Chincholi-based doctor dies under suspicious circumstances in Australia
Kalaburagi: The death of a medical specialist and a native of Chimmanachoda village in Chincholi taluk, Dr. Rahul Chandraprakash Ragate (30), under mysterious circumstances near a bridge in Gold Coast city of Australia on Thursday morning has come late to light.
The deceased Dr. Ragate was reportedly the son of Dr. Chandraprakash Ragate, a retired district surgeon from Bidar district, and Vijayashree.
On Thursday morning, Dr. Ragate is learned to have gone for a swim near the bridge. The passersby, however, noticed that he did not resurface for a considerably long time and, turning suspicious, informed the Queensland Police. The doctor's body was found after a search conducted by the investigation team.
The doctor's friend Shivakumar Chetty has said that Dr. Ragate had been registrar at the University of Birmingham, UK, before shifting to Australia. He has been working in Gold Coast since June 1 and had gone for a walk on Thursday morning near the site where he reportedly drowned, which has given rise to suspicion regarding the cause for his death. A police investigation would reveal the truth, Chetty has added.
Former Union Minister Bhagwanth Khoona has reportedly spoken to the Indian Embassy in Australia asking for necessary steps to be taken to send Dr. Ragate's body back to India.
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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.
