‘Drone’ to be used to survey crops: Minister Shivashankar Reddy
Govt to encourage growing of ‘Aane Bidiru’ (Elephant bamboo)
Bengaluru, August 08: Agriculture Minister HN Shivashankar Reddy said that due to scanty rainfall in 13 districts including Raichur, Koppal, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Davangere and Chitradurga, the sowing percentage in kharif season has come down drastically.
Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha here on Wednesday, the Minister said that it was targeted to sow seeds in 74.59 lakh hectare of land. But till August first week, the sowing was done only in 49.47 lakh hectares which is just 66 per cent achievement. Due to scanty rainfall in most of the districts, the sowing activity was not done as expected. So, steps were taken to distribute required seeds and fertilizer to those 13 districts to grow alternative crops, he added.
After monsoon season, the sowing activity would be held in 8 lakh hectares of land during August and September. He was confident of reaching the target of 110 lakh metric tons food grains production this time, he exuded confidence.
Drone survey
It was decided to take the help of Drone technology to survey the crops in various places of the state due to which the government would get actual picture on crop patterns and their conditions. This would help insurance scheme also. The crop patterns were not being mentioned in pahanis. So, it was decided to conduct survey which will be started within a week. This survey would cost minimum Rs 15-20 crore, the Minister said.
Encouragement to agriculture
The government was encouraging zero cultivation method. Shortly a team of officials led by him would visit Ananthapura district in Andhra Pradesh to study zero cultivation methods being adopted there. A comprehensive programme would be introduced to encourage zero cultivation in the state, he said.
Appointment of staff
The appointment process of recruiting total 588 officers and staff including 153 assistant agriculture officers was completed and within 15 days, appointment orders would be issued, he said.
Millets to door-steps
In order to encourage usage and cultivation of millets, marketing facility would be made available through HOPCOMS and KMF to sell the millets. It was also planned to supply the millets to the door-steps of the consumers to avoid middlemen, he added.
“To put an end to the cultivation of eucalyptus and acacia trees which are detrimental to the ground water table, moisture and environment, the government has decided to encourage the programmes to grow elephant bamboo. It was decided to implement the programme as a pilot project in Bengaluru rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. From this crop, the farmers would get minimum Rs 4 lakh revenue from one acre in just three years”.
- HN Shivashankar Reddy, Agriculture Minister
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West Bengal Class 12 results declared; overall pass percentage 91.23%
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education on Thursday announced the results of its Class 12 examination, which recorded an overall pass percentage of 91.23 per cent.
The results included those of the candidates from the fourth semester under the new system, supplementary candidates of the third semester, and students appearing under the old annual examination pattern.
While the pass percentage among girls stood at 92.47 per cent, boys recorded a pass percentage of 89.71 per cent.
As many as 64 candidates -- including 56 boys and eight girls -- featured in the top 10 list. Adrito Pal of Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya secured the first rank in the state by scoring 496 out of 500 marks.
Jishnu Kundu of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith Purulia and Ritobrata Nath of Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya secured the second rank with 495 marks each.
Candidates dissatisfied with their fourth-semester results would be allowed to reappear in the examination next year after surrendering the current year's result.
According to official data, a total of 7,10,811 candidates appeared for the higher secondary examination this year.
Of them, 6,35,864 students appeared in the final semester examination under the new system, 59,452 candidates took the supplementary examination for the second semester, and 15,495 students appeared under the old annual examination pattern.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari congratulated all students who have passed the higher secondary examination in a post on X.
"Your hard work, perseverance, and self-confidence have taken the form of success. May the success inspire you to dream even bigger on the path ahead. I wish that your future be bright, that you get success in every field and that you bring glory to your family, society, and state," he wrote on social media.
