tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24278311250609528362024-02-29T21:39:39.736-08:00Warehousing & Logistic Solutions by Dr.AroraDR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-39269341135734707082021-03-09T19:45:00.001-08:002021-03-09T19:45:31.575-08:00Transforming Warehouses by revolutionary technologies.<div>Technology is transforming every aspect of the warehouse—from tracking inventory to product picking—to get goods in and out as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. As operators face rising costs and a shrinking inventory of prime land, the continued demand for space and labor is spurring innovation that now defines how warehouses are being built.<br></div><div><br></div><div>1) Wireless technology and real-time inventory tracking: Warehouse operators are adopting new technologies to build efficiency into every aspect of the warehouse. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to each inventory item can transmit real-time data to and from the warehouse floor and inventory management applications, allowing warehouse teams to use mobile devices to track inventory from the moment it arrives. </div><div>2) A hyper-connected facility: In a hyper-connected warehouse, operating systems are laid out in a highly advanced matrix to accommodate the growing mix of technologies. Today's warehouses hold bandwidth for technologies like barcoding, IoT, RFID scanning, GPS, load optimization and future technology innovations that may emerge. With this tech in place, logistics managers can quickly make and execute decisions. </div><div>3) The new forklift: Forklifts, always a familiar sight in warehouses, are more connected than ever. IoT technologies can connect a warehouse operator's forklifts with their enterprise resource planning system and workers across the warehouse, shaving operations time. Some forklift manufacturers are incorporating alternative fuel systems and energy-efficient engines to reduce energy costs. </div><div>4) Growing clear heights: To optimize warehouse utilization, yesterday's 24- to 26-foot ceiling height has risen to the 36- to 40-foot range today. One reason is that automated picking technology can easily reach even the highest shelves. Another is that today's lighting systems can efficiently illuminate tall spaces. Yet a third factor is the availability of fire-suppression technologies that can reach higher ceilings. </div><div>5) Picking tech, picking up speed: From multilingual voice-picking and augmented reality to specialized robots, revolutionary technologies are changing picking practices. These technologies enable logistics operators to expand their labor pools by overcoming language barriers and accommodating a range of skillsets.</div><div>6) Sustainability, making strides: Alternative energy and energy efficiency are no longer optional as warehouse operators bring more automation into the warehouse. Solar panels, LED lighting, cool-roof systems, thermal glass, clerestory windows and other new green materials and innovations are leading warehouses into a new age.</div><div>7) Human-centric design: As labor shortages rise in many markets, there is a growing importance on workers' quality of life in the warehouse. New features such as effective lighting, air quality sensors and temperature control are more common as design becomes more human-centric. Improving the working environment not only benefits employee health but also reduces employee turnover and facilities risks. </div><div>8) When it comes to land, flexibility is the name of the game: Industrial tenants are demanding flexibility in response to highly variable business conditions. Tenants want the option to add land and space if additional needs arise, like a seasonal rush. "Flex land" could be deployed for needs such as additional truck storage or warehouse expansion.</div><div>9) Super-flat to sloped floors: The super-flat floor has long been the norm in warehouses. Although many warehouse operators continue to require exceptionally flat floors for highly precise robotic picking and racking technology, sloped floors are appearing to accommodate technologies for moving inbound and outbound shipments.</div>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-62935384719691338792021-02-13T17:10:00.001-08:002021-02-13T17:10:01.856-08:00Growing Indian warehousing market The Indian Warehousing Market is expected to be an estimated $12.2 billion in 2020, growing to $19.5 billion by 2025.<div><br></div><div>The warehousing market is driven by the country's flourishing manufacturing, retail, FMCG and logistics sectors. Furthermore, supportive government policies such as establishment of logistic parks and free trade warehouse zones is expected to spur the market growth through 2025. Also, introduction of GST has led to reduction in inventory and turnaround time, which has led to the removal of check points thereby diminishing state boundaries.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, technological advancements such as advent of AI, IoT, 3D Printing, among others, in the warehousing industry is further expected to create lucrative opportunities over the next few years. Moreover, the emergence of third part logistics and supergrid logistics is further expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period.</div><div><br></div><div>Further, the sudden outbreak and spread of COVID-19 will have short-term impact on warehousing demand due to lockdown and reduced manufacturing activities. Further, it will help in strengthening the warehousing industry in India on account of the shifting consumer preference from offline mode of shopping to online in order to adhere to the social distancing norms.</div><div><br></div><div>The Indian Warehousing Market is segmented based on type, ownership, sector, usage pattern, infrastructure, end-user industry, company and region. Based on type, the market can be segmented into general, specialty and refrigerated. The refrigerated segment is expected to witness significant growth owing to the rising demand for such warehouses for storing perishable food items and ensuring food security & safety. Based on ownership, the market can be categorized into public, private and bonded. The public ownership segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. These warehouses are owned by government and semi-government agencies and are rented by them. Such warehouses aid the small traders who don't have their own warehouses.</div><div><br></div><div>Based on usage pattern, the market can be split into single and co-warehousing segments. The co-warehousing segment is expected to witness significant growth in the market through 2025. This can be ascribed to the increasing demand for last mile distribution and growing preference for co-warehousing among manufacturers, suppliers, logistic companies as well as startups. Additionally, co-warehousing provides flexible storage that can help businesses meet their needs and give them a better control over their budgets. Co-warehousing provides scalability and helps in reducing overall operational costs.</div>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-84070920443832923642020-07-19T02:16:00.001-07:002020-07-19T02:16:00.558-07:00Area under cultivation doubled in covid era<p dir="ltr">1 The area under cultivation of different crops in india has gone up doubled from 15.45 million hectares to 31.56 million hectares as above.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2 Further, as per the Food Corporation of India report dated <a href="tel:28062020">28.06.2020</a>, FCI currently has 266.29 LMT rice and 550.31 LMT wheat. Hence, a total of 816.60 LMT food grain stock is available (excluding the ongoing purchase of wheat and paddy, which have not yet reached the godown).</p>
<p dir="ltr">3 About 55 LMT food grains is required for a month under NFSA and other welfare schemes.</p>
<p dir="ltr">4 Food grain Procurement:<br>
As on <a href="tel:28062020">28.06.2020</a>, total 388.34 LMT wheat (RMS <a href="tel:202021">2020-21</a>) and 745.66 LMT rice (KMS <a href="tel:201920">2019-20</a>) were procured.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The latest ‘All India Crop Situation’ report of the Agriculture Ministry shows a massive increase in planted acreage for various kharif season crops as of June 26, compared with the same time last year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Crops such as cotton, oilseeds, maize and pulses have shown a remarkable increase in planted area for this time of the year. The planting acreage data, the current year’s numbers appear exceptional and, in some sense, too good to be true.</p>
<p dir="ltr">To be sure, we have had a combination of fortuitous circumstances, including the India Meteorological Department’s forecast of a normal south-west monsoon, timely onset of monsoon over Kerala and its rapid progress so as to cover the whole country two weeks ahead of normal time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Additionally, the reservoir position has been satisfactory. It is possible, due to reverse migration following the national lockdown announced on March 25, that labour availability in rural India is comfortable, which has accelerated sowing. Cyclones Amphan in the east coast followed by Nisarga in the west coast, too, contributed to soil moisture.<br><br><br><br></p>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-8493131793932558922020-07-14T20:58:00.001-07:002020-07-14T20:58:03.662-07:00Food and environment sustainability<div>Nature can neither be ignored, nor outsmarted. Producing food that is both healthy and sustainable demands that we work with–not against–nature.</div><div><br></div><div>With farmers having abandoned numerous local plant varieties in favour of genetically-uniform, high yielding ones, 60 per cent of dietary energy is now derived from just three cereal crops: rice, maize and wheat. Consequently, nearly one in three people suffer from some form of malnutrition. </div><div><br></div><div>The situation is expected to worsen due to climate change.</div><div><br></div><div>Food is not only a matter of eating. Long before it reaches grocery store shelves, the process of production unleashes a multiplicity of factors affecting the length and quality of life on earth. Forests are cleared to create agricultural space, the atmosphere becomes warmer, diversity is systematically decreased, buffers that protect humans from animal-borne viruses–like COVID-19–are removed, soil and water is contaminated, and plants and animals are infused with substances with precarious effect.</div><div><br></div><div>Many of the practices that were adopted to produce more food have resulted in environmental and health issues. Intensified farming has set into motion a vicious circle, affecting both immediate and long-term food security: expanding agricultural production demands clearing of trees and wildlife; deforestation contributes to climate change; and climate change increases the occurrence of flooding, drought and storms that result in food insecurity.</div><div><br></div><div>Pesticides and fertilizers used to boost food production are another concern. Not only do they pollute land and water, causing biodiversity loss; every year, 25 million people suffer from acute pesticide poisoning. Glyphosate–the most widely-used herbicide, worldwide–is associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers. </div><div><br></div><div>Nature is essential to agriculture and nutrition.</div><div><br></div><div>Nature can neither be ignored, nor outsmarted. Producing food that is both healthy and sustainable demands that we work with–not against–nature.</div><div><br></div><div>With farmers having abandoned numerous local plant varieties in favour of genetically-uniform, high yielding ones, 60 per cent of dietary energy is now derived from just three cereal crops: rice, maize and wheat. Consequently, nearly one in three people suffer from some form of malnutrition. </div><div><br></div><div>The situation is expected to worsen due to climate change. </div><div>By recognizing the practical value of nature, a holistic food-system produces simultaneous net gains for the environment, public health and the economy.</div><div><br></div><div>Reducing CO2 could positively impact the nutritional value of the food produced–a significant health benefit, given that the vast majority of the world’s population gets most of its nutrition from plants. It could also reduce the risk of extreme weather events, which can lower crop yields. This is particularly important to small scale farmers and is not resilient to economic shocks. In this way, protecting nature also protects livelihoods and economies.</div><div><br></div><div>Restoring biodiversity means strengthening the resilience of food systems, enabling farmers to diversify production and cope with pests, diseases and climate change. It would also reduce the risk of viruses spillover and their tremendous economic impact, like the one we are currently experiencing.</div><div><br></div><div>Adopting plant-based diets would use less land, produce less greenhouse gas, and require less water. It would also play an important role in reducing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer and the associated costs of treatment and lost income. In fact, with a global burden of chronic disease projected to hit 56 per cent by 2050, dietary health will play an increasingly important role in economic management.</div><div><br></div><div>We need to consider the entire food system–from production to consumption–understand each of its components, their relationships, and their immediate and long-term impacts.</div><div><br></div><div>Agriculture should be recognized as a solution to biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution; and shift toward more regenerative or agroecological models that contribute to healthy landscapes and ecosystems.</div><div><br></div><div>Policies should be built on multi-stakeholder collaboration and address the food system holistically, valuing natural capital, promoting sustainable land use, preventing pollution and environmental degradation, and enabling producers the financial opportunity to innovate more sustainable models.</div><div><br></div><div>Behaviour change among consumers is also critical, towards healthy and sustainable diets and food waste preventing practices, through education, awareness-raising, strengthened urban-rural linkages and supportive food environments.</div><div><br></div><div>Environmental sustainability is not a luxury. It does not occur as an afterthought or as a happy accident. It is critical to human survival, now more than ever,as the current covid 19 endemic is one of the outcome.</div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>DR N K ARORA</div>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-33054291418098827662020-06-07T00:01:00.001-07:002020-06-07T00:01:34.192-07:00Warehouse management through modern technologies. <div>Earlier, the warehouse was merely a building where goods would be stored, and it did not have any direct interaction with the customer. Today after the advent of e-commerce,and tougher competition, there has been a drastic transformation in the role of warehousing. It has emerged as a dynamic mechanism playing a crucial role in the order-fulfillment industry. Its entire focus has shifted from just storage to improving customer service through a warehouse management system.</div><div><br></div><div>The customer is the King! The warehouse industry now has to comply with all the latest management systems and tactics to keep their customers happy and improving customer service. Even though a customer will never be face to face with a fulfillment center, if he is disgruntled, it could spell doom for both the company and the service provider.