All that was discussed in the House through the day
The three contentious farm laws namely The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; would not be implemented until further orders, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the Lok Sabha March 9, 2021.
Stubble burning
The department of agriculture was promoting and financially supporting the establishment of custom hiring centres in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha.
The government was doing this to make agricultural machines and equipment available to small and marginal farmers on a rental basis, according to their requirement for various agricultural operations.
Tomar also said the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was promoting the utilisation of rice or paddy straw / stubble / crop residue for production of biogas / bioCNG / power using waste-to-energy technologies like Biomethanation and thermal treatment.
Prohibited GM seeds
Narendra Singh Tomar denied in the Lok Sabha that hundreds of tonnes of prohibited genetically modified seeds were being imported for farming.
Tomar said his ministry had issued an advisory to state governments to curb the illegal movement of prohibited GM seeds and take stringent action against those producing / selling such seeds according to the extant provisions of the seed legislations.
Indigenous rice
The government was promoting indigenous varieties of rice through various programmes, Tomar told the Lok Sabha. Some 574 indigenous varieties of rice had been propagated and tested in more than 10,000 farmers’ fields, involving state agricultural universities, Krishi Vikas Kendras as well as non-profits, he added.
Organic farming in Sikkim
The number of registered organic farmers in Sikkim was 65,973 whereas 13,444 farmers had been brought under organic farming until 2020 under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), Tomar said in the Lok Sabha.
An amount of Rs 78,859 lakh had been released to the state under MOVCDNER. The government had also launched a dedicated web portal (www.Jaivikkheti.in/) for the sale of organic products across the country, Tomar added.
Animal abuse by dairy industry
The government had not conducted any survey to study the abuse of cows and other animals prevailing in the dairy industry, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan told the Lok Sabha.
But there were some media reports as well as reports from animal welfare organisations regarding the illegal administration of oxytocin (hormone and scheduled drug) by dairies to animals, he added.
Power plants
Some 166 coal-based units of capacity 14,361.38 megawatt (MW) had been shut down from April 1, 2002-March 3, 2021, RK Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, New and Renewable Energy told the Rajya Sabha.
This was done according to the decisions taken by the concerned utilities themselves based on the techno-economic and commercial considerations.
Also, 34 units of 5,139 MW capacity that had not submitted any plan for compliance of emission control norms, had been identified.
These units would be shut down according to the phasing plan and timelines given by the Central Pollution Control Board and environment ministry.
Covid -19 vaccination drive
Nine states / Union territories had administered the first doses of the novel coronavirus disease vaccine to more than 90 per cent of the registered healthcare workers as on March 2, 2021, Ashwini Choubey, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare told the Rajya Sabha.
These included Ladakh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha & Lakshadweep.
Nine states / UTs had administered the first dose to more than 70 per cent of registered frontline workers.
These included Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Tripura, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
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