As told to Parliament (March 16, 2021): No indiscriminate use of antibiotics seen in food crops

No cases related to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in food crops leading to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance had been reported in a number of states, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare, told the Lok Sabha March 16, 2021.

These states included:

• Himachal Pradesh
• Rajasthan
• Gujarat
• Uttarakhand
• Uttar Pradesh
• Jharkhand
• Odisha
• Madhya Pradesh
• Chhattisgarh
• Maharashtra
• Andhra Pradesh
• Telangana
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Tamil Nadu
• Goa
• Nagaland 

However, the Government of India had received a correspondence from the government of Chhattisgarh on the basis of which, the combination product of the antibiotics Streptomycin Sulphate and Tetracycline Hydrochloride had been registered, Tomar added.

Crop damage by locusts 

The governments of Punjab, Bihar and Chhattisgarh had not reported any crop loss by locust attacks in their states during 2020-21, Tomar told the Lok Sabha.

However, Haryana had reported minimal crop loss, much below the norms of compensation. Uttar Pradesh had reported a very nominal crop loss in 202.9 hectares. 

Maharashtra and Uttarakhand had reported crop loss below 33 per cent in 805.80 hectares (ha) and 292.4 ha respectively. Madhya Pradesh had reported a partial crop loss of 10-15 per cent in 4,400 ha.

Rajasthan had reported a crop loss of above 33 per cent in 489.72 ha. Gujarat had reported crop loss of below 33 per cent in 6,832.20 ha.

Uttar Pradesh had provided an amount of Rs 325,475 to 112 affected farmers for 2020-21. Rajasthan had reported that the compensation for crop loss was under process.

Women farmers

States and other implementing agencies could incur at least 30 per cent expenditure on women farmers according to the guidelines of various beneficiary-oriented schemes of the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, Tomar told the Lok Sabha.

Plastic containers 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) informed that it had not imposed any restrictions on the use of plastic containers for the delivery of food by hotels and restaurants, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state in the Union ministry of health and family welfare told the Rajya Sabha.

Cancer patients

Choubey admitted in the Rajya Sabha that there had been an unprecedented increase in the number of cancer patients across the country during the last five years.

This was according to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Cancer Research Data Report National Cancer Registry Programme Report, 2020.

The total number of cancer cases in 2020 was 1,392,179 compared to 1,358,415 cases in 2019.

COVID-19 virus

Three new novel coronavirus variants of concern had been reported so far in India. They were the UK variant (B117), South Africa variant (B1351) and Brazil variant (P1), Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.

A total 242 samples had tested positive for different variants in India as on March 4, 2021, Choubey said.

Coal power plants

Some 68 units were complying sulphur dioxide (SO2) norms as of December 2020, RK Singh, minister of state (I/C) for new and renewable energy, told the Rajya Sabha.

Hydroelectric power plants

Some 207 hydroelectric power projects (above 25 megawatt capacity) aggregating to an installed capacity of 46,209.20 MW were in operation across the country, RK Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

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