</div><div><br></div><div>Nowadays, with warehouses are as vast as 100000 square feet, it becomes essential that all the employees stay connected at all times. Many employers are now equipping their employees with smartphones to streamline communications and improving customer service.</div><div><br></div><div>However, many recommend the use of radios. Two-way radios offer a quicker and much direct connection to their employees. They’re also more durable, which is vital in heavy-duty warehouse work.</div><div><br></div><div>Wearable GPS devices can be worn on the hip or the wrist. They help the user locate warehouse employees’ on-demand, which allows managers and supervisors to properly delegate tasks based on an employee’s proximity to areas or departments in need of help.</div><div><br></div><div>Keeping track of inventory on cloud-based software is the best solution for auditing stock and communicating data between two departments. It can help prevent severe backlogging and shortages.</div><div><br></div><div>I have available with me a very extraordinary software system known as IBWMS,which is a fully automated,smart and hyper efficient warehouse created with IOT.A complete knowledge is available on real-time data analytics with active event monitoring,and picking and packing through mobile interface with the help of beacons.</div><div><br></div><div>Warehouse management system, IBWMS, offers a plethora of tools to collect and analyze all of the warehouse information to see what is working up to mark and what is not. They can give the statistics on products or individual employees to place things in the most optimal position and speed up the process in fastest manner.</div><div><br></div><div>Picking efficiency can be attained by deploying the right picking methodology coupled with the correct technology. The use of wearable and mobile technology can expedite the process by enabling pickers to move across the warehouse freely. At the same time, Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFID) tells them with precision the location of the goods. </div><div><br></div><div>The requirement of demand forecasting has been a crucial topic of discussion in the supply chain context, there are three types of forecasting, through algorithms, which are:</div><div><br></div><div>Demand forecasting</div><div><br></div><div>This elucidates the investigation of the companies’ demand for an item to include current and future demand and product end-use.</div><div><br></div><div>Supply forecasting</div><div><br></div><div>It describes a collection of data about the producers and suppliers at present, along with technological and political trends that might disrupt supply.</div><div><br></div><div>Price forecast</div><div><br></div><div>This is the information gathered and analyzed about demand and supply. It provides a concise prediction of short- and long-term prices, trends, and its underlying reasons.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides,communication is paramount if the process must place an order from a customer. To avoid miscommunication and reduce expenses, it is highly recommended to offer customers an online portal or a platform through which inventory is seen, select the items they want to ship, and submit the order for processing.</div><div><br></div><div>Once the customer places the order, the system will produce a picking list or a loading guide with the items that the customer has selected. It is also recommended that the system provide individual fields for customers to enter detailed instruction if needed, e.g., for re-packaging instructions.</div><div>These all magical achievements are possible now through blockchain technology and IBWMS,and all these IOT and AI are available at a very reasonable costs.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-40170184557456222742019-11-25T09:35:00.001-08:002019-11-25T09:46:13.466-08:00Making agricredit system more efficient<div>Government of India started off the interest-subvention scheme in 2006, whereby crop loans would be given to farmers at 7% interest rate An idea of this diversion of agri-credit to non-agricultural purposes can be had by looking at agri-credit as a percentage of the value of input requirements in agriculture.</div><div><div class="main-story" id="main-story-1"><div class="maindiv MT15"><div class="fewrapper"><div class="mainarticle"><div class="story_mid" data-url="https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/from-plate-to-plough-unravelling-agricultural-credit/1774010/"><div class="leftstory"><article><div class="post-summary"><p>Normally, credit off-take in a particular sector is treated as a sign of performance of that sector. Higher the off-take, better performance is likely to be. From that angle, ground level credit (GLC) to agriculture and allied sectors has shown tremendous off-take. For example, in FY19, the banking sector disbursed Rs 12.55 trillion as GLC to agriculture, surpassing the government’s own target of Rs 11 trillion. This should call for celebration, but, unfortunately, growth in agriculture sector hasn’t been commensurate. How does one reconcile this? Let us try to understand and unravel some less known facts about agri-credit in India.</p><div class="pageadd" id="gpt_ad_FE_ROS_RESP_SECOND" data-google-query-id="CJut_v3vheYCFcaCcAodyGAGKA"><div id="andbeyond3002" data-google-query-id="CIT7r6rxheYCFQiFaAodGkABdQ"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-2_0__container__">The accompanying graphic presents the absolute amount of direct institutional credit flow to the agriculture sector. There is no doubt that over a longer period, from 1971-72 to 2017-18, there has been more than a 1,000-time increase in agri-credit, from a meagre Rs 7.8 billion to Rs 8,235 billion. However, as a percentage of agricultural GDP, which should be the real measure of agri-credit growth, it has not been a smooth rise over all these years. For example, during the pre-reform period (i.e., 1971-72 to 1989-90) direct agri-credit flow as percentage of agri-GDP increased at a modest average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 4.2%.</div></div></div><p>However, during 1990-91 to 1999-2000, AAGR decelerated to 3.2%. But, thereafter, during 2000-01 to 2007-08 it witnessed tremendous growth at 12% only to fall back to just 3.6% during 2008-09 to 2017-18. The massive growth during 2000-01 to 2007-08 appears to be due to innovation in credit instrument in the form of Kisan Credit Card (1998), and policy intervention in the form of Interest Subvention Scheme (2006) that incentivised short-term credit. However, the slowdown after 2008 appears to be due to a loan waiver scheme (2008), which led bankers to be more conservative in lending to farmers for fear of increasing wilful defaults due to expected loan waivers in coming years.</p><div class="pageadd" id="gpt_ad_FE_ROS_RESP_THIRD" data-google-query-id="CJyt_v3vheYCFcaCcAodyGAGKA"><div id="andbeyond3003" data-google-query-id="CJOHuqrxheYCFUEfaAodju0Fjw"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-3_0__container__">Interestingly, the NABARD All India Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) of 2015-16 reported that only 30.3% of all agriculture households availed credit from institutional sources. It could be that the remaining agri-households (about 70%) either don’t need credit, or they are not ‘bankable’, or both. But, the fact that almost 70% of agri-households did not avail institutional credit shows that there is still a lot of scope for the banking sector to increase its reach, be it for production purposes (crop loans), or investment, or even consumption needs.</div></div></div><div class="pageadd" id="gpt_ad_FE_ROS_RESP_FOURTH" data-google-query-id="CIr5-_3vheYCFcaCcAodyGAGKA"><div id="andbeyond3004" data-google-query-id="CP-i76vxheYCFUoPtwAd4-wBHQ"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-4_0__container__">Government of India started off the interest-subvention scheme in 2006, whereby crop loans would be given to farmers at 7% interest rate. Later, it added a provision for those paying back their loans in time regularly to get crop loans at a 4% interest rate. This is done in a situation where the interest rates in the informal sector, or even through micro-finance institutions generally ranged from 15-30%. This has created a huge opportunity to take large crop loans at subsidised interest rates from the banking sector, and then divert them for non-agriculture purposes. An idea of this diversion of agri-credit to non-agricultural purposes can be had by looking at agri-credit as a percentage of the value of input requirements in agriculture.</div></div></div><p>The accompanying graphic presents the state level picture for the triennium average ending (TE) TE 2016-17. The total short-term credit (outstanding) to agriculture and allied sectors as a proportion of input requirements (GVO-GVA) was substantially above 100% for many southern and northern states: Kerala (326%), Andhra Pradesh (254%), Tamil Nadu (245%), Punjab (231%), Telangana (210%) etc (see graphic). This is a clear indication that agri-loans are being diverted to other non-farm purposes. One of the key reasons for this diversion lies in low rates of interest being charged under the interest subvention scheme.</p><p>Another interesting feature is that in the total direct credit (outstanding) to agriculture and allied sectors, the share of short-term credit witnessed a significant jump from 44% in 1981-82 to 74.3% in 2015-16 whereas, somewhat disquietingly, that of long-term credit fell from 56.1% in 1981-82 to 25.3% in 2015-16.</p><p>Since long-term credit is basically for investments, and capital formation in agriculture, this dramatic fall in the share of long-term credit takes a heavy toll on the improvements in farm productivity, and overall growth of the agri-sector.</p><p>It is, therefore, high time to revisit the interest subvention policy, which is leading to these sub-optimal results. Also, for transparency, all crops loans, especially those availing interest subvention, must compulsorily be routed through Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs). Interestingly, it was reported in the latest economic survey that the cumulative number of KCCs issued was 150 million as of March, 2016, but the NAFIS survey, somewhat puzzlingly, reported that only 10% of farmers have used KCCs in the agricultural year 2015-16. This requires deeper research, but, nevertheless, issuance of KCCs in remote villages needs to be expedited.</p><div class="FE_Desk_3009"><div id="andbeyond3009" data-google-query-id="CJWj16rxheYCFdqCcAod-4UJww"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-9_0__container__">A bolder step in this direction, however, would be to empower farmers by giving direct income support on a per hectare basis rather than by hugely subsidising credit, which is leading to massive diversion of agri-credit to non-agriculture purposes. Streamlining the agri-credit system to facilitate higher crop-loans to farmer producer organisations (FPOs) against commodity stocks can be a win-win model to spur agriculture growth.Therefore, the government should plug the diversion, and make agri-credit system more efficient.</div></div></div><div class="pageadd" id="gpt_ad_FE_ROS_RESP_FIFTH" data-google-query-id="CJ-t_v3vheYCFcaCcAodyGAGKA"><div id="andbeyond3005" data-google-query-id="CKqQ3qrxheYCFXQUtwAdjnsPcg"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-5_0__container__"><iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-5_0" title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/21796214895/324391-300-250-5_0" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" data-google-container-id="41" data-load-complete="true"></iframe></div></div></div><p><br></p></div></article></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-30673129697906921182019-07-10T03:46:00.001-07:002019-07-10T03:46:07.581-07:00MSP help for 2% of Agri produce in India.<p dir="ltr">e National Agricultural Market(eNAM) and it played the role in marketing of farmers produce in India </p>
<p dir="ltr">As per the Dalwai Committee Report 2017-18 (Volume IV), there are close to 29,547 marketing points. Of these, 22% or 6,615, are regulated markets under the APMC and 22,932 are regional periodical markets (RPMs). On an average, a farmer gets a regulated market in the radius of about 12 km and a RPM in a radius of about 7 kms. Out of these 6,615 markets, the NAM scheme aimed to bring 585 markets (i.e. 9%) on its e-market platform by the end of financial year 2017-18. Quite commendably, as on March 2018, all targeted mandis, i.e., 585 that are in 16 states and 2 UTs, (Chandigarh and Puducherry), have been integrated with the NAM-platform.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But, these 585 mandis brought only 90.5 lakh farmers onto the platform, which is less than 7% of the 14 crore Indian farmers. Close to 17 MMTs of quantity worth Rs 42,265 crore (cumulative since platform’s inception), is reported to have been traded on the platform. But, this value is only about 2% of India’s total value of agricultural output.<br>
Salute to the Government for helping farmers for giving MSP to 2% of Agricultural produce of India.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-27204529180599987142019-04-15T10:02:00.001-07:002019-04-15T10:03:34.181-07:00Comments on article "Bold promises to reform agri-markets missing from BJP, Congress manifestoes"<p dir="ltr">By: Ashok Gulati | Published: April 15, 2019 4:46 AM</p>
<p dir="ltr">If India achieves a 4-5% growth in agri-GDP on a sustainable basis, it would need to export aggressively lest it creates a glut at home, adversely affecting farmers’ incomes.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Bold promises to reform agri-markets was what was expected from parties’ manifestoes, and while the Congress’s plans lack a fiscal roadmap, theBJP’s is silent altogether.</p>
<p dir="ltr">By Ashok Gulati & Ritika Juneja<br>
The festival of democracy started with the first phase of polling on April 11, 2019. Ideally, it should be celebrated like Holi, forgetting past enmity and embracing each other with love. But, unfortunately, it is being fought like a battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata epic. All weapons of politics—saam, daam, dand, bhed—are being used. Saam reaches for accord with other parties, daam uses money power to buy votes, dand uses CBI to raid camps of opponents, and bhed divides voters on caste/ religious lines. Voters are in a quandary as political parties are promising the moon in their manifestoes. Voters know most of these promises will be forgotten once the elections are over. Yet, one must look at these, since they reflect the best of their intentions. We examine some of these with respect to farmers and the poor, normally agri-labourers. Given that the full list is like a laundry list, we focus only on the big ticket promises.</p>
<p dir="ltr">BJP’s Sankalp Patra (manifesto) promises to double farmers’ income by 2022-23, a reiteration of its promise made in 2016. Under that heading, it lists 29 promises/schemes. The most notable one is the PM Kisan (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana), which will be extended to all farm families. It promises to give each farm family Rs 6,000 per year. With an estimated 14.6 crore farm families as per the 2015-16 survey, this would cost about Rs 87,600 crore per annum. This may be the largest direct income support (DIS) scheme by the government of India (GoI). But, as the NABARD survey on financial inclusion showed, average farmer household income was Rs 8,931 per month in 2015-16, which by now must have crossed Rs 10,000 per month (or Rs 120,000 per annum) in nominal terms, after adjusting for inflation. So, a support of Rs 6,000 per year is a meagre 5% support. Doubling of farmers’ income surely requires much more than this DIS.<br>
