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  • 14 national water projects named

    The Central Government has declared 14 water resources projects, including two each in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and three in Himachal Pradesh, as National Projects. It is proposed to provide 90 per cent project cost of irrigation and drinking water component of the project as Central Grant after techno-economic appraisal of the detailed project report and investment clearance by the Planning Commission. The projects are Teesta Barrage (West Bengal), Shahpur Kandi (Punjab), Bursar (Jammu and Kashmir), 2nd Ravi Vyas Link (Punjab) Ujh multipurpose project (Jammu and Kashmir), Gyspa project (Himachal Pradesh), Lakhvar Vyasi (Uttranchal), Kishau (Himachal Pradesh /Uttranchal), Renuka (Himachal Pradesh), Noa-Dehang Dam Project (Arunachal Pradesh), Kulsi Dam Project (Assam), Upper Siang (Arunachal Pradesh), Gosikhurd (Maharashtra) and Ken Betwa (Madhya Pradesh).

  • Water use and misuse

    M. Rajivlochan Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice, Harmony by Ramaswamy R. Iyer. Sage. Pages 270. Rs 350. Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice, HarmonyOUR pot of water woes is brimming over. That does not seem surprising, according to Ramaswamy R. Iyer, since even though India is one of the few countries in the world which is blessed with an adequate quantity of water, there is a tremendous amount of mismanagement of water resources. While the country has over 4,000 billion cubic meters (bcm) of annual rainfall and almost 2000 bcm of river flow, the reality remains that we have had constant lamentations about the shortage of water and the destruction of fertile soil because of the overuse of water. According to experts, we have already poisoned most of our major rivers to the extent that their waters are not fit for drinking any more and very soon would be unfit for irrigation as well. Under such circumstances, Iyer suggests, it is important to remove ourselves from the hurly-burly of water conflicts, mull over our relationship with water a little more than it has been possible till now and then, serendipitously think of a constructive way out. That calls for wisdom which has been lacking till now in our management of water resources. In this thought-provoking book, Iyer quickly takes us through the various conflicts that have marked the use and misuse of water since Independence. He looks at the various demand-driven policies made by the government for the management of water. However, fulfilling the demand does not necessarily result in an efficient use of water. For a long time, the main focus of the government was to increase the amount of water for irrigation to increase food grain production. Today, over 80 per cent of the total water used in India is for agriculture. However, of the water available for irrigation, more than 60 per cent is wasted. India is one of the few countries in the world where the cities provide as much as 200 litres per capita per day of water. It goes without saying that most of it is wasted, used for cleaning toilets, washing cars and maintaining gardens. No wonder our fields and cities constantly starve for water and our states busy fighting over it. Karnataka battles Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra fights with Karnataka, Punjab has its sword drawn against Haryana and Madhya Pradesh is getting ready to battle both Utter Pradesh and Gujarat. The fights have become so intense that today even the Supreme Court is wary of pronouncing firmly on the judicious distribution of water resources lest it be drawn into an irresolvable conflict. While the state governments battle each other for water, they find it increasingly difficult to manage the supply to their own citizens. Hence they are trying to palm off the management of water resources to private parties in the hope that private ownership of water would ensure market rates being charged for the water use and correspondingly less wastage. Whether this would generate even more inequalities is a matter that the states are not willing to consider at the moment. All this suggests that we are completely lacking in water wisdom, insists Iyer. Hitherto we have left the matter of planning for water in the hands of experts. Engineers, planners and economists may be very well in providing suggestions on how best to go about using our water resources, but for every expert there seems to be an equal and opposite expert who under political pressure is willing to provide contrary advice equally strongly backed by scientific evidence. Hence, Iyer suggests, the need of the hour is to get out of the conundrums created by experts and apply some Gandhian thinking. First and foremost this means restraining our greed for more water and bringing about a change in the way that we think about water as a resource. The state needs to play the role of a trustee over this resource and the people have to be involved in preserving it and encouraged to live in harmony with nature and each other.

  • Opposition demands proper allocation of Yamuna waters

    The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Jagdish Mukhi, has written to Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz drawing his attention to the Capital's water woes and demanding proper allocation of the Yamuna waters. He has urged the Union Minister to convene a meeting of the Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh governments to discuss the issue of water sharing and to evolve a strategy to ensure that all States get their allocated share. Referring to the 1994 agreement on water sharing among Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, and the decision to construct a pucca canal for carrying water from Haryana to Delhi, the BJP leader said the Congress Government had failed to ensure timely construction of that canal. "The Delhi Government was directed to get the pucca Munak canal constructed, through which water would reach Delhi from Tajewala. It is a matter of concern that in spite of the lapse of 12 years the canal has not been constructed,' the letter stated. Pointing out that almost a third of Delhi is deprived of potable water today, Prof. Mukhi said the recent reduction in water supply had compounded the woes of the people. Cautioning that the ground water level in the Capital was fast depleting, Prof. Mukhi said at some places the level had reached a precarious stage. Seeking Prof. Soz's intervention, Prof. Mukhi said the Centre should find a solution to the water crisis in the Capital, which had become a perennial problem. The letter also referred to the flow of sewage into the Yamuna, which is making the process of river cleaning impossible despite a huge amount of money being spent on the cleaning works.

