No shower, no power & oilseed output is headed southwards
New Delhi: Lack of pre-monsoon shower and shortage of power in most of the oilseed-growing states is likely to hit the crop in the coming season. These factors are likely to have an adverse impact on early sowing and the government is anticipating shortage of seeds in the case of oilseeds like — groundnut, soyabean, sesame, sunflower, niger and castor A note “oilseeds crop condition and prospects” prepared by the agriculture ministry said: “Land preparation operations for kharif sowings have been delayed, which may affect areas where early sowings are taken up. Shortage of seeds is expected in all oilseed crops, particularly groundnut and soyabean,”. “ The pre-monsoon crop of groundnut in Gujarat of around two lakh hectares and 40,000 hectares in Rajasthan which depends on irrigation is likely to be hit majorly. This is due to shortage of power in almost all the states and inadequacy of irrigation water due to deficiency in rainfall during crop year 2002-03”, says the note. “This has resulted in a delay in kharif sowing and may affect areas where early sowings are taken up. Sesame, groundnut and soyabean sowings in South interior of Karna-taka, Sesame and groundnut sowings in coastal Andhra Pradesh, pre-monsoon sowings in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra”, the note added.
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Sahib moots ILO-run global fund to eradicate poverty
New Delhi: The government has recommended to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for setting up of an international skill development fund. On his recent visit to Geneva, labour minister Sahib Singh Verma made the suggestion to the ILO director general Juan Somavia that such a fund be set up under ILO. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday,r Verma said he mooted the international skill development fund with active assistance from developed world for eradicating poverty in these countries. “We need to give the poor access to training opportunities at affordable costs. I, therefore, suggested setting up of an international skill development fund,” Verma said. “I also apprised Dr Somavia on the need for enhanced representation from developed countries in the apex labour organisation,” he said. At present, representation from developed nations at the ILO is much disproportionate to their size because they contribute more funds to it. The government will soon write to the ILO seeking its help to combat the scourge of penury and bring down the poverty ratio to 19 per cent by 2007 from the present level of 26 per cent, the labour minister said. “By next week, we are going to send a detailed programme to the ILO to apprise them of our measures to reduce poverty and seek help for successful implementation of our steps to create additional employment and enhance income generation.”
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Final mini-ministerial meet to be held in Canada in July
New Delhi: A final mini-ministerial meet of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be held in Canada in the last week of July prior to the Cancun ministerial meet in September. Official sources said that the Canada meet has been arranged to sort out tricky issues before the Cancun meet. The Cairo meet starting on Saturday is not expected to deliver much. Officials said that there was not much expectation attached to the Cairo meet because a lot of important issues still remained unresolved. However, the Cairo meet would help to give direction to the on-going discussions following which some decisions may finally be taken at the mini-ministerial in Canada, officials added. Decisions are pending on the modalities for agreement on both agriculture and non-agriculture products. In agriculture, all eyes are focussed on the mid-term Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) review of the European Union, the results of which are expected soon. If the EU introduces major reforms in its CAP by announcing cuts in its subsidies, it would help to push the on-going discussions on agriculture. In the area of industrial products, while the chairman proposed a draft formula for tariff reduction last month, an agreement has to be reached by members on the coefficient to adopt. The coefficient would determine the cuts in tariffs which the members would have to bring about.
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