Some 62 million women are engaged as agricultural labourers across the country according to Census 2011 conducted by the Office of the Registrar General of India, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur told the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2024.
Natural farming promotion
The Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a standalone centrally sponsored scheme with an overall outlay of Rs 2,481 crore on November 25, 2024
NMNF has a target to initiate 10 million farmers into natural farming over 750,000 hectares of land, Thakur told the Rajya Sabha.
Reducing stubble burning
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has promoted maize cultivation in Punjab and Haryana, as a substitute to paddy, through various outreach programmes.
Under the ‘Participatory Innvovation Platform on Potential Yield Realization of Maize-Based Cropping Systems in Punjab and Haryana’ (2021-23), maize yields ranged from 57.33 quintals per hectare to 76.00 quintals per hectare in Punjab and from 61.33 quintals per hectare to 77.00 quintals per hectare in Haryana.
These findings highlight the potential yield optimisation in maize-based systems across the two states, using best agronomic practices, Thakur told the Rajya Sabha.
Punjab cotton farmers
The area under cotton cultivation in Punjab declined during the last decade due to variability in rainfall patterns; prevalence of extreme temperature during the crop season; incidence of weeds; whitefly; pink bollworm; cotton leaf curl viral disease; shift to other remunerative crops, etc.
The government has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton over the years to encourage farmers to cultivate the crop and ensure remunerative prices.
During 2024-25, MSP for medium staple cotton and long staple cotton has increased to Rs 7,121 per quintal and Rs 7,521 per quintal respectively, which is 7.6 per cent and 7.1 per cent higher than previous year, Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita told the Rajya Sabha.
Impact of nitrogenous compounds
There is an increase in wheezing and emergency visits associated with rise in levels of nitrogenous compounds like nitrogen dioxide according to the results of a multi-site study conducted at five locations in Delhi by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda told the Lok Sabha.
Global Tuberculosis Report 2024
India contributed to 26 per cent of global TB burden of cases and death in 2023, the World Health Organization’s Global TB report 2024 reported.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had conducted a National TB Prevalence Survey in 20 states/group of states through ICMR to assess the burden of TB at sub-national levels.
The prevalence of all forms of TB cases for all ages was reported as 312 per lakh population in India, Minister of State in MoHFW Anupriya Patel told the Lok Sabha.
Drop in fertility rate
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of India stands at 2.0 in Fifth National Family Health Survey or NFHS-5 (2019-21), down from 2.7 in NFHS-3 (2005-06), Patel told the Lok Sabha.
Chandipura virus infection
A total of 64 laboratory confirmed cases of Chandipura virus infection have been reported in 2024, Minister of State in MoHFW Prataprao Jadhav told the Lok Sabha.
Cancer in India
There were 1,496,972 cancer cases in India in 2023 according to ICMR’s National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP), Jadhav told the Lok Sabha.
Diabetes in India
Some 323.3 million people have been screened for diabetes, 29.6 million diagnosed and 31.3 million put on treatment for the condition respectively till November 30 according to the National Non-communicable Diseases portal, Jadhav told the Lok Sabha.
Community Management of Malnutrition (CMAM)
The ministry of women & child development as well as MoHFW have jointly released the protocol for Community Management of Malnutrition (CMAM) to prevent and treat severely acute malnutrition in children and for reducing associated morbidity and mortality.
The community-based approach involves timely detection and screening of children with severe acute malnutrition in the community, management for those without medical complications with wholesome, local nutritious foods at home and supportive medical care.
Those malnourished children who have medical complications are referred for facility-based care, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur told the Lok Sabha.
