The Centre has not undertaken any assessment on agricultural land affected by degradation and its impact on crop productivity. However, according to the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India (2021) published by the Space Applications Centre (ISRO), an area of 0.638 million ha is manmade desertification and land degradation in the country as on 2018-19, Ramnath Thakur, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the Rajya Sabha.
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is promoting Crop Diversification Programme (CDP) under the Pradhan Mantri-Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana since 2013-14 in the original Green Revolution States of Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. The aim is to divert the area from water intensive paddy cultivation to less water intensive alternative crops such as shree anna, pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals etc. Under this programme, assistance is provided for alternative crop demonstrations, farm mechanisation and value addition, site-specific interventions and contingency activities related to awareness generation & capacity building. Under the scheme during the period 2020-21 to 2025-26, the area covered under crop demonstrations in district specific clusters in the three CDP implementing states of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh is 9,460 ha, 53,723 ha and 61,349 ha respectively, Thakur told the Rajya Sabha.
The FAME-II scheme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) was implemented from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2024. Under FAME-II scheme, there was no state-wise, district-wise or city-wise allocation or sanction of EV charging stations. The MHI disbursed financial support of Rs 898.37 crore for setting up of Electric Vehicle Public Charging Stations (EVPCS) on a pan-India basis including Maharashtra, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, Minister of State for Heavy Industries told the Rajya Sabha.
It is mandatory for all the domestic producers and importers of urea to supply 100 per cent Neem Coated Urea (NCU) since 2015 onwards. One of the primary benefits of Neem coating is that due to slow release, the consumption of NCU reduces as compared to normal urea, improving crop uptake, and reducing environmental losses. Research findings indicated that the average yield enhancement due to use of NCU is 8.25 per cent. Further, application of NCU significantly reduced nitrogen losses by about 10 per cent-15 per cent, Anupriya Patel, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers told the Lok Sabha.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report “India: Health of the Nation’s States” published in 2017, the proportion of incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease have increased in India from 30.5 per cent in 1990 to 55.4 per cent in 2016, Prataprao Jadhav, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the Lok Sabha.
The Charter of Gender Budget Cells was issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. It lays down guidelines for constitution, composition and functioning of Gender Budget Cells (GBC) in all ministries/departments. GBCs in ministries/departments are set up with the objective of influencing and effecting a change in the policies, programmes in a way that could tackle gender imbalances, promote gender equality and development; and ensure that public resources through the ministry’s budget are allocated and managed accordingly. According to available information, GBCs have been set up in 62 central ministries/departments and 35 state/UTs, Savitri Thakur, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development told the Lok Sabha.
The government has taken cognisance of the fact that Ladakh possesses significant potential for the cultivation of high-altitude medicinal plants such as Seabuckthorn, Rhodiola, Artemisia and Aconitum. National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) is implementing Central Sector Scheme (CSS) on “Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants” throughout the country. The scheme is aimed at providing project based support for the different activities, Prataprao Jadhav, Minister of State (IC) of the Union Ministry of Ayush told the Lok Sabha.
The government is aware of the reported cases of Nipah virus disease in the states of West Bengal and Kerala. During 2026, West Bengal reported two laboratory-confirmed cases of Nipah virus disease, including one death, while Kerala reported one laboratory-confirmed case. All reported cases were promptly investigated by the respective state governments with technical support from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). National Joint Outbreak Response Teams (NJORTs) were deployed to both West Bengal and Kerala to support epidemiological investigations, strengthen surveillance, facilitate contact tracing, and assist the States in implementing appropriate public health measures for containment of the outbreaks, Jadhav told the Lok Sabha.