Karnataka: Tomato prices surge as excess rains hit supply; onion prices crash
Bengaluru: The price of tomatoes has skyrocketed and is expected to touch Rs 100 per kg in the retail market in the coming days.
Farmers are attributing the reduced tomato yield to the heavy rains. Lakshman Gowda, a tomato farmer from Kolar, explained that the rainfall this year has led to a poor harvest. “This along with virus attacks has reduced the yield drastically while the demand has remained high. Hence the prices have shot up,” Deccan Herald quoted Lakshman Gowda, a tomato farmer from Kolar, as saying.
Dealers at the Kolar Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) have reported a 40% drop in the arrival of tomatoes at the market.
Srinath, a dealer at Kolar APMC, explained that they previously received around 3,500 tonnes of tomatoes daily, but that number has now fallen to approximately 2,000 tonnes. “While crop loss in Karnataka has brought down the yield, the bad rains in Maharashtra has meant that a lot of produce from Karnataka is also being sent to meet the demand in North India. Hence the crisis,” DH quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, onion prices have seen a sharp reversal. In contrast to the soaring prices of tomatoes, onions are now available for as low as Rs 5 per kilogram in the wholesale market. Dealers at the Yeshwantpur APMC market have pointed to the moist weather conditions, which have damaged onion crops, leading to a surplus of low-quality produce.
“Of the onions coming to the market, only about 10% is good and the rest is of poor quality. The rains damaged the crops bringing the yield down and now the moist weather conditions have meant that many are rotting even during transportation. Since good quality onion is not available, the price has remained low,” the newspaper quoted Ravi Shankar from the Yeshwantpur APMC yard as saying.
The situation is reportedly expected to persist for at least the next two months, after which some relief is anticipated.
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Bill to regulate deepfakes tabled in Lok Sabha
New Delhi (PTI): A Private Member's Bill seeking a clear legal framework for regulation of deepfakes has been introduced in the Lok Sabha.
The Regulation of Deepfake Bill, introduced by Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde in the House on Friday, aims to protect citizens by mandating prior consent from individuals depicted in deepfake content.
"Misuse of deepfakes for harassment, deception and misinformation has escalated, creating an urgent need for regulatory safeguards," Shinde said.
The Bill also lists penalties for offenders creating or disseminating deepfake content with malicious intent.
"With advancements in artificial intelligence and deep learning, deepfake technology has emerged as a significant tool for media manipulation. While the technology has potential applications in education, entertainment and creative fields, it also poses severe risks when misused, threatening individual privacy, national security and public trust," Shinde said in the statement of objects and reasons in the Bill.
The proposed Bill seeks to establish a clear legal framework to govern the creation, distribution and application of deepfakes in India, said Shinde, a three-term Lok Sabha member from Kalyan.
The Bill also seeks to establish the Deepfake Task Force, a dedicated body to combat national security implications and evaluate the influence of deepfakes on privacy, civic participation, and potential election interference.
The task force will collaborate with academic and private sector institutions to develop technologies that detect manipulated content, thereby promoting credibility in digital media.
The Bill also proposes to establish a fund to support public and private sector initiatives in the detection and deterrence of advanced image manipulation.
A Private Member's Bill is a procedure of Parliament that enables lawmakers, who are not ministers, to draw attention to issues that might not be represented in Government Bills or to highlight the issues and gaps in the existing legal framework that require legislative intervention.