  • Cancer deaths in agricultural heartland

    Cancer deaths in agricultural heartland

    Indian state of Punjab is increasingly under focus for the increasingly incidence of cancer mortality as well as indiscriminate use of pesticides in agricultural practices. This study investigates cancer mortality, and its correlations with numerous variables, including demographic characteristics, cropping pattern and pesticide residues in soil and water.

  • Rice residue management: Farmer's perspective

    Rice is the most important Kharif crop of Punjab. With the increase in production of rice there is concomitant increase in the production of residue (rice straw), which is approximately 18.75 MT. About 80 percent of the rice residue it burnt in the fields, particularly after harvesting rice by combine harvesters.

  • Happy Seeder - An effort for rice residues management

    Rice-wheat is a major crop rotation in the Indo-Gangetic region. Tillage is one of the major crop production operations and is an important contributor to the total cost of production. It is a common observation that direct tilling of any crop into combine-harvested rice stubbles from a reasonable rice yield is not possible without any prior burning or removal of straw.

  • Trace gases emission from field burning of crop residues

    Harvesting a crop generates a huge amount of crop residue. Uttar Pradesh tops the list of the Crop Residue Producing States followed by Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and so on. A large part of this crop residue is burnt in the open fields since the farmers do not have any worthwhile use of this waste. Burning of residues give rise to emissions of aerosols, major gases and trace gases.

  • State chosen for Bamboo Mission

    Punjab has chosen as a nodal state by the Union Agriculture Ministry to implement the National Bamboo Mission Programme for promoting cultivation, value addition, processing and marketing of bamboo crop. Tikshan Sud, forests and wildlife preservation minister said to promote diversification of land use, Punjab had submitted a proposal to the union government for promoting cultivation, value addition, processing and marketing of bamboo.

  • $1.5b dam: China at work in PoK

    Beijing: Two Chinese companies

  • Rs 353-cr health plan proposed

    A meeting of the executive committee, State Health Society, under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was held here today under the chairmanship of Vijay Kain, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Punjab, to discuss the State Programme Implementation Plan for 2008-09. A Rs 353-crore plan was proposed by the committee. Kain said the plan would be submitted to the Government of India for approval by director, NRHM Punjab, T.R. Sarangal on February 28.

  • Wheat output may touch record level of over 76 MT

    The country may harvest over 76 million tonne of wheat this season, if the current weather conditions remain favourable for the next three weeks, a top official said. "If weather conditions remain favourable, wheat production may touch the record level,' Union agriculture secretary PK Mishra told reporters. India recorded the highest production of 76.37 million tonne of wheat in 1999-2000. Mishra, said the weather conditions till the third week of March is very crucial for wheat, which requires a mean temperature of 20 degree Celsius. Except in Haryana, the mean temperature in most of the wheat growing states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan is normal for the crop, agriculture commissioner NB Sing said. The temperature at some places in Haryana had gone up to 29 degree Celsius for two days last week, which may impact the wheat crop, Singh added. Overall, the prospect of wheat output is very good, the agriculture secretary said. "We have been monitoring the temperature in the wheat growing areas. It is within the normal, prescribed for wheat crop, although the temperature has increased from what it was two weeks earlier.' "It will be not less than 3% when the final figures come,' Mishra said.

  • Cleaning up canals

    Punjab takes up the challenge THE repair of a canal normally would not have attracted much notice but for the fact that it is for the first time since Independence that a government in Punjab has undertaken to revamp the dilapidated canal system. The embankments along a 25-km stretch of the Patiala feeder, which irrigates large parts of Patiala, Sangrur and Mansa districts, have been strengthened and 4-5 feet of silt has been removed from its bed within just three weeks at a reduced cost of Rs 25 crore. It shows that collective effort and can-do attitude with right motivation from the top can work wonders. The canal network in Punjab has been in bad shape for long. Because of high levels of silt accumulating over the years and broken embankments, the water supply in the canals has sharply reduced. As a result, the area under canal irrigation has come down from 42 per cent in 1990-91 to 28 per cent now. The farmers at the tail-end of the canals are the worst sufferers. They have to depend more on tubewells, particularly in view of the increased cultivation of paddy. Besides, seepage from the ill-maintained canals has aggravated the problem of water-logging in the Malwa region. Political posturing and social conflicts over water issues notwithstanding, not much has been done either in Punjab or Haryana to preserve the existing water resources. Lack of funds due to Punjab's precarious financial condition and the non-levy of user-charges due to policies of appeasement have hit canal maintenance work. Realising the gravity of the situation, the Punjab government has formulated a Rs 3,243-crore plan to repair canals, check water-logging, control floods and recharge ground water. This is commendable, but is not enough. A mass movement is required to conserve and revive water resources, harvest rainwater and encourage the use of sprinklers and drip irrigation to overcome water shortages in the long run.

