A FEW decades ago, my fields produced so much paddy and maize that I would donate it. This year, the situation is so bad that my entire family is surviving on the monthly ration the government provides under the National Food Security Act,” says Surendra Korba, who owns a 16-hectare (ha) farm in Sarhua village of Jharkhand’s Palamu district. "The village has over 200 families, but in recent years, about 75 per cent of the youth go to cities in search of work. Water shortage has made farming difficult," says Lokas Korba, a tribal rights activist in the village.
In the last decade, 2022 was one of the most drought-affected years for Jharkhand. According to "Yearly Weather Report-2022 (Jharkhand)" of the India Meteorological Department (imd), the state received 817.6 mm of rainfall, which is 20 per cent below normal. On October 31, 2022, the State Disaster Management Department declared 22 of the state's 24 districts, covering 122 blocks, as drought-affected. Some 3.15 million farmers have applied for relief under Chief Minister Drought Relief Scheme till February 2, 2023, says the scheme's web portal. Of these, 1.63 million farmers were not able to sow at all this year, while 998,714 farmers have lost more than one-third of their crop. The state has promised a onetime allowance of R3,500 per family to all eligible applicants.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 16, 2023 من Down To Earth.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 16, 2023 من Down To Earth.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
TERMITE TRAP
A common tall grass variety provides a chemical-free option to control termites, highlights the need for mainstreaming local ecological knowledge
CLIMATE'S UNSOLICITED PAYOUT
Rising weather extremes is destabilising the insurance industry, driving up premium prices and pushing insurers out of high-risk markets. The crisis is also spurring re-invention of insurance sector.
NOTHING PSEUDO ABOUT IT
The fibre-rich banana pseudo-stem is a treasure trove of minerals and health benefits
Organic move
After 10,000 farmers in Dantewada district secured Chhattisgarh's first organic certification, the entire district now gears up to transition fully to organic farming
No more a rarity
What has caused widespread outbreak of the rare Guillain-Barré syndrome cases from seven states of the country?
DeepSeek AI model is a sobering idea for India
The Chinese artificial intelligence breakthrough reveals how far behind India is in the race for technological prowess
'Fragile terrain not the cause of tunnel collapse but an excuse'
In November 2023, the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand collapsed, trapping 41 workers under the rubble. The rescue operation in the 4.5 km tunnel lasted 17 days and involved multiple teams. Australian geologist ARNOLD DIX, who is also the president of Switzerland-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, as well as an engineer, a barrister and a farmer, assisted in the mission at India's request. Dix has now written a book on the incident. In an interview with ADITYA MISRA, Dix says the mishap was a failure to adapt construction methods to the rock conditions encountered. Excerpts:
BUDGET SQUEEZE
Poised to woo the middle class and tame fiscal deficit, Union Budget 2025-26 cuts corners on key welfare schemes, offers little for climate adaptation and decarbonisation
Decoded script
Genomelndia project creates genomic sequence database of 10,000 Indians, moving a step forward in disease detection and treatment
Introduce layers in poverty measurement
This is with reference to the article \"Convenience of poverty lines\" (16-31 January, 2025). Poverty is not like atmospheric pressure, which can be scaled down with high-precision instruments. It is a matter of deprivation. Poverty is also highly misunderstood. At one extreme, poverty means no food, no clothes, bad health and inadequate shelters; in essence a dearth in common and customary amenities. One can recognise this poverty. But, even if a person's conditions are only a notch above this level, their situation slides through the slick fingers of all the measurement of figures and wielders of statistics.
