 60.8% of the achievable yield- Shri Singh

Production of Potato is 48.0 million tonnes from an area of 20.8 million ha during 2014-15

India the second largest potato producer in the world after China

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh today inaugurate Potato Technology Center, Shamgarh ,Karnal, Haryana. On the occasion the Minister said that production of disease free quality planting material is a major constrain in potato cultivation and country needs large quantity of good quality potato seed. Presently, new techniques have been standardized especially for production of micro tubers through tissue culture techniques to cater to the need of seed potato.The opening of ‘Potato Technology Centre’ at Karnal will not only come in a big way to cater to the demand of large quantity of disease free planting material at a time but will also help in introduction of new varieties. It will certainly boost production and productivity of farmers and processing industries of Haryana as well as neighboring states.

Shri Singh said that in our daily life we eat potatoes almost every day and have been used as food for more than 10000 years. Potato in India has still to transform from simply a vegetable supplement to serious food security option. Ability of potato to produce highest nutrition and dry matter on per unit area and time basis, among major food crops, it is the crop to address future global food security and poverty alleviation.

Agriculture Minister said that as we know, potatoes are rich in protein and vitamin B group with high content which can help to enhance the physical conditions and improve the memory ability and clear thoughts. As a result, to eat potatoes regularly not only makes us healthy, but also make us maintain young and smart.

Shri Singh informed that the current share of potato to agricultural GDP is 2.86% from 1.32% cultivable area. On the contrary, the two principal food crops, rice and wheat, contribute 18.25% and 8.22% of agricultural GDP, respectively from 31.19 and 20.56% cultivable area, respectively (FAOSTAT). It indicated that contribution of potato in agricultural GDP from unit area of cultivable land is about 3.7 times higher than rice and 5.4 times higher than wheat

Shri Singh further said that rising number of working couples, rapid rate of urbanization, enhanced tendency of eating out of home, higher disposable income levels of people and important place of potato in fast food items, create an ideal situation for enormous expansion of potato consumption in the near and distant future. Estimated domestic demand of potatoes in India is 55 million t during 2025 and 122 million t during 2050. Demand for processing quality potatoes will increase from current level of 2.7 million t to 6 and 25 million t in the year 2025 and 2050, respectively. On similar lines, the food demand for fresh potatoes will increase from the current 24 million t to 38 and 78 million t during 2025 and 2050. Although, the demand for potato seed will grow nearly 2.1 time (2.96 to 6.1 million t) by the year 2050, yet, highly concerted efforts needs to be directed towards providing desirable quality seed potatoes to all farmers at remunerative prices.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said that at present level of farm management practices we are actually able to harvest only 60.8% of the achievable yield. However, there is enhanced emphasis on efficient dissemination of farm technologies and consequent improvement in farm management practices in the country, it is estimated that we would be able to harvest 80% of achievable yield

Shri Singh said that potato is always the front-runner when we take processing of agri-commodities into consideration. Analysis of past experience and pattern of Indian processing industry suggests that demand for processing quality potatoes over next 40 years will rise at the fastest pace for French fries (11.6%) followed by potato flakes/ powder (7.6%) and potato chips (4.5%). The actual demand for processing potatoes will rise from 2.8 million tonnes in 2010 to 25 million tonnes during the year 2050. At present, production of Potato is 48.0 million tonnes from an area of 20.8 million ha during 2014-15, thus making India the second largest potato producer in the world after China.

Establishment of First Horticulture University in Haryana at Karnal

Establishment of First Horticulture University in Haryana at Karnal will fulfill the long pending need of the people of the State- Shri Radha Mohan Singh

University is expected to help in improving productivity levels and to adopt appropriate crop diversification to suit the agro climatic conditions of the region- Shri Singh

Foundation Stone laying Ceremony of Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences, Karnal

            Union Agriculture and farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh today laid the Foundation stone of Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences  at Karnal, Haryana. On the occasion Shri Singh said that the establishment of first Horticulture University in Haryana will fulfill the long pending need of the people of the State. A full fledged horticultural university will cater the needs to support the gap between teaching, research and extension activities in the state and will establish the convergence and synergy todisseminate latest technology and horticulture education to our young generation, besides identifying strategies for further development.

