Bharuch: India would not have lost its sheen as a country of farmers if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had been the first Prime Minister, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, ruing the "poor" national agricultural growth. "The nation is falling behind in agriculture. If 'Khedut Putra' (son of farmer), Sardar Patel had become the first Prime Minister, this would not have happened to our farmers... Somehow, we took the wrong way," Modi said addressing a gathering of farmers at Krishi Mahotsav in Bharuch.
Expressing the need to strengthen agriculture, Modi said India was fast losing its identity as an agricultural nation. "If we have to improve our economy, give jobs to our youth and strengthen our villages then there is no other way apart from strengthening our agriculture," the chief minister said, adding that the development of villages is proportional to the agri growth.
Modi said the need of the hour was to adopt modern technology in increasing the land under cultivation to reverse the scenario of decline in agri growth. "How to integrate technology into farming... That is the need of the hour. Land is not going to increase. What we have to do is (to) increase productivity to cultivate more," he said.
Modi said farmers should employ modern techniques like greenhouse farming, tent-house and polyhouse farming. "We are leading in polyhouse farming," he stressed. The Chief Minister claimed that it was a "historic feat" that Gujarat clocked a double digit (over 10 per
05:31 PM, May 18, 2013
New York: Two passenger trains heading in opposite directions collided during rush hour in southwestern Connecticut, injuring 60 people, five of them critically, and closing the key corridor between New York and Boston. A Metro-North train heading from New Haven to New York City derailed around 6:10 pm on Friday, hitting the other train in Bridgeport, Connecticut, about 60 miles northeast of New York City on the Long Island Sound,...
09:30 AM, May 18, 2013
Nearly 50 people were injured on Friday when two commuter trains collided during evening rush hour near the Connecticut town of Fairfield, shutting down Amtrak service between New York and Boston indefinitely, police and transit officials said. Authorities said there were no reports of fatalities in the accident that occurred shortly after 6 pm EDT (2200 GMT). Anita Shrum, a spokeswoman for Bridgeport Hospital, said one person was seriously injured...
07:02 AM, May 18, 2013
Coimbatore: Farmers in Coimbatore region on Friday threatened that they would resort to mass suicides if government went ahead with its plan to increase power tariff. Representatives of various farmers associations told a public hearing on tariff revision here that the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu is already in the doldrums due to failure of monsoon and resultant drought. "Any upward revision of tariff will be strongly resisted by all...
03:15 AM, May 18, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal government achieved 7.6 per cent growth in GDP compared to the national average of 4.96 per cent during the last financial year. In industry, the growth rate was 6.24 per cent against the national average of 3.12 per cent, Finance Minister Amit Mitra claimed while releasing three books on the completion of two years rule of Mamata Banerjee-led government on Thursday. In agriculture, the state recorded...
01:29 AM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: The country's agricultural and allied product exports have increased by 11 per cent to USD 33.54 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. "India's export of agricultural and allied products have increased from USD 29.8 billion in 2011-12 to USD 33.54 billion in 2012-13," Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Currently, global prices of wheat,...
04:59 PM, May 07, 2013
A Spanish organisation - ANAR or Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation - has come up with a unique project - a phone helpline number that is visible only to children using the technique of lenticular photography to help them report abuse. The number 116 111 is meant to attend to children and teenagers under a risk situation. On this telephone number, only for minors, they can find...
09:31 AM, May 07, 2013
Lahore: Sarabjit Singh, who died on Thursday after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by fellow inmates, became the second Indian prisoner this year to die in Pakistan's notorious Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. Sarabjit, 49, who was serving a death sentence, was brutally attacked on Friday by six fellow inmates as he and other prisoners were brought out of their cells for a break. He...
02:01 PM, May 02, 2013
Amritsar: A pall of gloom on Thursday descended on Sarabjit Singh's native Bhikhiwind village as soon as the news of his death in a Lahore hospital spread with villagers closing all shops to protest the deadly attack on him. Locals of the sleepy border village started to throng Singh's house as soon as they got the news about his death. However, Singh's family member are camping in Delhi since Wednesday...
