India recorded 2.2 million TB cases and 300,000 deaths in 2024 according to the World Health Organization’s Global TB Report 2025, Anupriya Patel, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the Rajya Sabha on December 9.
Since 2014-15, 256 million soil health cards have been generated/ distributed as on date across India. A sum of Rs 1,970 crore has been released under the scheme since its inception.
Some 93,781 farmer’s trainings, 680,000 demonstrations, 7,425 farmer’s melas/ campaigns on soil health card recommendations have been organised across India under the scheme, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, told the Lok Sabha.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is carrying out a research programme through the All India Network Programme on Natural Farming to develop a package of practices for natural farming.
The programme covers 16 states, involves 11 state agricultural universities, eight ICAR institutes/centres and one deemed to be university.
The research outcome shows measurable improvements in soil health indicators. Over 2-3 years, natural farming plots showed rising soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. For example, SOC increased from ~0.90 per cent to 1.15 per cent in Himalayan trials. Natural farming soils had significantly higher microbial counts and diversity indices than chemical-fed soils, Chouhan told the Lok Sabha.
Central Arid Zone Research Institute (ICAR-CAZRI), an Institute under ICAR, undertakes initiatives for the conservation, improvement, and sustainable use of traditional arid-region crops such as pearl millet, moth bean, cluster bean, grasses, medicinal plants, shrubs, and arid fruits.
As on November 30, 2025, ICAR and the National Gene Bank have undertaken measures to conserve, document, and reintroduce 100,086 extinct or endangered crop varieties which include 85,587 landrace varieties and 14,499 traditional cultivar varieties, Ramnath Thakur, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the Lok Sabha.
A total 1.31 million hectares of cropped area was affected due to hydro-meteorological disasters during 2024-25, Thakur told the Lok Sabha.
The PM E-DRIVE Scheme was notified on September 29, 2024. It has an allocation of Rs 4,391 crore for deployment of 14,028 e-buses, initially in nine cities with a population of more than four million - Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune. This aims to reduce the emissions by public transport. Under the PM E-DRIVE scheme, 4,500 e-buses have been allocated to Bengaluru, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, Minister of State for Heavy Industries told the Lok Sabha.
Lakhpati Didi is an initiative of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY¬NRLM) with the objective to empower and enable Self-Help Groups (SHG) Women to earn a minimum income of Rs 1 lakh per annum on a sustainable basis, for at least four agricultural seasons and/ or business cycles. This initiative is implemented across the states/Union territories including Karnataka, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Rural Development told the Lok Sabha.
India, with a coastline of 11,099 km, has immense potential for seaweed cultivation. The site identification and mapping are carried out by research institutes namely ICAR– Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and CSIR–Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI). As on date, a total of 384 potential sites covering a 24,707-ha area have been identified for seaweed cultivation across the coastal states/Union territories, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying told the Lok Sabha.
The share of renewable energy generation in India’s total electricity generation has increased from 17.20 per cent during 2014-15 to 22.06 per cent during 2024-25. Further, during the current financial year 2025-26 (up to October 2025), the share of renewable energy generation in the country’s total electricity generation is 28.26 per cent, Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for New & Renewable Energy and Power told the Rajya Sabha.