The Dalwai Committee set up by the Modi government in 2016 had made it clear that the promise to double farmers’ income was made in real terms with the base year of 2015-16. It calculated that it would need 10.4% growth per annum in real terms from 2016-17 to 2022-23 to double farmers’ real incomes. The past record of growth in real incomes of farmers during 2002-03 to 2015-16 shows that they increased at 3.7% per annum, and this growth follows the growth in agri-GDP very closely. Modi’s government’s five-year record of agri-GDP is pretty low at 2.9% per annum. This means that for the remaining 4 years, the growth in farmers’ real incomes has to be almost 15% per annum. This is next to impossible given the existing set of policies. No wonder the Congress party calls it a Modi government’s jumla.<br>
We feel that if India achieves a 4-5% growth in agri-GDP on a sustainable basis, it would need to export aggressively lest it creates a glut at home which will then adversely impact farmers’ incomes. But the Modi government’s record on agri-exports is most pathetic. From a peak of about $43 billion in agri-exports in 2013-14 that it inherited from UPA-2, till date, its exports have remained below that peak, meaning a negative growth through the five years of the Modi government. This is one major reason behind farm distress.<br>
What one was expecting from the main political parties was bold promises to reform agri-markets. But the BJP manifesto is quite silent on this. In that sense, the Congress manifesto scores better by explicitly promising to reform the Essential Commodities Act, repealing APMC, freeing up exports, etc. How they will do it is yet to be seen, but at least the thinking and its intent is in the right direction. Also, Congress promises Rs 72,000 per year to the bottom 20% of families under its NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) scheme, which may include many small and marginal farmers, tenants, and agri-labourers. It is likely to cost the fisc Rs 3.6 lakh crore, almost four times what PM-Kisan of BJP will cost. Obviously, everyone is asking where this money will come from. That is not spelt out in the manifesto. But since the Congress manifesto also gives a time frame under which it will be implemented, it seems serious about it.<br>
In both cases, it is clear that India is on the road to a major shift in policy towards direct income support (DIS), triggered by Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu and followed by Odisha’s KALIA. This move towards DIS can be a tectonic shift in policy if it subsumes at least the food and fertiliser subsidies and, if possible, the power subsidies at state level. Currently, the food subsidy is Rs 1.84 lakh crore with pending bills of FCI at Rs 1.3 lakh crore as on April 1, 2019. Fertiliser subsidy is Rs 75,000 crore with pending bills of about Rs 30,000 crore. If all these are merged and given as DIS to identified beneficiaries, that would be the wisest move by whichever party comes to power. Incidentally, much of this was recommended to the Modi government way back in 2015 by the Shanta Kumar panel report, a high powered committee set up by the Modi government itself. Maybe it is time to pick it up and implement it.<br>
There are many other promises. BJP, for example, promises zero-interest loans to farmers of up to Rs 1 lakh. The trouble with such schemes is that they lead to a massive diversion of agri-loans to non-agri-purposes. Modi government had made a big move in revamping crop insurance in 2016, but its rollout suffered several teething problems. The test of the existing scheme would be a drought year, but making it voluntary now may shrink its coverage. Then there is a promise of investing massive amounts in agriculture (Rs 25 lakh crore) without much details. Such promises remain vague and meaningless. But who cares, it is time to see the dance of democracy.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><u>Above</u> article says that " if India achieves a 4-5%growth in Agri GDP for doubling farmers income by 2022-23,it would need to export aggressively" is really not a good advise because sustaining a population of 130 billion alone is not a joke.India has always thrieved and sustained good food availability to its mammoth population for the last so many years was only possible because of its conservative food policies to keep sufficient buffer food grain stocks even for the possible drought year.So India has to keep buffe from the surplus/ so called glut only.Otherwise a food war would be possible where the wheat and rice would be sold in not less than 100 Rs kg.<br>
Moreover, does the writer think that the aggressive Agri export will really benefit the farmer?<br>
No the policymakers always do not make calculations by logic as they go only by mathematical calculations.As the profit of the exports will go to middle man only and not to the real farmers. And thus has been the tragedy of India that elimination of the middle man had not been made possible so far in India.<br>
Before we embark upon aggressive export let us first make the agr trade free within India and facilitate direct sales by the farmers. APMC laws have lived their life. APMC should be a facility provider and not mandatory. This has to be coupled with increase in withholding capacity of farmers by easy short term finance against produce and sufficient warehousing.<br><br><br><br></p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-21445155706573683052019-02-23T06:33:00.001-08:002019-02-23T06:33:17.206-08:00Farmers main difficulty not allowing him to become rich <p dir="ltr">Agriculture in India contributes 17 percent to Rs150 trillion economy,has remained relatively untouched by reforms with growth rates averaging below three percent over as many decades. Lack of technology, inefficient markets and small landholdings combined with insufficient storage and logistics facilities along with the fact that available storage infrastructures are far away from the field farms, have worsened to multiple challenges.</p>
<p dir="ltr">About a quarter Indian farmers live below the official poverty line, while 52 percent of farming households are indebted in spite of guaranteed prices for crop purchases by the federal government on at least three crops -- wheat, rice and cotton. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The agricultural sector plays a pivotal role in the growth and development of the Indian economy. It fulfils the food and nutrition requirements of 1.3 billion Indians as well as creates employment opportunities for the majority of the population.<br>
A clear indication of growth can be seen in increased investor activity in the Agritech start-up space. 2018 saw a investment in Indian agriculture, which is a 21per cent increase from the previous year. While this demonstrates progression, the sector still struggles behind in certain segments such as storage and supply chain management. With this growing demand, there is a need for agri-entrepreneurs to employ innovative models and solve the problems in this sector such as dissemination of information, farm management, capital availability, farm mechanization, improved cultivars, environment-friendly pesticides and fertilizers and agricultural supply chain. There are various segments lacking development, which open up opportunities for entrepreneurs:</p>
<p dir="ltr">Traditional methods are still used by farmers today, driven by experiences, which are not practical today. With the development and integration of new equipment, practices and types of seeds, these tasks can be handled with much more efficiency. The available data could be utilized and worked on to benefit cultivation across the board.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lack of correct tools and machines can lead to a lot more damage than anticipated, but it may not be affordable by many farmers. This can be rectified by agro-dealers who can offer rental services of farm machinery. Knowledge of machinery and its appropriate utilization is another invaluable service that should be provided to farmers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After harvesting of crops, processing, cleaning and packaging must be executed before the crop becomes fit for human consumption. This is a necessary step that cannot be done without the right tools. The profits are greatly amplified by pre post-harvest processing.<br>
Infrastructure: The quality of produce is enhanced with improved transport facilities. It helps create a market for agricultural produce and facilitates interaction among geographical regions. Over 35% of produce is often damaged and rendered wasteful due to lack of proper storage and transportation. Therefore, proper stacking and transportation is a dire necessity of the time.<br>
With the growing demand and advancement in technology, there is a constant need for the development of new methods and seeds in the agricultural industry. This can only be done through research and development. Farmers can access these researches to overcome issues like seed problems, crop sustainability, pests and diseases etc. Research can also ensure the development of quality and environment-friendly agrochemicals.<br>
Every stage in the value chain is important and dependent on one another to function properly and every stage is profitable. With the current challenges and opportunities prevalent in our country, entrepreneurship can provide innovative solutions to solve some of the critical issues in the agricultural sector.<br>
For further queries about Warehousing facilities and technical details, kindly approach us.</p>
<p dir="ltr">www.drarorawarehousing.co.<u>in</u></p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-575351199128357342019-02-21T16:57:00.001-08:002019-02-21T16:57:08.980-08:00increasing demand for quality warehousing spaces in India.<p dir="ltr">Increasing industrial investments in manufacturing (near Chennai) and IT investments (in Bangalore and other southern cities) are expected to drive the growth of retailing especially in south India, thus pushing the demand for modern warehouse space. In addition, the increasing relationships of logistics players–DHL, FedEx, Gati, with retail companies–Celio, Pantaloons, Future Group, Danone, are increasing the demand for quality warehousing spaces in India.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The retail segment also demands the highest quality of service from logistics solution providers. Global benchmarks are being increasingly applied to retail operations in India. Not only do logistics service providers require breadth of transportation network but also expertise in storage and value-added services to cater to such a dynamic market.Food retailing has also gained importance in the recent past. India’s food retail sector, worth around ` 3.1 trillion is expected to more than double, to ` 6.7 trillion by 2025, riding on the emerging organised retail as well as the change in consumption patterns along with fast-changing demographics and habits. As food products are perishable, there arises the need for temperature-controlled warehousing and transportation services, thus opening up investment opportunitiesin cold storages for multinational companies and private equity firms.Apart from foods retailing, the changing spending patterns in rural areas have also been attracting retailers to establish their bases in there. As rural areas do not have well-developed infrastructure, retailers are investing in cold storages and customised warehouses nearer to the farms and manufacturing places to avoid damage during transportation and to reduce costs.<br>
Therefore, there is unimaginable scope of warehousing in retail and the retail in food items including processed foods,clothes, consumables, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, auto- parts,as is evident from the data of increased sales recently through online retail business on B2B and B2C.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-13270723971675618792019-02-10T19:46:00.001-08:002019-02-15T18:40:51.511-08:00Incressing global need for cold storage <p dir="ltr">From 2017 the global need for cold storage space increased dramatically, driven by growth in the world’s population, increased varieties of perishable commodities and the global consumer demand for fresh produce year-round. And these factors are pushing occupancy rates at cold-storage facilities to an all-time high. During this period the big players are also starting to build just-in-time inventories. Furthermore, with the growth of world population now standing at 7 billion people and with approx.12.5% of the world land estimated to be under cultivation, the annual global food production (animal & seafood) reached to an estimated level of 6.8 billion tons during 2014-15. The FAO estimates that by the year 2050, food production will have to increase globally by 70% (about 4400 million tons) to feed an additional 2.3 billion people. Our global population are said to need over 1850 million product tons of cold storage facilities for all kinds of food products. During 2016 the IARW estimated that global cold storage capacity for 52 countries reported that approx. 600 million cubic meters of global refrigerated warehouse space have been constructed & commissioned – mainly public refrigerated warehouse facilities (private refrigerated facilities are not considered significant). From the above , India (population 1260 million) surpassed the US and had biggest cold storage capacity in the world with 131 million cubic meter space (USA had 115 million, China 78 million, Brazil 16 million & Indonesia 12 million cubic meter space).<br>
<br>
It is estimated that every second, 66 tons of food products are either lost or thrown away, according to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group. This amount translates into 1.7 billion tons of food a year, <br>
that is about one fourth of the food produced across the world. While this huge amount of food is lost between the farm and the fork, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says over ten percent of the world's population are suffering from chronic undernourishment.<br>
<br>
With the fact that the nutritional energy (calorie content) of our produced food seems in excess of those required to feed the world population, it is hoped that with the infrastructure of road construction and the emergence of additional refrigerated vehicles such as vans , trucks semi-trailers & 40 ft trailers (all of which are desperately being sought by China & India for a combined fleet of 500,000 vehicles) together with recruiting of many qualified drivers & system repair technicians , storage & logistics; the tragic global malnutrition phenomena (which now account to over one billion) is anticipated to be significantly minimized by contribution to addressing the issue of undernourishment, particularly in the deprived sectors of the world.<br>
<br>
Refrigeration inhibits the development of bacteria and toxic pathogens, reduces the need for chemical preservatives in food thus preventing food borne diseases. According to WHO within 50 years a substantial decrease of stomach cancer was achieved due to application of cold chain industries.<br>
