MP bus accident: Death toll rises to 9
Maihar (MP) (PTI): The death toll in the accident of a private bus in Madhya Pradesh's Maihar district has gone up to nine as three more persons succumbed to their injuries, police said on Sunday.
Nearly 20 persons was also injured after the bus rammed into a stationary stone-laden truck in Maihar at around 11 pm on Saturday, they said.
The accident took place on National Highway no. 30, about 25 km from the district headquarters, as per police.
The bus was heading for Nagpur via Rewa after starting from Prayagraj when it crashed near the Nadan Dehat police station, Maihar Superintendent of Police (SP) Sudhir Agrawal told PTI.
While six fatalities were reported earlier, three more persons succumbed to injuries in a hospital, taking the death toll to nine, he said.
The deceased, all male, included a four-year-old boy, the police said.
The injured persons have been admitted to different hospitals, including in Rewa, Agrawal said.
Initially it appears the bus was running at a high speed, he said.
Rescue teams had to use a gas cutter and an excavator machine to make way through the wrecked bus to pull out the passengers, he said.
The rescue operation was wrapped up at around 2 am on Sunday, according to police.
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India is the place for large-scale organic production, says Commerce Secretary
Nuremberg (PTI): India is the place for large-scale organic production and the country is keen to collaborate with the EU to strengthen this ecosystem to cater to rising demands, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said here on Tuesday.
Agrawal also said that India's organic products exports have grown threefold over the last 10 years, and the government now aims to triple them again over the next five years.
"India is the place" to serve the world as a good organic food basket, he said, adding that India has 150.3 million hectares of agricultural land under cultivation.
He said that the organic ecosystem is growing very fast in the country, as today, 3 per cent of India's cultivation is organic.
In India, 4.7 million hectares of land is under organic cultivation, with 2.4 million farmers practising it, and it is only increasing by the day, he said.
The Secretary was speaking at the inauguration of Biofach 2026. About 100 exhibitors from 20 Indian states, including Assam, Meghalaya, and Kerala, are here to showcase their organic food products at the world's leading trade fair Biofach show (February 10-13).
He informed that India is emerging as a credible supplier of organic food, both within India and outside.
"I see this happening in a much faster manner. So if world needs the state for organic production, I think India is the place, and we like to work with all of you to see how we can improve the Indian organic food ecosystem to serve both the Indian rising demand within India and also the rising demand in two of our biggest markets," he said.
He called for creating credibility around organic foods. There is a need to ensure trust and credibility around the certification of these products.
India started with the national programme for organic production way back in 2001 and that was designed to adopt the international standards of organic goods.
"And now we are bringing in cooperatives in a big way," he said, adding that cooperatives can bring in and aggregate farmers to create good, viable organic ecosystem in various villages across the country.
