Pulses in four lakh hectares face crop damage in Karnataka due to relentless rains
Dharwad: Incessant rains have put Karnataka’s pulse crops, particularly green gram and black gram, at serious risk, threatening livelihoods across central and northern parts of the state.
According to Agriculture Department estimates, reported by Deccan Herald on Monday, crops sown across nearly four lakh hectares are under threat of damage as harvest season collides with heavy August showers.
Following early rains in mid-May, farmers in districts such as Dharwad, Belagavi, Haveri, Gadag, and Bagalkot had taken up early sowing of pulses. But what began as a promising season has now turned into a crisis, with widespread crop waterlogging and damage during a crucial harvest window.
During this kharif season, green gram was cultivated across 23.16 lakh hectares in Karnataka, with nearly 70% of the area concentrated in central and northern districts. In many areas, the crop is now standing in stagnant water, unable to be harvested. Black gram, grown over 11.46 lakh hectares statewide, with a sizable share also in the rain-affected regions, is similarly at risk. Officials estimate that up to 15% of the black gram crop may be damaged.
“Last year too, August rains ruined the harvest and we managed barely 50% yield. The situation is no different this year. Nearly 60% of the crop is standing in water and facing damage,” DH quoted Mallikarjun Hiremath, a farmer from Yadwad who has cultivated 20 acres of green gram and black gram, as saying.
Basangouda Malipatil, a farmer from Nargund, shared his distress over successive losses. He said the crops had been healthy and a bumper harvest was expected, but heavy rains in August wiped out everything. “It is harvest time, yet continuous rains are preventing us from even entering the fields,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, the poor harvest outlook is already pushing up green gram prices in APMCs, where rates have surged to Rs 9,000 per quintal. Market experts anticipate further price hikes if the crop damage continues, the report added.
The situation isn’t limited to pulses. Soya and maize crops are also under threat, deepening concerns for Karnataka’s agrarian economy.
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PM Modi, myself don't have 'wife issue': Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): In a friendly banter, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he didn’t have "the wife issue", as the Congress MP emphasised that everyone has learnt from women in their lives.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments to the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Gandhi said women are a driving force in the national imagination and national perspective.
"All of us in this room have been influenced, taught, and have learnt a lot from women in our lives – from mothers, sisters, wives," Gandhi said.
"Of course, the prime minister and myself don't have the wife issue, so we don't get that input, but we have our mothers and sisters," he said while referring to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju's light-hearted remark that he got a scolding at home as he did not pen a poem for his wife like Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal did.
Gandhi also lauded his sister and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
"Yesterday, I was watching my sister achieve in five minutes what I have not been able to do in 20 years of my political career – make Amit Shah Ji smile," Gandhi said to peals of laughter.