Besides cold storage increases rhe shelf life of all the vegetable,fruits,poultry dairy and meat products besides some grocery items and pharmaceutical products.<br>
Therefore now the time has come when almost many products will be used for consumption which come from the cold storage.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-73446157555854007942019-02-06T00:24:00.001-08:002019-02-06T00:24:28.952-08:00Strategies to be devised to increase the registration of warehouse for issue of NWRs<p dir="ltr">1.The regulations are for day to day activities of warehousing business and need modification up gradation from time to time and Government approval procedure takes lengthy time to solve the issues at proper time, for which Government approval is not necessary. The WDRA shall be empowered to make regulations by its own for which no approval of central Government shall be necessary. </p>
<p dir="ltr"> 2 The confidence level of the depositors for keeping their goods in privately owned warehouses registered with WDRA is very low, due to which the owners also do not find any initiative for getting their warehouses registered. It was discussed that there is no comfort level in getting the registration done, because recoveries due to losses is very uncertain as the punishment provisions provided in the WDR Act, 2007 are off course deterrent to such losses but there is no solution for grievances of the depositors and Banks for recovery of their losses which are not covered under any insurance policies.<br>
Therefore Authority has to devise some preventive methods to eliminate chances of losses such as to ascertain good background and good track history of the owner/Warehouseman or by appointing some outsourced agencies who can work as collateral Managers also of such warehouse which are registered by WDRA, or by taking help of state Govt. appointed licensing authorities whose basic duty also is to ensure fair and proper running of warehouses before granting them the licenses for warehousing. This will bring confidence amongst depositors and Banks.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 3 Besides, The Act shall provide penalty and punishments for the registered warehouses for violating the provisions of the Act but surprisingly there is no punishment/penalty for unregistered warehouses violating the same provisions of the Act. This non inclusion of punishment/penalty for unregistered warehouse is a like an incentive for violating all norms and regulations of the Act and getting scot free.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 4 The Act shall provide provision for indemnity fund.<br>
The indemnity fund is a type of insurance program that protects the farmer from loss of value should the grain be destroyed or damaged beyond its economic value while in storage. Without the indemnity protection, the risk of storing the grain for sale at a future time might be too high. The indemnity fund shall give a financial support system for the recovery of loss to the depositors/beneficial owners in the event of any failure of the warehouseman to deliver the goods or pay compensation as per its commitment, because the Act provides for punishments including recovery but which may take years for the metropolitan court to decide. Besides recoveries are also not possible in certain cases like bankruptcy and other reasons such as force measures and natural losses due to moisture driage etc. </p>
<p dir="ltr"> Therefore, the Act shall provide provision of some corpus fund which may be in the name of indemnity fund to mitigate financial risks which cannot be recovered under any circumstances but are protected under various provisions of the Act by the Government. This will protect integrity of NWR system and therefore NWR issued by a warehouseman under the Act will be a “good title”<br>
. <br>
5. WDRA shall have judicial status with powers to settle disputes of all types in different warehousing activities to be notified.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 6The registration of warehouses shall be in the name of warehouseman along with the name of owner and name of company, to have more clarity on the part of fixation of responsibility.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 7 The Act shall include provisions for indemnity fund to mitigate financial risk of stake holders i.e. depositor, banker, financer, holder of warehouse receipt in whose name the depositor has endorsed.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 8.The activities of logistics and supply chain management shall also be covered under the preview of WDRA.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 9. The clarity is required for getting the registration done by a warehouseman for a part of the warehouse in the form of minimum one compartment/shed/godown.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 10.Scope of offences and penalties may be broadened by way of notification of authorizing WDRA nominated officer to seal a godown which shall be duly protected by police.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 11. The scope of WDRA shall also be broadened in formulating various standards, code of practices, designs and standardization of all procedures of different activities pertaining to all warehousing activities. </p>
<p dir="ltr"> 12.The section 43, 44 and 45 prescribes punishments of imprisonment up to three years but does not empower WDRA to recover the damages/losses under the Act.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 13. Provision shall be there in the Act to include banker and endorse, as their right to verify physical condition /physical presence of the stock along with the value mentioned in NWR to increase the comfort level.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 14.Norms of storage losses due to natural driage shall be included in the Act for various commodities.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 15. Provision shall be there in the Act to include the condition that the endorsement done by the depositor shall be immediately informed along with name and address of endorsee.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 16. The WDRA role shall be as a regulator to ascertain that all activities of warehousing in India are in accordance of the norms and procedures prescribed by WDRA and to deal with the matters accordingly.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 17.Min.of Finance May issue guidelines to all banking regulators and financial institutions to devise attractive schemes for popularising NWRs </p>
<p dir="ltr"> 18. WDRA in consultation with MEA ,RBI and NABARD may make regulations for making rating of warehouses based on proposed standards which may result into reflecting different level of confidence of different registered warehouses.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 19. Banks may be advised to prioritise loans to WDRA registered warehouses,for which Banks may be empowered at local branch level to reduce rate of interest 2-3%,depending upon ratings as per the said regulations laid down.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 20. All APMCs,local warehousing license issuing authorities may also be given space in the regulation making process.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 21 Example of MP Govt, may be followed by other state govts.to give priority to WDRA registerd warehouses,wherein more % of share to owners of warehouses is given which are registered with WDRA,in storage of govt.procured food grains.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 22. The FMC had issued circular dated 30.08.2013 for the mandatory registration of Exchange-accredited warehouses with the WDRA, accordingly the WDRA has been receiving following feedback for doing registration of exchange accredited warehouses:- <br>
Since the failure of the warehouse receipt system appears to be one of the main reasons for the crisis in the NSEL, the mandatory registration provides an opportunity and a challenge to the WDRA to establish a regulatory mechanism for oversight and integrity of the warehouse management system as follows:-<br>
AWherever not full but part of the warehouse is required by the Exchange, the WDRA should protect the interest of other depositors, and look into the warehouse as a whole.<br>
In devising the mechanism and the framework, the WDRA should study all the lessons learnt from the NSEL and provide safeguards to prevent recurrences.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> B“Fit and proper conditions” for WSPs should be worked out and specified by the WDRA.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> C.The WDRA should specify comprehensive norms for insurance as mandated under the W(D&R) Act.The WDRA should evolve suitable norms on capitalisation, ownership, financial adequacy, etc. of the WSPs.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> D The WDRA should revisit the norms for the infrastructure, maintenance and quality standards for the Exchange-accredited warehouses.<br>
E.The WDRA should also work out a financial support system for the recovery of loss to the depositors/beneficial owners in the event of any failure of the WSP to deliver the goods or pay compensation as per its commitment.<br>
F. A robust ongoing inspection system should be put in place.in which the regulations may be formed for allowing ex/retired employees of different warehousing organisations after taking security deposit of some amount say Rs5 lakhs in the form of Bank guarantee or Bank FD so that most of the intelligent and devoted and highly experienced persons with integrity and devotions could be utilised in the nation's interest as the present appointed agencies are totally having no background and experience of warehousing and rather they are exploiting the same manpower which is proposed in this request.This action will enhance the fiscal trust of the financial institutions if the no of such inspecting persons are appointed to the tune of 100 in nos,so that each and every warehouse is inspected at least once in a quarter to boost the confidence of all the stake holders. Govt may sanction a budget on this account exclusively for the inspections of registered warehouses,as the preventive strategies are always healthy for the health of the warehousing ecosystem rather than taking curative treatments after the system becomes sick and if not treated in time then it may die also.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-27232856556096566502019-01-23T21:25:00.001-08:002019-01-23T21:25:08.334-08:00The bottom line and the bottom of the pyramid<p dir="ltr">Creating sustainable for-profit businesses that target people at the bottom of the income pyramid is a topic of growing interest to development finance institutions, private investors, and local entrepreneurs to support poverty reduction through private sector business opportunities.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With increasing focus on this lower income segment, companies both large and small have started to recognize that there is a large market potential represented by the base of the income pyramid.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For multilateral development banks, like ADB, this is an important way to mobilize and engage the private sector to achieve poverty alleviation and reduce income inequalities in developing countries.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The good news is that the Asia and Pacific region is already demonstrating how innovative, inclusive finance can make a difference, but much more can be done. In India, for example, the government has prioritized financial inclusion and, as a result, great strides have been made in opening bank accounts for millions of the previously unbanked. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Banks and non-banking financial companies such as IFMR Holdings have developed business models that have as their core business strategy a target of financing lower income people. IFMR Capital innovatively works to mobilize capital markets funding for microfinance institutions, which traditionally have limited access to this financing base.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">Other successful examples of bottom-of-the-pyramid funding are being seen in Central Asia through the Access Microfinance Holding network and through the pioneering work of the Kashf Foundation in Pakistan.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mountain Hazelnuts, an agribusiness firm, has been a pioneer of bottom-of-the-pyramid solutions in Bhutan. It grows and exports hazelnuts to the People’s Republic of China, where it has found a niche in capturing the increasing demand for higher-end agricultural products from the Chinese market. At the same time, it is increasing livelihoods for thousands or rural workers – mostly women.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Of course, these solutions do not happen without finance. Leading global banks such as Credit Suisse see that bottom-of-the-pyramid investments can be good business. But the market is far from saturated. With over 2 billion consumers spread across developing Asia, the opportunities are limitless for financial institutions that take the time to understand their clients and develop the kind of innovative solutions that can serve this underserved market.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Modi Govt is now trying the same idea for achieving political gain by investing in the rural india,as the interim budget on 1st Feb 2019 provision for farming & agriculture can be anything between 11 lakh crore to 15 lakh crore. <br>
My suggestion to the govt is that it should utilize and spend money mostly of investment in nature for the rural upliftment to touch the bottom of the heart of the bottom line of the pyramid to get the ballot support from the rural masses, because other methods such as MSP,Loan waiver and other schemes may not be attractive to the masses because these all schemes are reaching only to 20% to 30 % of the rural masses. Besides rural population has many other non farmer and non farming labours. Who will take care about their grievances? They also form a great chunk of rural population.<br>
Regards,<br>
DR N K ARORA</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-88491999326922103412019-01-17T21:48:00.001-08:002019-01-17T21:48:48.516-08:00Income support scheme under DIT( Direct income transfer) to tje rural farmers of india.<p dir="ltr">Odisha Govt under the  Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia)  will transfer the amount under the scheme comprises three components: a) Rs 5,000/family per crop season to over 30 lakh small and marginal farmers having less than 5 acres of land, b) Rs 12,500/family per year to 10 lakh landless agriculture labourers and c) Rs 10,000/family to 5 lakh ‘vulnerable’ farmers every year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The cost for the whole scheme has been estimated at Rs 10,180 crore in five seasons starting rabi 2018-19.<br>
While Telangana is giving Rs 4,000/acre each season to all land-owing farmers, Odisha has restricted it to Rs 5,000/family as it has also announced scheme for landless farmers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">State Govt of Telangana has been implementing an income support scheme for farmers called Rythu Bandhu since May 2018 paid Rs 5,256 crore to about 51 lakh farmers during kharif 2018 under the Rythu Bandhu for purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and labour costs. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The Centre is now also reportedly considering an income support scheme (which may be announced in the interim Budget to be presented on February 1), </p>