Shri Singh said that on the Horticulture development, Haryana holds tremendous potential on account of its fertile lands, favorable climate and water resources. Farmers in Haryana have also started taking up horticulture crops as a separate viable economic activity.  Haryana has made a vision to make Modern Fruit and Vegetable Cultivation State and to give a boost to the growth of horticulture and also creation of market and post harvest infrastructure. Agriculture Minister expect that this shall also demonstrate significant improvement in production and productivity of horticultural crops to double the income of the farmers, and help in achieving self-sufficiency. This university is expected to help in improving productivity levels and to adopt appropriate crop diversification to suit the agro climatic conditions of the region.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said that Haryana is leader in adopting Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture programme and giving priority for protected cultivation and post Harvest management. The State leap forwarded to increase area under horticultural crops from 2.0 lakh hectare in the year 2002-03 to 4.5 lakh hectare during 2013-14 and production increases from 2.51 million tonnes to 6.30 millin tonnes during same period. State has planned to increase the area to 9.0 lakh hectare with production to 27 million tonnes in next decade.

Shri Singh said that this University will also act as a skill development centre to cater the larger demand for trained manpower in the production, post harvest and processing industries. There is a huge scope for agro-processing industries like mango, citrus, aonla, strawberry in fruits and pea, tomato, potato, carrots, garlic, onion in vegetables and mushroom. Shri Singh further said that due to its proximity to major markets like Delhi and tri-city of Chandigarh it offers an excellent marketing and export channels.

National Hydrology Project

National Hydrology Project

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval toImplementation of the National Hydrology Project.  It will be a central sector scheme with a total outlay of Rs. 3679.7674 crore.  This includes Rs.3,640 crore for National Hydrology Project (NHP) and Rs. 39.7674 crore for National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) to be taken up in two stages.  It also provides for establishment of NWIC as an independent organization under the control of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD&GR).

The NHP will help in gathering Hydro-meteorological data which will be stored and analysed on a real time basis and can be seamlessly accessed by any user at the State/District/village level.  The project envisages to cover the entire country as the earlier hydrology projects covered only 13 States.

The components of the proposal are:

a)             In Situ Hydromet Monitoring System and Hydromet Data Acquisition System.

b)             Setting up of National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC).

c)             Water Resources Operation and Management System

d)            Water Resources Institutions and Capacity Building

The NHP will result in the improvement of:

1.      Data storage, exchange, analysis and dissemination through National Water Informatics Centre.

2.      Lead time in flood forecast from 1 day to at least 3 days

3.      Mapping of flood inundation areas for use by the disaster management authorities

4.      Assessment of surface and ground water resources in a river basin for better planning & allocation for PMKSY and other schemes of Govt. of India

5.      Reservoir  operations  through   seasonal  yield   forecast,   drought  management, SCADA systems, etc.

6.      Design of SW & GW structures, hydropower units, interlinking of rivers, Smart Cities.

7.      Fulfilling the objectives of Digital India.

8.      People Centric approach:  The programme envisages ultimate aim for water management through scientific data collection, dissemination of information on water availability in all blocks of the country and establishing of National Water Information Centre.  The automated systems for Flood Forecasting is aimed to reduce water disaster ultimately helping vulnerable population.  It is people and farmer centric programme as information on water can help in predicting water availability and help farmers to plan their crops and other farm related activities.  Through this programme India would make a place among nations known for scientific endeavours.

Out of the total outlay of Rs. 3679.7674 crore, Rs.3,640 crore has been earmarked for National Hydrology Project  while Rs. 39.7674 crore has been kept aside for NWIC.   Out of the total outlay, fifty per cent of the amount that is Rs.1839.8837 crore, would be World Bank loan which would be repaid by Central Government. The remaining 50% that is Rs. 1839.8837 crore would be Central Assistance from the budgetary support. The entire World Bank's Loan component and Central assistance to the States and Central Organisations shall be passed on to them as Grants.

