Has there been any way to avoid this trade-off?
One thing that scientists at the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana have done is breed shorter-duration paddy varieties. These take between 13 and 37 days less time to mature than Pusa-44, while yielding almost the same (see table 2). PR-126, a variety released in 2017, has a mere 123 days duration (inclusive of 30 days post nursery-raising) and its yield is 30 quintals per acre.
“In 2012, 39% of Punjab’s non-basmati paddy area was under Pusa-44. That was down to 20% this year, while the share of shorter-duration varieties, mainly PR-121 and PR-126, has crossed 71%. Crop residue burning incidents has been concentrated in the Malwa districts of Sangrur, Mansa, Barnala, Moga, Bathinda and Muktsar, where 40-60% area is still under Pusa-44 and other long-duration varieties,” says G.S. Mangat, Head, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, PAU.
“Currently, farmers in Punjab can sell their crop in government
mandis and even outside the government mandi to a private player, but the new law will restrict their sale only to private players,” he said, adding that the Bill does not favour farmers or give them freedom, and tips the scales in favour of private players.
Gurmail Singh of Jalandhar has been selling his seed potato and table potato to the traders of West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, UP and Andhra Pradesh for the past 15 years. “Nobody is stopping me from selling the crop in any mandi of the country and to anyone in the country so I am already enjoying this freedom. So what is new for me in these laws?” asked Gurmail Singh, who grows potatoes on over 100 acres of land, along with wheat and paddy which he sells in the government
Explained: Point-by-point, why farmers still oppose the Centre’s proposals on farm laws
Farmers protest: BKU (Dakuanda) general secretary Jagmohan Singh Patiala explains point-by-point why farmers are objecting to the Centre s offer. December 16, 2020 8:53:00 am
At the protest Singhu border where farmers are protesting against the farm laws, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)
Farmer unions lost no time in rejecting the amendments proposed by the Union government to the current farm laws. BKU (Dakuanda) general secretary Jagmohan Singh Patiala explains point-by-point why farmers are objecting to Centre’s offer.
Centre’s proposal: State governments can impose fee/cess on the private mandis
In Punjab, men in khaki gun for green cover, with a little help from a Japanese technique
Though the concept is not new to the state, the government departments are doing it together for the first time without any help from the private companies working in this field. December 14, 2020 12:11:19 pm
Mansa SSP Surender Lamba (third from right) and horticulture officer Vipesh Garg (fourth from right) planting tree saplings at an upcoming Miyawaki jungle at Police Lines
Its routine law and order duties apart, the Punjab Police has now taken up another job – one that is bound to leave the state richer in greenery while helping offset the carbon emission. The Mansa unit of the state police is now growing ‘Miyawaki Forests’, a well known Japanese technique through which dense forests are grown in small plots of land, particularly in urban areas, in a relatively shorter period of time.
Farm unions assert: Ready to protest through PM’s entire term, won’t let divisive forces succeed
“Before coming to Delhi under our ‘Dilli Chalo’ movement, we were prepared for a long protest that is why we brought six months ration with us and when it will be over our men in Punjab will bring more,” said Satnam Singh Sahni, the general secretary of BKU (Doaba). Updated: December 15, 2020 6:15:40 pm
Experts said that while even negative forces would try to ride piggy back on such a popular movement to push their agenda, farmers so far have done to keep such forces at arm’s length and not giving them stage time. (Representational)