<p dir="ltr">I doubt that the said scheme of income <br>
support can be implemented in the right spirit because all other states are also rolling out one or the other income support scheme and there will be a total chaos due to duplication of the income support schemes at the state level and center level both to claim the contribution of the respective political party or the concerned Govt.<br>
Therefore the central government shall roll out the income support scheme very cautiously so that the real benefit goes to the real and needy poor and mass farmers.As the govt of telangana and odisha has been giving benefit to only approx 1 crores farmers and landless farmers. It will be a harculrean task for the central govt to handle all the farmers and landless farmers which are to the tine of more than 10 crores landholdings.<br>
As per Registrar General of India & Census report 2011 the total farmers or cultivators population of India is 118.7 million (2011) & 144.3 million agricultural workers/labourers which consists 263 million ot total rural  population means 26 crore.<br>
I don't think that it is a easy job for the central govt to roll out a i come support scheme in such a small period of approx 2 weeks time by 1st Feb 2019  for such a large population data of rural india. Govt should rethink and replan by allocation of funds to states for devising their own policies of i come support, because different states having different agricultural ecosystems with different problems of the agricultural it related issues and they have to be first understood and then the scheme can be devised by the respective States. Otherwise if the central government wants to take credit for the benefit of the farmers then they must derive some scheme of assuring income through MSP already declared and to be implemented through already legal instruments in existence by the government of India which are Aadhar/WDRA and ENWR which can be linked with each other and the government can transfer the amount of MSP to the respective farmers and this is the only way where in the smallest available time it can be implemented with very proper accuracy otherwise it may be failure.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-46303218253840645782019-01-17T20:18:00.001-08:002019-01-17T20:18:56.721-08:00Growth of electronic negotiable warehouse receipt under regime of warehousing development and regulatory authority (WDRA)<p dir="ltr">History of WR ( warehouse receipt) started from the day of 1960s  when the warehouse receipt used to be issued by warehouse man under the different state warehouses act. Thereafter in the years of 1980s this instrument of warehouse receipt became the symbol of hundi where  the traders and farmers used to keep this warehouse receipt in the custody of landlords and money lenders and took loan and Finance against the warehouse receipt hypothecated with the landlords /money lenders, is this instrument of warehouse receipt used to be considered as a safety or the guarantee from the warehouse is that there the stock mentioned in the warehouse receipt is safe and can be handed over to the person in whose name the endorsement is given by the owner of the warehouse receipt. This way the confidence built up started amongst the Financial Institutions also against the guarantee being given and understood to be given by the warehouse man for the stocks and details mentioned in the warehouse receipt. Thereafter this became the practice of the day and there used to be huge financial transactions of the cost of commodities along with the quality and quantity mentioned in the warehouse receipts.<br>
But in the above practice off day today transactions and transfers of warehouse receipts from one person to another person there started some legal complications also when the dishonest elements came into the scene of warehousing and then it was realised that some legal status has to be given to this warehouse receipt so that legal problems may not arise and the transfer of warehouse receipt becomes smooth and easy and with this idea concept of Negotiable warehouse receipt started on which various committees of the government along with the committee of Reserve Bank of India started working on it and came out with the suggestion of making negotiable warehouse receipt and its regulation by some authority and later on this concept was tabled in the form of Bill in the Parliament and and Act was passed named as warehousing development and Regulation Act 2007 under which authority named as w d r a came into existence in 2010 under which provision for converting of these warehouse receipts into electronic negotiable warehouse receipt was mentioned and after making great efforts by various experts on this field concept of electronic negotiable warehouse receipt emerged and wdra started working on this concept and came out with a idea of making available the services of electronic repository for keeping the  data  store  of different commodities  being stored in the warehouses and details their of are issued in the form of warehouses receipt, just on the line of the depositories keeping the records of dats being stored for the stocks like, equities and shares.<br>
To bring about the above concept of eNWR into practice, WDRA came with appointing two repositories namely NERL and CCRL in September 2017 after making detailed guidelines for the repositories.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The eNWRs issued by the warehoused are kept and stored on the electronic platform of the repositories and are just like digital  money, wherein the farmers can sell the commodities mentioned on these enwr when the farmer finds that the price of the commodity is reasonable and to his satisfaction for which he has expected the price for the commodities produced by him so that he is suitably compensated for the labour and investment he has made in producing the agricultural commodities. And in case he does not get the desired price then he has another option of this platform of repository by keeping his eNWR under pledge so that the same stocks can be his source of raising loans from the Financial Institutions and banks.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It would be a game-changer for farmers. when their commodities are dematerialised in the repositories, wherein all the. Data and details of commodity under storage in a warehouse is accessible online to the banks and other financial institutions so that they are fully convinced that stocks being kept under pledge with them is guaranteed for the money recovery and hence they will be very happy to give loans to the owner of the stocks, who is either a farmer or a trader, and they would have easier access to institutional farm loans, at lower rates also.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The eNWRs have distinct advantages over the paper-based receipts. They allow farmers or depositors to have access to a large number of buyers across the country and thus would increase their bargaining power. They can do multiple transfers without physical movement of goods.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Moreover, farmers don’t even have to cart their produce to the market for selling. Once sold, the buyer would be able to pick up the purchased commodity from where it has been stored.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Even consumers of these agricultural commodities such as industries, processors, wholesalers and retailers benefit as they will be able to procure graded produce with a seal of quality assurance, </p>
<p dir="ltr">Although the repository namely NERL is making good efforts with Quality Services being given to all the respective stakeholders , whether it is the warehouse man or a farmer or a trader or a repository Participant, it is the NERL, which is making full efforts   every time with  all the dedication for increasing its services by making more and more eNWR, in its repository and facilitating the transfer and pledging of the commodity for the help of the depositors and farmers  to get the remunerative prices of the producers and relieve them from the financial stress.<br>
For achieving above target of relieving farmers from the financial stress and getting the remunerative prices the nerl is making all efforts as its team and key management personnel are very much devoted and in spite of many bottlenecks.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In order to review and assess viability and functioning of the repository nd also for easy movement and transfer of eNWR,and the bottlenecks in the existing system, it is very much essential to have a proper analysis about the functioning of the whole ecosystem of the eNWR.<br>
All across globe, a well-functioning warehouse receipt financing system based on public warehouses has the potential to reduce risks and transaction costs in collateralised financing, which may result in broad-based access to such financing and low costs. However, for this to be achieved, an enabling legal environment and institutional set-up need to be in place to instil trust in the system among financiers and commodity market participants and to safeguard its integrity. Only when the financial community has a high degree of confidence in the system will it lend against warehouse receipts, and interest rates will be reduced. Core elements of a well-developed warehouse receipt system include:</p>
<p dir="ltr">  1 an enabling legal and regulatory framework;</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 2 a regulatory and supervisory agency;</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 3 licensed and supervised public warehouses;</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 4 insurance and financial performance guarantees;</p>
<p dir="ltr"> 5 banks familiar with the use of warehouse receipts.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite the differences among countries and legal traditions, an enabling legal framework should clearly define the following issues and related rules and procedures: i) the warehouse receipt’s legal status as a document of title or pledge; ii) rights and obligations of the depositor and the warehouse operator; iii) perfection of security interests (registration of the warehouse receipt or pledge); iv) protection of the warehouse receipt against fraud, and financial performance guarantees; v) priority for the claims of the holder of the warehouse receipt in case of borrower default or bankruptcy; and vi) clear procedures in case of bankruptcy of the warehouse operator and for the administration of financial performance guarantees.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Warehousing development & regulation Act 2007 was also meant to achieve the same objects, but the Act has not been designed to sync the basic and fundamental principles of commodity market financing as the Act has to achieve the basic goal of guarantee and trust of the warehouse receipt because of no powers to authority (WDRA) and hence teeth-less and which has to depend again on juridical proceedings for taking action against the defaulters. Secondly punitive actions are so harsh that no warehouse service provider will like to opt for registration. The punishments shall be for the regulatory lapses in the mechanism and system.But surprisingly the Act directly jumps into conclusive frauds and losses. It is a common sense that if the detailed mechanism for lapses found in different stages are worked out in the rules and the financial punitive powers are given to the Authority, then definitely a sense of regulatory control will lead to the desired level of collateral trusts in the ecosystem of financial performance guarantee..</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-2961308010885246352018-12-31T06:06:00.001-08:002018-12-31T06:07:35.264-08:00India agriculture scenario <p dir="ltr">Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 per cent of India’s population. Gross Value Added by agriculture, forestry and fishing is estimated at Rs 17.67 trillion in FY18.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Indian food industry is poised for huge growth, increasing its contribution to world food trade every year due to its immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry. The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing 70 per cent of the sales. The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32 per cent of the country’s total food market, one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth. It contributes around 8.80 and 8.39 per cent of Gross Value Added (GVA) in Manufacturing and Agriculture respectively</p>
<p dir="ltr">*Market Size* </p>
<p dir="ltr">During 2017-18* crop year, food grain production is estimated at record 284.83 million tonnes. In 2018-19, Government of India is targeting foodgrain production of 285.2 million tonnes. Milk production was estimated at 165.4 million tonnes during FY17, while meat production was 7.4 million tonnes. As of September 2018, total area sown with kharif crops in India reached 105.78 million hectares.</p>
<p dir="ltr">India is the second largest fruit producer in the world. Production of horticulture crops is estimated at record 306.82 million tonnes (mt) in 2017-18 as per third advance estimates.</p>
<p dir="ltr">*Total agricultural exports from India grew at a CAGR of 16.45 per cent over FY10-18 to reach US$ 38.21 billion* in FY18. Between Apr-Oct 2018 agriculture exports were US$ 21.61 billion. India is also the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products. Spice exports from India reached US$ 3.1 billion in 2017-18. </p>
<p dir="ltr">*Investments* </p>
<p dir="ltr">According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the Indian food processing industry has cumulatively attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflow of about US$ 8.57 billion between April 2000 and June 2018.</p>
<p dir="ltr">*Some major investments and developments in agriculture are as follows:* </p>
<p dir="ltr">By early 2019, India will start exporting sugar to China.The first mega food park in Rajasthan was inaugurated in March 2018.Agrifood start-ups in India received funding of US$ 1,66 billion between 2013-17 in 558 deals.In 2017, agriculture sector in India witnessed 18 M&A deals worth US$ 251 million.Government Initiatives</p>
