Governance

As told to Parliament: 75% cropland treated with chemical fertilisers

All that was discussed in the House through the day

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Tuesday 29 March 2022

As much as 75 per cent of all crop land (147.2 million hectares) was treated with at least one chemical fertiliser, Bhagwanth Khuba, Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers, told the Rajya Sabha March 29, 2022. 

At present, 1.19 million farmers are practicing organic farming under the Participatory Guarantee System and 1.6 million are registered in TraceNet under third party certification, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, told the Lok Sabha.

No data on consumption of crops produced with the use of chemical fertilizers is maintained, Khuba said.

96% biogas plants operational

A total of 249 waste-to-energy plants, 819 biomass power plants and 5 million small biogas plants have been set up in the country to generate electricity / biogas / bio-compressed natural gas, RK Singh, Union minister of power and new and renewable energy, told the Rajya Sabha. 

Around 96 per cent of the biogas plants in the country were found to be functional, the minister added. 

Cancer incidence in India much lower than China, USA

In 2020, India recorded 1.4 million cancer cases, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union minister of state for health and family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha. He was quoting from the National Cancer Registry Programme Report, 2020 by the Indian Council of Medical Research. 

During the same time, cancer incidences in the United States of America and China were 2.3 million and 4.6 million respectively. 

India has an adult HIV prevalence of 0.22 per cent (0.23 per cent among males and 0.2 per cent among females), Pawar said citing the latest HIV estimates report (2020) of the Government of India.

The Centre is implementing Phase-V of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) to respond to the HIV / AIDS epidemic in the country, It has announced a total budgetary outlay of Rs 15,471.94 crore over the period of five years from 2021-2026. 

Under the programme, life-long free, high-quality anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines are provided to all People Living with HIV (PLHIV). 

As on February 2022, there are around 1.4 million PLHIV (729,000 male, 703,000 female and 5 thousand transgender) taking ARV medicines from 660 anti-retroviral treatment centres supported under the NACP, Pawar said.

Subsidies for almost 300,000 EVs

About 296,000 electric vehicles have been supported as on March 25, 2022 by way of demand incentives amounting to about Rs 1,100 crore, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Union minister of state for heavy industries, told the Lok Sabha.

The incentives are provided to t in the form of an upfront reduction in the purchase price of electric vehicles under the FAME-India scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India).  

The incentive is linked to battery capacity — Rs 10,000 / kilowatt-hour (KWh) for e-3W and e-4W, with a cap 20 per cent of the cost of the vehicle. Further, the incentive / subsidies for e-2W has been increased to Rs 15,000 / KWh from Rs 10,000 / KWh, with an increase in cap 40 per cent of the cost of vehicle June 11, 2021. 

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