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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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