<p dir="ltr">Some of the recent major government initiatives in the sector are as follows:</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 was approved by Government of India in December 2018. *The new policy aims to increase India’s agricultural exports to US$ 60 billion by 2022 and US$ 100 billion in the next few years* with a stable trade policy regime.In September 2018, the Government of India announced Rs 15,053 crore (US$ 2.25 billion) procurement policy named ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan' (PM-AASHA), under which states can decide the compensation scheme and can also partner with private agencies to ensure fair prices for farmers in the country.In September 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a Rs 5,500 crore assistance package for the sugar industry in India.The Government of India is going to provide Rs 2,000 crore  for computerisation of Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) to ensure cooperatives are benefitted through digital technology.With an aim to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture, the Government of India is introducing a new AGRI-UDAAN programme to mentor start-ups and to enable them to connect with potential investors.The Government of India has launched the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore aimed at development of irrigation sources for providing a permanent solution from drought.The Government of India plans to triple the capacity of food processing sector in India from the current 10 per cent of agriculture produce and has also committed Rs 6,000 crore  as investments for mega food parks in the country, as a part of the Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters (SAMPADA).The Government of India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in marketing of food products and in food product e-commerce under the automatic route.Achievements in the sectorThe Electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) was launched in April 2016 to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities by networking existing APMCs. Up to May 2018, *9.87 million farmers, 109,725 traders were registered on the e-NAM* platform. 585 mandis in India have been linked while 415 additional mandis will be linked in 2018-19 and 2019-20. *Agriculture storage capacity in India increased at 4 per cent CAGR between 2014-17 to reach 131.8 million metric tonnes* .</p>
<p dir="ltr">Coffee exports reached record 395,000 tonnes in 2017-18.Between 2014-18, 10,000 clusters were approved under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).Between *2014-15 and 2017-18 (up to December 2017), capacity of 2.3 million metric tonnes was added in godowns while steel silos with a capacity of 625,000 were also created* during the same *period.Around 100 million Soil Health Cards (SHCs) have been distributed* in the country during 2015-17 and a soil health mobile app has been launched to help Indian farmers.Road Ahead</p>
<p dir="ltr">The agriculture sector in India is expected to generate better momentum in the next few years due to increased investments in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities, warehousing and cold storage. Furthermore, the growing use of genetically modified crops will likely improve the yield for Indian farmers. India is expected to be self-sufficient in pulses in the coming few years due to concerted efforts of scientists to get early-maturing varieties of pulses and the increase in minimum support price.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The government of India targets to increase the average income of a farmer household at current prices to Rs 219,724  by 2022-23 from Rs 96,703 in 2015-16.This achievement is grossly impossible, keeping in view the last three years income data of the farmers.<br>
However, India's agriculture growth is poised to fly in coming years due to the increase in awareness and also brain storming discussions between various sections of farmers and real agri experts and also a major chunk of pseudo agri experts,but their rumor mongering may also lead to the ground realities and may lead to force the govt to generate agriculture real time data, so that india is bound to be most super agricultural ly productive and highly competitive quality wise and quantity wise in every respect in the international agri market.<br>
Regards<br>
DR N K <u>ARORA</u></p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-39991489879169121522018-10-20T22:37:00.001-07:002018-10-20T22:37:27.637-07:00Food sufficiency but no food security and no nutritional security<p dir="ltr">Where does India stand today in terms of wheat and rice? While India’s population has grown by more than four times, from 330 million in 1947 to 1.35 billion in 2018, our wheat production increased by over 15 times (from about 6.5 MMT in 1950-51 to 99.7 MMT in 2017-18). India contributes about 13% to the world wheat production, next only to China with about 17% share. Rice production shot up by about 5.5 times (from 20.6 MMT in 1950-51 to 112.9 MMT in 2017-18), accounting for about 23% share in world rice production, next only to China with about 29% share. India is also the largest exporter of rice in the world with about 12.7 MMT (where Basmati is 4.06 MMT and Non-Basmati is 8.65 MMT), valued at $7.7 billion.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Notwithstanding foodgrain surpluses, India faces a complex challenge of nutritional security. FAO’s recent publication, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018, estimates that about 15% of the Indian population is undernourished. Further, ironically, 38.4% of Indian children aged below five years are stunted, while 21% suffer from wasting. That is, one in every four children is malnourished. Several factors ranging from poor diets, unsafe drinking water, poor hygiene and sanitation, low levels of immunisation and education, especially that of women, contribute to this dismal situation. But latest innovations in bio-technologies towards bio-fortification of major staples with micro nutrients like vitamin A, zinc, iron, etc. can be game changers.These conjectures are made that india has to give attention towards nutrition security whereas the food security act 2013 has not delivered anything because the hunger gravity is the same which was earlier. I don't know whether the govt will be serious about food security and nutrition security both at the same time for which measures have to ne taken so that the hunger and the nutrition deficiency is wiped out.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-21836688124151388412018-10-10T18:42:00.001-07:002018-10-10T18:42:57.663-07:00Warehouse Boom in india<p dir="ltr">There is Warehouse Boom in <u>india</u> as<br>
Rs 45,000 crore would be invested in creating storage facilities across India between 2018 and 2020. Of this, warehousing is expected to be the chunkiest at more than three quarters of the estimated investment. Cold storage, agri storage, and container storage form rest of the pie. Institutional investors are in business. According to Knight Frank, a property consultancy, warehousing investments accounted for around 26 per cent of the total private equity (PE) investments into real estate between January 2014 and January 2018. Sustainable urban development and business space solutions provider Ascendas-Singbridge, and global PEs such as Warburg Pincus and Brookfield Asset Management among others pumped in $3.4 billion (Rs22,100 crore) of institutional capital during this period.  The property consultancy added in a report that the "actual size of capital movement would be higher, as these numbers only cover the major investments by organised players".<br>
Indian warehouses, particularly, in the unorganised sector, were not really warehouses - they were godowns.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Many of them are in terrible shape. In monsoons, the roof leaks. When temperatures rise in the summers, it can damage electronic items. The floor quality, the heart of the warehouse because the throughput depends on it, is in poor shape as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Concrete or low quality steel godowns are now being replaced by steel structures, which are pre-engineered in factories and then assembled at the location. Modern warehouses are water proof, have good ventilation, and insulation to reduce the temperature inside that make it comfortable for those working. Every inch is covered by CCTV camera to avoid theft. Outside, planned wide roads ensure trucks come in and leave without a traffic jam. Embassy, as its name suggests, is building parks. Similar to a business park, its warehousing park would offer business centres, green areas, sewage systems, truck parking, the electrical infrastructure, ATMs, first aid centre, driver rest areas.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The way India stores is changing, particularly, after GST was enforced in 2017.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, consumer durable and other manufacturing firms are consolidating smaller warehouses across multiple states, set up to be tax efficient, into a few strategic but large ones considering India is now a single tax country.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Logistics companies have tight hugged the opportunity. From managing single company warehouses, they are shifting to a multi-client, multi-product model. The French FM Logistic, for instance, runs 83 warehouses in India. Only one of them, in Bhiwandi near Mumbai, is a multi-client one.Post GST, companies decided on multi-client facility. Larger e-commerce players like Amazon prefer to have dedicated warehouses. But the small e-commerce players can take advantage of our multi-customer facilities because you need huge flexibility and there are peaks, like during Diwali.<br>
As companies consolidate operations in large warehouses, they can cut down on cost. Larger warehouses also lend themselves better to automation, which implies a quicker turnaround.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The spurt in demand has led to real estate prices and rentals rising in some regions, like that on Tauru Road and in Bhiwandi. The demand for quality warehouses is far outstripping supply at the moment. While new warehouses are coming online nearly every month, the supply scenario isn't going to change anytime soon. According to industry watchers, it could take nearly two years for the market to be flooded with enough 'Grade A' and 'Grade B' stock, the industry's lingo for better warehouses. 'Grade C' is a godown.<br>
This way india is taking big strides in warehousing activities which will ultimately e a ballistic missiles for the speedier economic growth of india in comparison to any country in the world.So think of the warehousing business and become business tycoons in very small period.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-25369365575340299832018-09-10T19:00:00.001-07:002018-09-10T19:00:36.619-07:00Importance of warehousing in logistics industries in India.<p dir="ltr">Challenges faced by the recent logistics industry in India<br>
The most essential challenge faced by the industry today is insufficient integration of transport networks, information technology and warehousing & distribution facilities. Regulations exist at a number of different tiers, is imposed by national, regional and local authorities. However, the regulations differ from city to city, hindering the creation of national networks.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Trained Manpower is essential both for the third party logistics sector as well as the manufacturing and retailing sectors, which is very weak at a practical level, i.e., IT, driving and warehouse as well as at a higher strategic level. The disorganized nature of the logistics sector in India, its perception as a manpower-heavy industry and lack of adequate training institutions has led to a shortfall in skilled management and client service personnel. There is a lack of IT standard, equipment and poor systems integration.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Poor facilities and management are the reason for high levels of loss, damage and deterioration of stock, mainly in the perishables sector. Part of the problem is insufficient specialist equipment, i.e. proper refrigerated storage and containers, but it is also partly down to lack of training. The practitioners and the academicians are now aware of the importance of logistics and supply chain; however the field is still under penetrated as far as research is concerned. It is essential to prioritize research and development so that the weaknesses in the industry can be taken care of and improved.<br>
*Infrastructure is the backbone of every country’s growth and prosperity and for the logistics industry to flourish special emphasis has to be on building world-class road networks, integrated rail corridors, modern cargo facilities at airports and creation of logistics parks which need to be given a status equivalent to Special Economic Zones.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It is necessary to realize that the benefits which can bestly be practiced in logistics industry can be brought about by the companies by *establishing training intuitions,* so that there is improvement in the overall service quality of the sector *. Good storage and Warehousing facilities are important for the growth of the logistics industry* .* With the increase in the transportation of perishable products, the *logistics agencies needs to give a lot of importance to enhancing the Warehousing facilities.* </p>
<p dir="ltr">*Warehousing is required to go to the next level taking into account the changing dynamics of JIT manufacturing, global procurement and new models of sales and distribution. Emphasis on research and development is potent mainly because it encourages the use of indigenous technology which can make the industry cost competitive and can also bring about improvement in services  thereby using better, effective and efficient services. Particular focus has to be on research in process excellence which can help to eliminate inefficiencies and bring Indian logistics on par with global practices.*</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-40520086887333131542018-07-16T21:41:00.001-07:002018-07-16T21:41:09.288-07:00Difficulties in acieving aims of WDRA Act2007<p dir="ltr">All across globe, a well-functioning warehouse receipt financing system based on public warehouses has the potential to reduce risks and transaction costs in collateralised financing, which may result in broad-based access to such financing and low costs. However, for this to be achieved, an enabling legal environment and institutional set-up need to be in place to instil trust in the system among financiers and commodity market participants and to safeguard its integrity. Only when the financial community has a high degree of confidence in the system will it lend against warehouse receipts, and interest rates will be reduced. Core elements of a well-developed warehouse receipt system include:<br>
<br>
1 an enabling legal and regulatory framework; 2 a regulatory and supervisory agency; 3 licensed and supervised public warehouses; 4 insurance and financial performance guarantees; 5 banks familiar with the use of warehouse receipts.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite the differences among countries and legal traditions, an enabling legal framework should clearly define the following issues and related rules and procedures: i) the warehouse receipt’s legal status as a document of title or pledge; ii) rights and obligations of the depositor and the warehouse operator; iii) perfection of security interests (registration of the warehouse receipt or pledge); iv) protection of the warehouse receipt against fraud, and financial performance guarantees; v) priority for the claims of the holder of the warehouse receipt in case of borrower default or bankruptcy; and vi) clear procedures in case of bankruptcy of the warehouse operator and for the administration of financial performance guarantees.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Warehousing development & regulation Act <a href="tel:2007">2007</a> was also meant to achieve the same objects, but the Act has not been designed to sync the basic and fundamental principles of commodity market financing as the Act has to achieve the basic goal of guarantee and trust of the warehouse receipt because of no powers to authority (WDRA) and hence teeth-less and which has to depend again on juridical proceedings for taking action against the defaulters. Secondly punitive actions are so harsh that no warehouse service provider will like to opt for registration. The punishments shall be for the regulatory lapses in the mechanism and system.But surprisingly the Act directly jumps into conclusive frauds and losses. It is a common sense that if the detailed mechanism for lapses found in different stages are worked out in the rules and the financial punitive powers are given to the Authority, then definitely a sense of regulatory control will lead to the desired level of collateral trusts in the ecosystem of financial performance guarantee.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-91262418316889644992018-07-15T19:24:00.001-07:002018-07-15T19:24:48.005-07:00Applicability of claw back policy on 10 crore families, a free healthcare policy <p dir="ltr">Modicare: Government to let market decide NHPS rateTo be rolled out from August 15, the scheme would provide 10 crore families a free healthcare policy of Rs 5 lakh/<a href="http://annum.By">annum.By</a>: FE Bureau July 3, <a href="tel:20185">2018 5</a>:59 AM</p>