Elucidation on the impact of the Project:

a)      Development of real time flood forecasting and reservoir operations in a manner that does not result in sudden opening of gates which inundates the area down below;

b)      It will facilitate integrated water resource management by adopting river basin approach through collation and management of hydro-meteorological data.  This will also help in water resource assessment – as surface as well as ground water, for water resource planning, prioritize its allocations and its consumptive use for irrigation;

c)       It will help in providing real time information on a dynamic basis to the farmers about the ground water position for them to accordingly plan their cropping pattern;

d)     This will also help in promoting efficient and equitable use of water particularly of ground water at the village level;

e)      This will also provide information on quality of water

Background

The National Hydrology Project (NHP) is intended for setting up of a system for timely and reliable water resources data acquisition, storage, collation and management. It will also provide tools/systems for informed decision making through Decision Support Systems (DSS) for water resources assessment, flood management, reservoir operations, drought management, etc. NHP also seeks to build capacity of the State and Central sector organisations in water resources management through the use of Information Systems and adoption of State-of-the-art technologies like Remote Sensing.

The MoWR, RD&GR has adopted a paradigm shift in the management of water resources of the country by adopting a river basin approach, In order to efficiently use and manage water resources of the country; adequacy of data, resource assessment, decision support systems, etc. are a prerequisite for allocation and prioritization of this fast depleting resource.

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Pearly nautilus may get extra protection

The CITES authorities have sought the views of their Indian counterparts for determining the qualification of the species.

Nautilus pompilinus, the pelagic marine mollusc with one of the oldest animal lineages on the planet, may get an extra global legal protection soon.

The palm-sized adult animal, which could live up to 20 years in ocean depths, may soon be included in the Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna (CITES). The CITES authorities have sought the views of their Indian counterparts for determining the qualification of the species.

Marine fisheries experts have recommended that the species shall be listed considering the rarity of the animal and its poor regeneration capacity. The species is commonly known as pearly nautilus considering the pearly nacre on its external shell. The animal has a chambered shell with limited mobility. It’s commonly found in ocean depths of 700 metres, explained a scientific evaluation paper.

Earlier researches have pointed out that the “low egg number, late maturity, long gestation and long life span of the Nautilus make the species vulnerable.” The shell of the animal is traded widely across the world though there is no targeted fishery in India. However, there are reports of some targeted catch from Indonesia and Philippines. At times, marine researchers have reported the accidental catch of the bright orange banded species during mid-water trawling, pointed out a researcher.

The species has been accorded legal protection by including it in the Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The hunting or possession of the animals included in the Schedule is a punishable offence in the country. Some animals, which die a natural death may float in water and land in shores, which are picked up by collectors. The fancy look and the shiny lustre make it a collector’s item. The shells are believed to be fetch high price in trade. There are reports of the shells, which are washed ashore, collected and clandestinely traded.

The species has relatively small population and are vulnerable to fisheries and also anthropogenic activities. Yet, no scientific data is available on its population in India. The species has not been currently assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, says a scientific report.

The inclusion of the animal in the CITES list would ensure a global regulation in its trade. It would also extend the legal cover globally for the species, which is considered as rare link to the evolutionary history of animals, he said.

How MCLR will affect your home loan

For new borrowers, home loan rates will be automatically reset either yearly or every six months

State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest lender, was the first to announce the new marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR), on 1 April 2016. This is the new benchmark lending rate and it replaces the base rate for new borrowers. SBI has introduced seven MCLRs for periods ranging between overnight and three years. While MCLR will be the benchmark rate for new borrowers, for existing borrowers, the base rate regime will continue.

Here’s what the new rate means, and how it affects you.

What is MCLR?

MCLR is the new benchmark lending rate at which banks will now lend to new borrowers. Till 31 March 2016, banks used the base rate as the benchmark rate to lend.

MCLR is built on four components—marginal cost of funds, negative carry on account of cash reserve ratio (CRR), operating costs and tenor premium.

