9th March 2021, biotechnology, women's day, horticulture estimate, e-book, water crisis

9 March 2021

• More women should join Science field for development

  Department of Biotechnology said that more women scientists will provide sustainable growth. The department recently started the BioCARe scheme to attract more women scientists who will be given grants for their research in Life  sciences including agriculture. Department is also promoting "Janaki Ammal-National Women Bio-scientist  Award" to encourage women scientists to research in Biosciences like agriculture.

• ICAR celebrated women's day

  ICAR virtually celebrated women's day yesterday. Agriculture minister emphasized the contribution of women in all aspects of life. Senior ICAR officials said women's effort have gone a long way to make the rural life prosperous.

• 2020-21 estimates released for horticulture crops

  Government has released the advance estimates for 2020-21 for available area and production of various horticulture crops. It is estimated that horticulture farming will take place over an area of 27.17 Million Hectares and 326.58 million tonnes of horticulture crops will be produced.

• E-book on Women Forest Officers launched

  An e-book about Women Forest Officers was launched yesterday evening by the Environment minister. The e-book titled  “The Green Queens of India – A nation’s pride” is based on real life experiences of women forest officers.

• Water crisis in India

  India is suffering from a water crisis because of over-population and over-use. We are using water at much greater speed and hence the natural water reserves are not able to replenish their water capacity. There were issues with ground water conservation, but the Government has succeeded in increasing the ground water levels across India.

• "Medicinal Plants" cultivation to be encouraged in India

  Indian government is supporting the "Medicinal Plants" cultivation in India. Subsidies up to 75% will be provided for cultivation of 140 species of medicinal plants. Government will help these farmers in terms of training, R&D and marketing.

• Corona helplines for mental health related issues

  Corona has depressed us, agitated us, left us sleepless. Many persons are affected by mental issue due to corona because they are not able to do physical activities or make use of their time in doing something productive. You may be closed indoors alone or with your family or friends. Such situations can have adverse affects on your brain. During the last year government has introduced a number of helplines in different languages. The calls these helplines  have received number in hundreds of thousands. The government is doing everything it can to take care of the population in this pandemic.

• TPDS to be computerized to bring efficiency, transparency to grain distribution

  Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), responsible for distributing food grains across the country is to be computerized. It is believed that computerization will bring efficiency and transparency to distribution of food grains across India, under TPDS. ePOS are also to be installed at the fair price shops supplying these grains.

• Summer blues for protesting farmers

  The farmers protests which have gone on through the winter will now enter the summer months. How these protestors have been able to sustain themselves has not been reported much. There have been reports of some of the farmers bringing their own food and cooking, and other reports about their local fellow supporters assisting them. However now summer is going to start and another factor that the protestors will have to fight is heat. In winters you can cover yourself, but there are no such clothes to protect them in summer. If the protests carry on, it will be interesting to see what the farmers do about the heat.

• US to allow vaccinated persons in small gatherings

  USA today announced that people properly vaccinated (there are different precautions and stay indoor instructions for different brand of vaccines), can meet each other indoors in small numbers.