<p dir="ltr">With ref to above news the Centre’s model tender document for empanelment of insurance companies under the NHPS have invited criticisms for not putting in a mechanism to equitably share both the profits as well as the burdens.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The said scheme to be rolled out from August 15,to provide 10 crore families a free healthcare policy of Rs 5 lakh/annum.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The said ambitious Centre’s model tender document for empanelment of insurance companies under the NHPS have invited criticisms for not putting in a mechanism to equitably share both the profits as well as the burdens. The document says that as per clawback policy, insurers would have to refund premiums to the government if claims ratio is less than 100%. However, if the claims ratio exceeds 120%, the excess amount will be equally shared by the insurance company and the state government.<br>
The said claw back policy is nowhere in the insurance Act <a href="tel:1938">1938</a> of india whereas the said clause is having mentioned in the context of recovery of commission from the insurance agents,in case the insured company or the person is not depositing premium whose business is brought by the agent.But here the Govt is proposing claw back policy in different context which is perhaps not supported by an act or law in commensurate with the insurance Act on the land of india.<br>
It is therefore suggested that Govt may review the stand taken on claw back policy in the given context so that the possibility of heavy litigation. in the future are ruled out.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-60592484471868810422018-07-15T19:20:00.001-07:002018-07-15T19:20:27.634-07:00India taking big strolls in agriculture <p dir="ltr">Exports of cereals from India grew by <a href="tel:3436">34.36</a> per cent to USD 8.1 billion in <a href="tel:201718">2017-18</a> on account of increasing demand in global markets, according to the commerce ministry.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Iran was the main importer of Indian cereals during the last financial year. India is the largest producer as well as the largest exporter of cereal products in the world, the ministry said in a series of tweets.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cereals are among the top ten exported items from India. The other products include fabrics, engineering, chemicals and machinery.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This way India is taking big strolls in agriculture <u>and</u> I hope that India will be number one not only in agricultural production but also in the exports of Agricultural produces all over the world and will feed all the people of the world having scarcity the agricultural production and are not self sufficient for feeding their own population. I salute India<br>
</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-73409423059720258182018-07-15T19:18:00.001-07:002018-07-15T19:18:57.190-07:00Farmers earning shall be economically viable.
<p dir="ltr">60% of farmers in India, who cultivate less than 0.80 hectares of land,continue to be under the poverty line if they do not switch to a non-agricultural occupation. Overall, India’s agricultural output has been increasing on average 3.6% annually since <a href="tel:2011">2011</a>. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The blame goes to the government policies governing the food rather than the agriculture sector. The key problems identified are the trade restrictions specifically designed to keep domestic food inflation low, including frequent ban on exports and MSPs set mismatching the international prices. The Essential Commodities Act and the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act, are as a few examples of regulations hampering price discovery for farmers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Controls imposed by the government on movement of food and exports at the slightest hint of inflation going up prevented farmers from realising higher prices from exports.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The hardest and strictest measures to be taken by the government is to control the marketing of Agricultural produces in the APMC Mandies,which are not regulating the farmers market properly to achieve desired results for which the APMC Act was originally formulated. Rather at present the said act is giving counter productive results by harrassing the farmers by not facilitating them in getting the prices as per the farmers input cost + transportation + his profit so that he may earning shall become economically viable.<br>
</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-41498501971688397492018-06-16T23:00:00.001-07:002018-06-16T23:00:40.704-07:00 Regenerating soil for photosynthesis and good nutritional values in human life.<p dir="ltr">Soil restoration is the process of improving the structure, microbial life, nutrient density, and overall carbon levels of soil. Many human endeavors – conventional farming chief among them – have depleted the Earth to the extent that nutrient levels in almost every kind of food have fallen by between 10 and 100 percent in the past 70 years. Soil quality can improve dramatically, though, when farmers and gardeners maintain constant ground cover, increase microbe populations, encourage biological diversity, reduce the use of agricultural chemicals, and avoid tillage.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Soil restoration begins with photosynthesis.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Imagine there was a process that could remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, replace it with life-giving oxygen, support a robust soil microbiome, regenerate topsoil, enhance the nutrient density of food, restore water balance to the landscape, and increase the profitability of agriculture. Fortunately, there is. It’s called photosynthesis.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Without photosynthesis, the Earth’s surface would merely be weathered rocks and minerals.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the miracle of photosynthesis, which takes place in the chloroplasts of green leaves, CO2 from the air and H2O from the soil are combined to capture light energy and transform it into biochemical energy in the form of simple sugars.</p>
<p dir="ltr">These simple sugars — commonly referred to as photosynthates — are the building blocks of life. Plants transform sugar into a great diversity of other carbon compounds, including starches, proteins, organic acids, cellulose, lignin, waxes, and oils.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains are packaged sunlight derived from photosynthesis. The oxygen our cells and the cells of other living things utilize during aerobic respiration is also derived from photosynthesis.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Significantly, many of the carbon compounds derived from the simple sugars formed during photosynthesis are also essential to the creation of well-structured topsoil. Without photosynthesis there would be no soil. Weathered rock minerals, yes… but no fertile topsoil.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Plant-Microbe Bridge</p>
<p dir="ltr">It comes as a surprise to many that over 95 percent of life on land resides in soil, and that most of the energy for this amazing world beneath our feet is derived from plant carbon. Exudates from living roots are the most energy-rich of these carbon sources. In exchange for ‘liquid carbon,’ microbes in the vicinity of plant roots — and microbes linked to plants via networks of beneficial fungi — increase the availability of the minerals and trace elements required to maintain the health and vitality of their plant hosts (1,2).</p>
<p dir="ltr">Exudates from plants feed microbes that live near plants’ roots. The microbes in turn bring nutrients to the root zone and make them bio-available to the plants.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Microbial activity also drives the process of aggregation, which enhances soil structural stability, aeration, infiltration, and water-holding capacity. All living things — above and below ground — benefit when the plant-microbe bridge is functioning effectively.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sadly, many of today’s farming methods have severely compromised soil microbial communities, significantly reducing the amount of liquid carbon transferred to and stabilized in soil. This creates negative feedbacks all along the line. Over the last 150 years, many of the world’s prime agricultural soils have lost between 30 and 75 percent of their carbon, adding billions of tons of CO2 to the atmosphere.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The loss of soil carbon significantly reduces the productive potential of the land and the profitability of farming. Soil degradation has intensified in recent decades — around 30 percent of the world’s cropland has been abandoned in the last 40 years due to soil decline (4). With the global population predicted to peak at close to 10 billion by <a href="tel:2050">2050</a>, the need for soil restoration has never been more pressing. Soil dysfunction also impacts human and animal health.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Nutrient Depletion In Our Food</p>
<p dir="ltr">Over the last 70 years, the level of every nutrient in almost every kind of food has fallen between 10 and 100 percent. This is an incredibly sobering fact. An individual today would need to consume twice as much meat, three times as much fruit, and four to five times as many vegetables to obtain the same amount of minerals and trace elements available in those same foods in <a href="tel:1940">1940</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Dr. David Thomas has provided a comprehensive analysis of historical changes in food composition from tables published by the Australian Medical Research Council, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Fisheries and Foods, and the Food Standards Agency. By comparing data available in <a href="tel:1940">1940</a> Thomas demonstrated a substantial loss in mineral and trace element content in every group of food he investigated.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The nutrient depletion summarized in Thomas’ review represents a weighted average of mineral and trace element changes in 27 kinds of vegetables and 10 kinds of meat:</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mineral Depletion in Vegetables ( average of 27 kinds of vegetables):<br>
Copper – declined by 76%<br>
Calcium – declined by 46%<br>
Iron – declined by 27%<br>
Magnesium – declined by 24%<br>
Potassium – declined by 16%</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mineral Depletion in Meat ( average of 10 kinds of meat):<br>
Copper – declined by 24%<br>
Calcium – declined by 41%<br>
Iron – declined by 54%<br>
Magnesium – declined by 10%<br>
Potassium – declined by 16%<br>
Phosphorus – declined by 28%</p>
<p dir="ltr">Significant mineral and trace element depletion was also recorded in the 17 varieties of fruit and two dairy products tested over the same period. The mineral depletion in meat and dairy reflects the fact that animals are consuming plants and/or grains that are themselves minerally depleted.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In addition to the overall decline in nutrient density, Thomas found significant changes in the ratios of minerals to one another. Given that there are critical ratios of minerals and trace elements for optimum physiological function, it is highly likely that these distorted ratios have an impact on human health and well-being (5).</p>
<p dir="ltr">Restoring Nutrient Density to Our Food</p>
<p dir="ltr">It is commonly believed that the significant reduction in the nutrient density of today’s chemically-produced foods is due to the dilution effect. Dilution occurs when yields rise but mineral content falls. Significantly, though, vegetables, crops, and pastures grown in healthy, biologically active soils do not exhibit these compromised nutrient levels.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Most of the ‘deficiencies’ observed in today’s plants, animals, and people are due to soil conditions not being conducive to nutrient uptake.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Only in rare instances are minerals and trace elements completely absent from soil. Most of the ‘deficiencies’ observed in today’s plants, animals, and people are due to soil conditions not being conducive to nutrient uptake. The minerals are present in the soil but are simply not plant-available. Adding inorganic elements to correct these so-called deficiencies is an inefficient practice. Instead we need to address the biological causes of dysfunction.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Around 85 to 90 percent of plant nutrient acquisition is microbially-mediated. The soil’s ability to support nutrient-dense crops, pastures, fruits, and vegetables requires the presence of a diverse array of soil microbes from a range of functional groups.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The majority of microbes involved in nutrient acquisition are plant-dependent. That is, they respond to carbon compounds exuded by the roots of actively growing green plants. Many of these important groups of microbes are negatively impacted by the use of “cides” — herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In short, the functioning of the soil ecosystem is determined by the presence, diversity and photosynthetic rate of actively growing green plants — as well as the presence or absence of chemical toxins.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But who manages the plants and the chemicals? You guessed it… we do.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Fortunately, consumers are becoming increasingly aware that food is more than a <a href="http://commodity.It">commodity.It</a> is up to us to restore soil integrity, fertility, structure, and water-holding capacity — not by applying Band-Aids to the symptoms, but by better managing our food production systems.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Soil Carbon Sink</p>