Marginal cost of funds is the marginal cost of borrowing and return on net worth for banks. The operating cost includes cost of providing the loan product including cost of raising funds. Tenor premium arises from loan commitments with longer tenors. According to brokerage and investment group CLSA, the source of funding for a bank is based on actual domestic funding mix. MCLR is closely linked to the actual deposit rates.

“If one-year term deposit is at 7.50%. Then one-year MCLR will be 7.50% plus CRR, operation cost and tenor premium,” said Ashutosh Khajuria, executive director, Federal Bank Ltd.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to set at least five MCLR rates—overnight, one month, three month, six month and one year. Besides these, banks are free to set rates for longer durations as well. The rates have to be reviewed on a monthly basis, but banks that don’t have the capacity to do monthly reviews on can do so quarterly till March 2017.

MCLR-linked loans will be reset for a maximum of one year. So, you will have a new interest rate on your home loan at a pre-decided time and for a maximum period of one year.

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Banks are also allowed to determine a spread that is higher than MCLR. Depending on your credit profile, banks will decide this. “The spread will be decided based on credit risk and tenor. For credit risk, in case of an individual borrower, we will look at Cibil rating. Depending on the credit worthiness of the customer, we will set the spread above MCLR. Currently, the spread is in the range of 25-60 basis points (bps) for home loans,” K.V.S. Manian, president-corporate, institutional and investment banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Not all loans will come under this rate. For instance, loans covered by government schemes where banks have to charge interest rates as per the scheme are exempted from being linked to MCLR as the benchmark for determining interest rate.

How does it work?

If you plan to take a floating rate home loan, your loan will now be linked to MCLR. Most banks have announced five to seven rates. For home loans, banks will either use the six-month MCLR or the one-year MCLR as the benchmark rate. Therefore, from now, all floating rate loan agreements will have a reset clause at a pre-specified interval. “Banks can decide on the tenor that they want to use to reset for longer-term loans such as home loans. We have decided to reset home loan interest rates at a six-month frequency. Hence, the six-month MCLR will be applicable for home loans,” said Manian. Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced 9.40% as its six-month MCLR and the home loan will be reset every six months in case of any changes in MCLR. If you have a home loan, the bank will reset the rate automatically at a pre-specified date.

However, banks such as SBI and ICICI Bank Ltd have set one-year MCLR as the benchmark for home loans. For instance, for salaried individuals, ICICI Bank has set a floating rate home loan at one-year MCLR of 9.20% with a spread of 25 bps for loans of up to Rs.5 crore. So, the interest rate will be 9.45%. The bank’s website stated that this will be valid till 30 April 2016. Though the MCLR is reviewed monthly, your home loan will be reset every year automatically, depending on the agreement with the bank. For instance, if you take a Rs.30-lakh loan on 1 April this year, one-year MCLR is at 9.20% and spread on it is 25 bps, your home loan will be 9.45%. You will pay instalments at this rate for the next one year. If on 1 April 2017, one-year MCLR gets revised to 9.15%, your home loan interest rate will get reset at 9.40% (MCLR of 9.15% plus spread of 25 bps). Accordingly, your instalment or loan tenor may change.

According to a report by Ambit Capital Pvt. Ltd, RBI gave banks the provision of a reset period to partly smoothen the impact of changing rates on banks’ margins (as deposits re-price with a lag, reset periods allow bank to adjust the timing of loan pricing). As the concept of reset period contravenes with the RBI’s objective of quick transmission of monetary policy, the RBI has capped reset period at one year.

Though retail loans are likely to be set at six months to one-year MCLR tenors, corporate loans may be set at shorter tenors. “Due to complexity in the retail product, a pre-specified reset has been decided. When it comes to corporate loans, there is a possibility to negotiate across the multiple sets of rates that are available,” said Manian.

Can an existing borrower who is on a base rate regime move to MCLR? According to RBI, existing loans and credit limits linked to base rate will continue till repayment or renewal, and banks will have to continue publishing base rates as well. Existing borrowers can move to MCLR-linked loans at mutually acceptable terms and these loans will not be treated as foreclosure of existing facility.