  • Sorry, no additional water, Punjab to Rajasthan

    The Punjab government has rejected the Rajasthan government's demand to supply 20,000 cusecs of canal water over and above the existing use of the water for irrigation purpose through the Rajasthan feeder being made by it. Sources said Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had written to Parkash Singh Badal for additional supply of canal water during February and March for the rabi crop. Even the Rajasthan Irrigation Department had contacted the Punjab government in this regard. However, the sources said the Punjab government had decided to write back to the Rajasthan government that it could not spare additional water. Punjab, in fact, itself was facing problem to meet its irrigation requirements through canal water in absence of adequate rainfall in the region during this winter. Except light rainfall near the Shivalik foothills, there was no rainfall in the countryside. More over, the level of water is also low in the various dams. During the summer availability of water from the dams for irrigation would be less this year. Keeping in view these circumstances, the state government had decided to refuse the additional water. Rajasthan had been alleging for the past several years that Punjab had been using its unutilised share and it should be compensated for that. However, Punjab had been saying that the flow of water in the rivers had come down by 3 MAF over the years. Even the BBMB and the Central Water Commission (CWC) was aware of this fact. Meanwhile, the Punjab government had also decided to oppose the second barrage on the Ravi-Beas waters. Sources said the state government would seek the CWC report prepared with regard to the leakage of water to Pakistan from the river water systems. There were reports that the CWC had found that there was no such huge leakage of water from the river systems to Pakistan. Hence there was no need to construct the second barrage. Moreover, Punjab had not been taken into confidence before taking a decision regarding the barrage by the Union government. As Punjab was a host riparian state, the Union government could not execute any barrage like project without its consent. The sources said the Haryana government had given a concept paper to the CWC for constructing the barrage.

  • In Punjab, two lakh trees face axe

    More than a couple of lakh trees could be axed in the ecologically fragile Kandi area of the state with the Union Government giving Punjab the freedom to cut down five species of trees from cultivated fields in this area without taking any permission. Earlier, farmers from 400-odd villages in this area had to take permits to cut trees once in 10 years. Now, the Government has been given the licence to issue these permits every five years. According to the new felling policy of the state Government approved by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the felling and sale of poplar, eucalyptus, bamboo, babul and mulberry trees from cultivated fields will no longer require any permission. All that the owner will have to do is to intimate the forest range officer and DFO concerned at least 15 days prior to the felling and obtain a receipt of this communication. The felling cycle, too, has been reduced from 10 years to five. Experts maintain that this will result in the felling of over one lakh trees in the light of the fact that there was virtually no tree cutting in many villages for over 19 years now. SK Sherawat, Conservator (Central), Northern Regional Office, Ministry of Environment and Forests, said they had reduced the cycle to address the growing resentment amongst people who could not sell their own produce (trees) on their land. All praise for this relief, Chief Conservator of Forests (Hills), Punjab, Jatindra Sharma said: "By reducing the felling cycle, we also hope to encourage villagers to grow more trees.' Flaying apprehensions about indiscriminate axing of trees, Sharma said the stringent marking rules would ensure that only 5 to 7 per cent of the trees were marked for felling. R C Nayar, Secretary of Forests, Punjab, also shrugged off the 1-lakh tree count and said it was cubic feet wood that counted and not trees as some were dead and had no wood. The new forest management policy has also made some changes in the lantana harvest rules wherein this deadly weed can be cut and stubbed in a careful manner besides being harvested for use instead of being burnt as earlier.

