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Parliament was informed of major updates on rural employment funds, crop damage, women workers in agriculture, and satellite-based monitoring.
Maharashtra reported extensive losses due to floods and heavy rains in 2025.
Kerala recorded significant yield losses in arecanut due to leaf spot disease.
Rajya Sabha discussions highlighted progress under PM-KUSUM and growth in non-fossil fuel power capacity.
The government confirmed DEG contamination in a cough syrup linked to multiple child deaths in Madhya Pradesh.
Health budget allocations have more than doubled since 2017-18, the Centre told the House.
Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), in the current financial year 2025–26 (as on November 26, 2025), Rs 68,393.67 crore has been released to the states/Union Territories, which includes Rs 57,853.62 crore for the wage component and Rs 10,540.05 crore for Material and Administration expenses, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister of rural development, told the Lok Sabha.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs does not centrally maintain data regarding loss of life and property caused by any calamity, Nityanand Rai, Union minister of state for home affairs, told the Lok Sabha.
However, as reported by the government of Maharashtra, 224 human lives and 599 livestock have been lost and 3,598 houses and 7.54 million hectares of cropped area have been damaged as on November 26, 2025 due to floods and heavy rains during 2025.
The government of Kerala has constituted a task force committee to analyse the situation of arecanut cultivation in Kasaragod district, with Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod (ICAR-CPCRI) as a member, Chouhan told the Lok Sabha. The team visited different parts of Kasaragod and estimated a yield loss ranging from 5 per cent to 20 per cent due to leaf spot disease.
The Centre is implementing several schemes for farmers, including women farmers, according to existing eligibility rules, Ram Nath Thakur, Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, told the Lok Sabha. The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the eShram portal, and as on 25 November 25, 2025, more than 162.5 million workers from agriculture and allied sectors are registered on the portal, including over 8.04 crore women workers.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2023-24, 76.9 per cent of women in rural areas, 12.3 per cent of women in urban areas, and 64.4 per cent of the overall population are employed in the agriculture sector.
Under the FASAL programme, the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre generates satellite-based pre-harvest crop production estimates for 11 major crops (paddy, wheat, jute, cotton, sugarcane, soybean, tur, gram, mustard, lentil and rabi sorghum), Thakur told the Lok Sabha. Multispectral and microwave satellite data are used for crop mapping, while satellite-based indices and weather data are used for yield estimation through weather-based and remote-sensing models. The FASAL programme covers 20 states and 557 districts.
As on October 31, 2025, a total of 9,466 megawatts has been installed under all components of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme, Shripad Yesso Naik, Union minister of state for new & renewable energy and power, told the Rajya Sabha. Funds under the scheme are released based on demand, progress reported by State Implementing Agencies, and provisions of the guidelines. Against the demand received from the states, Rs 7,089 crore has been released under the scheme till October 31, 2025.
As on October 31, 2025, a total of 259.42 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based electricity capacity has been installed in India, Naik told the rajya Sabha. This includes 129.92 GW solar power, 53.60 GW wind power, 11.61 GW bio-power, 55.51 GW hydro power and 8.78 GW nuclear power capacity. This accounts for 51.37 per cent of the total installed electricity capacity of 505.02 GW as on October 31, 2025.
Following reports of a cluster of child deaths in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, a central team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, National Institute of Virology and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation visited Chhindwara and Nagpur to investigate the cases, Anupriya Patel, Union minister of state for health and family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha.
Nineteen drug samples reportedly consumed by the affected children were collected for testing. Of these, 15 samples were found to be of standard quality, while four samples were declared “not of standard quality”. Chemical analysis found 46.28 per cent weight per volume of diethylene glycol in syrup Coldrif (Batch no. SR-13), manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceutical, Tamil Nadu, and consumed by the deceased children.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has advised states to prioritise allocations to the health sector and increase their health budgets to at least 8 per cent of the total state budget, in line with national goals, Prataprao Jadhav, Union minister of state for health & family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha.
Public health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product was 1.35 per cent in 2019-20, 1.60 per cent in 2020-21 and 1.84 per cent in 2021-22. The budget allocation for the department of health & family welfare has increased by 102.64 per cent, from Rs 47,353 crore in 2017-18 (budget estimate) to Rs 95,957.87 crore in 2025-26 (budget estimate).