<p dir="ltr">Soil can function as a carbon source — adding carbon to the atmosphere — or a carbon sink — removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The dynamics of the source/sink equation are largely determined by land management.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Over the millennia a highly effective carbon cycle has evolved, in which the capture, storage, transfer, release, and recapture of biochemical energy in the form of carbon compounds repeats itself over and over. The health of the soil and the vitality of plants, animals, and people depends on the effective functioning of this cycle.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Technological developments since the Industrial Revolution have produced machinery capable of extracting vast quantities of fossil fuels from beneath the Earth’s surface as well as machinery capable of laying bare large tracts of grasslands and forests. This has resulted in the release of increasing quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere while simultaneously destroying the largest natural sink over which we have control.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The decline in natural sink capacity has amplified the effects of anthropogenic emissions. Many agricultural, horticultural, forestry, and garden soils today are a net carbon source. That is, these soils are losing more carbon than they are sequestering.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The potential for reversing the net movement of CO2 to the atmosphere through improved plant and soil management is immense. Managing vegetative cover in ways that enhance the capacity of soil to sequester and store large volumes of atmospheric carbon in a stable form offers a practical and almost immediate solution to some of the most challenging issues currently facing humankind.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The key to successful soil restoration and carbon sequestration is to get the basics right.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Five Principles for Soil RestorationGreen is good — and year-round green is even better</p>
<p dir="ltr">Photosynthesis draws hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. The impact of this reduction was dramatically illustrated in a stunning visualization released by NASA in <a href="tel:2014">2014</a>.The movement of carbon from the atmosphere to soil — via green plants — represents the most powerful tool we have at our disposal for the restoration of soil function and reduction of atmospheric CO2.</p>
<p dir="ltr">While every green plant is a solar-powered carbon pump, it is the photosynthetic capacity and photosynthetic rate of living plants (rather than their biomass) that drive the biosequestration of stable soil carbon. Photosynthetic capacity is the amount of light intercepted by green leaves in a given area (determined by percentage of canopy cover, plant height, leaf area, leaf shape and seasonal growth patterns).</p>
<p dir="ltr">On agricultural land, photosynthetic capacity can be improved through the use of multi-species cover crops, animal integration, multispecies pastures, and strategic grazing. In parks and gardens, plant diversity and mowing height are important factors. Bare soil has no photosynthetic capacity. Bare soil is also a net carbon source and is vulnerable to erosion by wind and water.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Photosynthetic rate is the rate at which plants are able to convert light energy to sugars. It is determined by many factors, including light intensity, moisture, temperature, nutrient-availability and the demand placed on plants by microbial symbionts. The presence of mycorrhizal fungi, for example, can significantly increase photosynthetic rate. Plants photosynthesising at an elevated rate have a high sugar and mineral content, are less prone to pests and diseases, and contribute to improved weight gains in livestock.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Photosynthetic rate can be assessed by measuring Brix with a refractometer. An increase of around 5 percent in global photosynthetic capacity and/or photosynthetic rate would be sufficient to counter the CO2 flux from the burning of fossil fuels, provided the extra carbon was sequestered in soil in a stable form. This is feasible. On average, global cropland is bare for around half of every year. If you can see the soil, it is losing carbon!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Both photosynthetic capacity and photosynthetic rate are strongly impacted by management. Leading-edge light farmers are developing innovative and highly productive ways to keep soil covered and alive, while at the same time producing nutrient-dense food and high-quality fiber.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Grazing Management</p>
<p dir="ltr">Growth of both tops and roots is significantly impaired if more than 50 percent of the green leaf is removed in a single grazing event.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This topic requires far more space than is available here, but it is vitally important that less than 50 percent of the available green leaf be grazed . Retaining adequate leaf area reduces the impact of grazing on photosynthetic capacity and enables the rapid restoration of biomass to pre-grazed levels. Over a 12-month period, significantly more forage will be produced — and more carbon sequestered in soil — if pastures are grazed tall rather than short.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In addition to leaf area, pasture height has a significant effect on soil building, moisture retention, nutrient cycling, and water quality. To maintain photosynthetic capacity (and to ensure rapid recovery) it is highly beneficial to remove livestock from a pasture before you can see their feet.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Regenerative grazing can be extremely effective in restoring soil carbon levels deep underground. The deeper the carbon, the more it is protected from oxidative and microbial decomposition. The sequestration of most significance is that which occurs below 30 cm.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Crop Production</p>
<p dir="ltr">Increasingly sophisticated machinery and a plethora of “cides” have provided the means for the planet’s rapidly expanding population to create bare ground over billions of acres, dramatically reducing global photosynthetic capacity. Reduced levels of photosynthesis have in turn resulted in reduced carbon flow to soil, significantly impacting soil and landscape function and farm productivity.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Organic carbon holds between four and 20 times its own weight in water. This means that when carbon levels are depleted, the water-holding capacity of the soil is significantly compromised. Low water-holding capacity results in poor structural stability when soils are wet and reduced plant growth when soils are dry.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One of the most significant findings in recent years has been the improvements to infiltration, water-holding capacity, and drought-resilience when bare fallows have been replaced with multi-species covers. This improvement has been particularly evident in lower rainfall regions and in dry years.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Microbes matter</p>
<p dir="ltr">A healthy agricultural system is one that supports all forms of life. All too often, many of the life-forms in soil have been considered dispensable. Or, more correctly, they have not been considered at all.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The significance of the plant-microbe bridge in transferring and stabilizing carbon in soil is becoming increasingly recognized. The soil microbiome is now heralded as the next frontier in soil restoration research.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One of the most important groups of plant-dependent soil-building microbes are mycorrhizal fungi. These extraordinary ecosystem engineers access water, protect their hosts from pests and diseases, and transport nutrients such as organic nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and essential trace elements including copper, cobalt, zinc, molybdenum, manganese and boron — all in exchange for liquid carbon. Many of these elements are essential for resistance to pests and diseases and climatic extremes such as drought, water-logging, and frost.</p>
<p dir="ltr">When mycorrhizal symbiosis is functioning effectively, <a href="tel:2060">20-60</a> percent of the carbon fixed in green leaves can be channelled directly to soil mycelial networks, where a portion is combined with biologically-fixed nitrogen and converted to stable humic compounds. The deeper in the soil profile this occurs the better. Humic polymers formed by soil biota within the soil matrix improve soil structure, porosity, cation exchange capacity, and plant growth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Soil function is also strongly influenced by its structure. In order for soil to be well-structured, it must be living. Life in the soil provides the glues and gums that enable soil particles to stick together into pea-sized lumps called aggregates. The spaces between the aggregates allow moisture to infiltrate more easily. Moisture absorbed into soil aggregates is protected from evaporation, enabling soil to remain moist for longer after rain or irrigation. This improves farm productivity and profit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Well-structured soils are also less prone to erosion and compaction, and they function more effectively as bio-filters.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sadly, many of the microbes important for soil function have gone missing in action. Can we get them back? Some producers have achieved large improvements in soil health in a relatively short time. What are these farmers doing differently? They diversify.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Diversity is indispensable</p>
<p dir="ltr">Every plant exudes its own unique blend of sugars, enzymes, phenols, amino acids, nucleic acids, auxins, gibberellins, and other biological compounds, many of which act as signals to soil microbes. Root exudates vary continuously over time, depending on the plant’s immediate requirements. The greater the diversity of plants, the greater the diversity of microbes, and the more robust the soil ecosystem.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The belief that monocultures and intensively managed systems are more profitable than diverse biologically based systems does not hold up in practice. Monocultures need to be supported by high and often increasing levels of fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, and other chemicals that inhibit soil biological activity. The result is even greater expenditure on agrochemicals in an attempt to control pests, weeds, diseases, and the fertility issues that ensue.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The natural grasslands that once covered vast tracts of the Australian, North American, South American, and sub-Saharan African continents — plus the ‘meadows’ of Europe — contained several hundred different kinds of grasses and forbs. These diverse grasslands and meadows were extremely productive prior to simplification through overgrazing and/or cultivation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A monoculture of triticale (left) is suffering severe water stress while triticale sown with other species (right) is healthy. The “cocktail crop” contains oats, tillage radish, sunflower, field peas, faba beans, chickpeas, proso millet, and foxtail millet in addition to triticale.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Innovative farmers are experimenting with up to 70 different plant species to see which combinations perform best for soil restoration. Some grain and vegetable producers are setting aside up to 50 percent of their cash crop area for multi-species diverse soil primers. They believe the benefits far outweigh the costs. It has been reported that two full seasons of a multispecies cover can perform miracles in terms of soil health. Mixtures of peas with canola, clover or lentils with wheat, soybean and/or vetch with corn, and buckwheat and/or peas with potatoes are becoming increasingly common.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The integration of animals into cropland can also be extremely beneficial. This doesn’t need to be complicated, though. Something as simple as including one or two companions with a cash crop can make a world of difference.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As well as improving soil function, companion plants provide habitat and food for insect predators. Recent research has shown that as the diversity of insects in crops and pastures increases, the incidence of insect pests declines, reducing the need for insecticides.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Hence increase in biodiversity including different varieties of crops in the soil as well as different kind of animal species including words and Earth grazing worms and also various kind of microbes reacting with the soil and less use of chemicals and pesticides is the Guru Mantra for creating a soil rich of nutrients and thereby regenerating the soil sustaining good environment and excellent human nutrition.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2427831125060952836.post-90094871042511093562018-06-07T03:25:00.001-07:002018-06-07T03:25:47.988-07:00National Agricultural Market(eNAM) and it played the role in
e marketing of farmers produce in India <p dir="ltr">DR.N.K. ARORAM.Sc.,Ph.D.,PGDCS., Gold medalist 52nd All India Warehousing,Former Director,WDRA, Delhi& GM/Dy.MD,MSWC,/ SAM,CWC</p>
<p dir="ltr">National Agricultural Market(eNAM) and it played the role in <br>
e marketing of farmers produce in India </p>
<p dir="ltr">As per the Dalwai Committee Report 2017-18 (Volume IV), there are close to 29,547 marketing points. Of these, 22% or 6,615, are regulated markets under the APMC and 22,932 are regional periodical markets (RPMs). On an average, a farmer gets a regulated market in the radius of about 12 km and a RPM in a radius of about 7 kms. Out of these 6,615 markets, the NAM scheme aimed to bring 585 markets (i.e. 9%) on its e-market platform by the end of financial year 2017-18. Quite commendably, as on March 2018, all targeted mandis, i.e., 585 that are in 16 states and 2 UTs, (Chandigarh and Puducherry), have been integrated with the NAM-platform. But, these 585 mandis brought only 90.5 lakh farmers onto the platform, which is less than 7% of the 14 crore Indian farmers. Close to 17 MMTs of quantity worth Rs 42,265 crore (cumulative since platform’s inception), is reported to have been traded on the platform. But, this value is only about 2% of India’s total value of agricultural output. . By including such transactions made at fixed prices (MSP) by a fixed buyer (procurement agency) onto the e-NAM platform, the true spirit of e-NAM, i.e. of free and competitive market fades.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Good information, Dr. Arora. 7% farms covered by 9% mandies is good enough as all farms do not sell at mandies. You have raised the issue of competitiveness - one of the reasons is lack of transparency on the quality of produce seen through standardised parameters. Small quantities brought in by small farmers compound the problem further. The solution will emerge by giving attention to this aspect right from the sowing stage, and not when the produce is brought to the mandi. This is what we wanted to attempt when we conceptualised the FPOs. The last Budget aims in that direction.</p>
DR Navneet Kumar Arorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04536314785216980061noreply@blogger.com0