What you should know

The MCLR-linked home loan rate is currently marginally lower than a base rate-linked loan. For instance, SBI was offering home loans between 9.50% and 9.55% till 31 March. From 1 April, the rate is lower by 10 bps and ranges between 9.40% and 9.45%.

According to the Ambit report, new MCLRs are not so different from base rates: “...even if benchmark rates would have fallen, the effective loan pricing for borrowers might not have changed much. This is because banks could change spreads over benchmark rates,” the report noted.

Home loan rates will now depend on the bank’s choice of reset period—six-month or one-year MCLR rate and spread rather than one common base rate and spread. According to a Centrum Broking Ltd report, while MCLR is intended to ensure effective policy transmission, past studies, including references to global banks, suggest limited rate transmission to end-user. Hence, its effectiveness in the longer run will need to be assessed, the report noted.

Existing borrowers should wait for the new system of calculation to settle before deciding to switch loans

The changing pattern of healthcare in India

The government’s allocation to healthcare as a percentage of GDP has fallen to 1.05% in 2015-16 from 1.47% in 1986-87

The evolution of healthcare in India over the past 25 years has been a mixed bag. While key health metrics such as the infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) have come down substantially, healthcare expenses have shot up—a direct fallout of lower public health spending. The government’s allocation to healthcare as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen to 1.05% in 2015-16 from 1.47% in 1986-87.

IMR has fallen to 41 per 1,000 live births in 2013 from 88 in 1990, according to a United Nations report ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality’ released in 2015. Similarly, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released in 2014, MMR in India has declined from 560 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 190 in 2013.

“Evidence from the ground supports this. We have made gains in maternal and child health by establishing public health systems in rural areas. The investments made through National Rural Health Mission (now under National Health Mission) have paid dividends in this area,” said Vandana Prasad, national convener, Public Health Resource Network and formerly with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

But India has failed its citizenry when it comes to expenses on healthcare. Health surveys by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) show that since the 1990s, the dependence of Indians on private healthcare has risen sharply. In 1986-87, 60% of people availed of public health services and the rest private healthcare, according to the 42nd NSSO report. But by 2014, this trend was reversed, with only 41% availing of public healthcare, according to the 71st NSSO report released last year. The decline in dependence on public healthcare is sharper in urban areas—from 60% in 1986-87 to almost 32% in 2014.

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The NSSO rounds also show a corresponding three-fold increase in out-of-pocket expenditure or private health expenses of households. People spent Rs.3,561 per hospitalization in 1995-96, according to the 52nd NSSO report. It increased toRs.18,268 in 2014.

“Out-of-pocket expenditure is the main cause of worry for the patients. A number of people fall from above poverty line (APL) category to below poverty line (BPL) category because of this. Nearly 70% of out-of-pocket expenditure is due to medicines. That has to be addressed,” said Rajesh Kumar, head of the department of community medicine and school of public health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

The rise in out-of-pocket expenditure is a direct outcome of the fall in the government’s budgetary support to healthcare.

“By the end of 1980s, public health spending had increased to 1.5% of India’s GDP. Since then, there was declining trend in public spending on health, which reached to only 0.6% of GDP in the 1990s. Since then, it has improved a little up to 1.2%, but nowhere close to the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) target of 2.5% of GDP,” said Ravi Duggal, health economist and country coordinator of non-profit International Budget Partnership. “What this under-financing did was to reduce the credibility of public health institutions among general people. And doctors and nurses left the public health system, creating huge vacancies in primary health centres and public hospitals,” he added.

The increasing burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, too, is a challenge. While diarrhoea, respiratory infections and pre-term birth complications continue to affect India, lifestyle diseases such as heart diseases, stroke, pulmonary diseases and diabetes are now leading causes of premature death. Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes account for nearly 60% of all deaths in India, according to the WHO.

The economic burden of these lifestyle diseases accounts for about 40% of all hospital stays and roughly 35% of all recorded outpatient visits, according to a 2014 report by the World Economic Forum and Harvard School of Public Health. The report further added that the probability of dying during the most productive years—between 30 and 70—from one of the four main non-communicable diseases is a staggering 26%.