  • Malwa region agriculturists rue dry canals

    Dry irrigation canals in the Malwa heartland of Punjab have made agriculturists weep. Most of the canals and tributaries in the area have been lying dry and causing drinking water crisis for the past two months, farmers cry. The farmers also lament that they are forced to buy drinking water as the filtration tanks are almost dry. Karnail Singh of Jajjal village said: "It is unfortunate that residents of this area in Punjab, known as the land of five major rivers of the country, are now quenching their thirst by buying water from neighbouring Haryana.' Another resident of the area Gurmail Singh said a tractor owner of Takhatmal village was selling 5,000 litres tank of water to them for Rs 450. The farmers cry that their crops will be affected in case steps are not taken to immediately release water in the canals. The canal water is the main source of drinking water in many of the villages in the area. They point out that the underground water in the area is not fit for consumption because of heavy content of pesticides. The water being procured through private sources is unfiltered that lead to many diseases. The filtration plant constructed with foreign knowhow near Talwandi Sabo township is also lying dry. The small farmers in the adjoining Malkana, Gyana and Lalewal villages are also facing acute shortage of drinking water. Gurmail Singh said residents of Jajjal village did not get adequate supply of drinking water even during normal times as no overhead tank had been built by the Water and Sewerage Board in the area. The water pumped by the filtration plant did not reach the tail-end residents, he added.

  • Farmers told to reduce area under paddy

    The Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, and the Farm Advisory Service Scheme (FASS), Sangrur, organised a convention on "Alternative cropping systems to rice-wheat in saving of irrigation water' at Majhi village near Bhawanigarh, under the leadership of Dr Mandeep Singh, district extension specialist, Sangrur, yesterday. Dr Nachhattar Singh Malhi, director, Extension Education, PAU, was the chief guest. Dr Malhi called upon the farmers to reduce area under paddy to save Punjab from becoming a desert. He stressed on timely transplanting of paddy and cultivation of varieties especially PAU-201 and PR-118 to check receding underground water table. He suggested sowing of water-saving crops like groundnut, Bt cotton and maize etc as their irrigation requirement was less compared to paddy. He also motivated farmers to launch village-wise campaign for the eradication of weeds so that mealy bug could not harm cotton crop during the next kharif season. Dr Krishan Kumar Vashist, senior agronomist, PAU, said central Punjab with 400-800 mm rainfall and coarse textured soils was not fit for paddy cultivation. The local population was not rice eating. The alternative cropping systems to rice-wheat, therefore, could play a great role in saving water by replacing the area under paddy, he added. ADC (Development) Harnek Singh laid emphasis on kitchen gardening model and adoption of subsidiary occupations by farmers to augment farm income. Presiding over the function, Dr U.S. Walia, head, Department of Agronomy, PAU, stressed on diversification by bringing more area under pulses and oilseeds. Dr A.S. Sohi, Dr Surjeet Singh, Dr G.S. Rattan, Dr T.S. Dhillon, and Dr Jagdish Grover, deputy director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kherri, also spoke. The FASS and the KVK held an exhibition for the farmers.

  • New hybrids to up silk output in north

    The Central Silk Board (CSB), the apex body of the Indian sericulture industry, is involved in developing new hybrids to improve bivoltine silk production in sub-tropical Northern India. Among northern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttaranchal are the traditional bivoltine silk producers in the region. Despite more potential for bivoltine silk in these states, their combined contribution remains low, when compared to other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. One of the major reasons for such a low production is lack of region-specific and acclimatised productive hybrids, CSB officials said. Currently,

  • Pesticide facts

    Even as the Union government is struggling to boost the country's agriculture extension system, pesticide and crop chemical manufacturers have joined hands with rural ngos to promote safe and judicious usage of pesticides among the farmers.

  • Punjab people deserve better health care (letter)

    AJ. Philip's survey of primary health centres in Punjab (Feb 4, 5 and 6) has brought out the pathetic neglect of the basic healthcare. The Bhor Committee (1943) has laid down the three-tier health setup for the country with the primary health centre as the pivot for providing preventive and curative services at the grassroots level. District hospitals and specialised higher medical institutions were to provide the secondary and tertiary care service. Instead of strengthening the PHCs and district hospitals with adequate staff, equipment and drugs, the government continues to hoodwink the public by announcing new schemes which hardly make any impact. People, especially the poor, continue to be denied the basic healthcare as enshrined in the Constitution. No doubt, Punjab is lagging behind in social service indices, of which health services is an important segment compared with many other states. Having closely observed the working of PHCs in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, I feel that the system is best for the country if appropriate steps are taken to strengthen it and plug the loopholes in its working. Instead of wasting financial and human resources in unproductive activities like realty development, it would be better to improve the existing peripheral health services to provide succour to the suffering rural folks of the state. Brig H. S. SANDHU (retd), Panchkula

  • Planning Commission asks Punjab to streamline power supply to farmers

    The Planning Commission on Tuesday suggested a slew of measures to reform Punjab's power sector, including charging differential peak and non-peak tariffs for commercial users in the state. At a meeting to finalise the state's Annual Plan for 2008-09 on Tuesday, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal discussed at length the issues concerning the power sector with Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

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