11:12 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday told the family of Sarabjit Singh who died in a Lahore hospital that his body would be flown back to India in a special aircraft. "The Home Minister assured the family that a special aircraft would be arranged to bring the body from Pakistan," said Raj Kumar Verka, vice chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, who was present...
10:13 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: The family of Sarabjit Singh, who is lying in coma in a Lahore hospital after an attack in a Pakistan jail, will meet Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on Thursday to seek his better treatment and bringing him back home. Official sources said Shinde has given time to the family, including Sarbjit's sister Dalbir, to hear their grievances. The family, which crossed over to India...
08:41 PM, May 01, 2013
Lahore: Reports about the suspension of several Pakistani jail officials after the brutal assault on Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh last week have turned out to be an eyewash as authorities are yet to take action against anyone in Kot Lakhpat Jail. Immediately after the assault on Sarabjit by other prisoners on Friday, officials had told the media that three or four prison officials, including the assistant superintendent, had...
11:59 AM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: As the family of Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan Sarabjit Singh said he was "clinically dead", opposition leader Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday slammed the government for not dealing with Islamabad "firmly". "Whatever happened with Sarabjit in Pakistan, India has not talked as firmly with them (Pakistan government) as we should have," she said in response to a question. "This is not an isolated incident; even when the...
02:46 AM, May 01, 2013
Lahore/Islamabad: The condition of Indian national Sarbajit Singh, comatose in a Lahore hospital after a brutal assault last week, further deteriorated tonight though doctors had not declared him brain dead, official sources said. The sources told PTI that Sarabjit's condition continued deteriorating through the day and his blood pressure was being maintained with support. Sarabjit had entered a "critical phase" and his chances of survival were very slim, the sources...
12:26 AM, May 01, 2013
Lahore: Doctors treating Indian death row convict Sarbajit Singh, comatose in a Lahore hospital after a brutal assault last week, on Tuesday said his condition had deteriorated. Allama Iqbal Medical College principal Mahmood Shaukat, the head of a four-member medical board this is supervising Sarabjit's treatment, confirmed that his condition had deteriorated. "In our latest investigation, there was no sign of improvement (in Sarabjit's condition). Rather, his condition further deteriorated,"...
02:08 PM, Apr 30, 2013
Lahore/New Delhi: Indian prisoner in Pakistan Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur reportedly will be coming back to India via Wagah border on Wednesday to seek advice on whether ventilator support to her brother should be withdrawn. There have been hints that 49-year-old Sarabjit is brain dead and is being sustained by life support mechanisms. Dalbir has said that she needs to consult with people back in India and would be...
12:54 PM, Apr 30, 2013
Jaipur: A delegation from Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot now visiting Israel held talks with officials on cooperation in agriculture, horticulture and water resources, a statement issued here said on Sunday. Cooperation in water management, particularly drip and sprinkler irrigation in water-deficient Rajasthan, was also discussed, the statement said. "Israel is among the front-runners in desert agriculture management. With cooperation from Israel, coordinated management of horticulture and water...
04:55 AM, Apr 29, 2013
Amritsar: Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's sister on Friday said there was constant threat to her brother's life in Pakistan after the hanging of Afzal Guru and "suspecting attack" she had approached authorities but no action was taken. Shocked over the attack on her brother by fellow prisoners inside the Kotlakhpatrai jail in Lahore, Dalbir Kaur said, "They (inmates) were threatening him of dire consequences and were aggressive since the hanging...
10:11 PM, Apr 26, 2013
New Delhi: India expects total monsoon rainfall to be average in 2013, a minister said on Friday, strengthening prospects for one of the world's biggest grains producers to avoid widespread drought for a fourth straight year. India's first official forecast confirms a call by global experts last week, and points to bumper grain supplies that would swell huge current stockpiles and hold down world food prices. "Most likely this year's...
04:59 PM, Apr 26, 2013
Jamwadi: India may be heading for another bumper grain harvest, if the first forecast for this year's monsoon proves correct, but the rain may be too little - and too late - for southern and western states already parched by the worst drought in four decades. Although 2012 monsoon rains were, overall, just seven per cent below normal, these states - including major sugar producer Maharashtra and cotton-growing Gujarat -...
06:23 AM, Apr 24, 2013
