14.5 kg golden crown donated to Lord Venkateswara   

CROWNING TOUCH: The tiara weighing 14.5 kg donated to the Lord of Tirumala on Thursday by a Mumbai-based businessman.

Mumbai-based tycoon, who made offering, prefers anonymity

Lord Venkateswara, the presiding deity at the Tirumala temple has reaped a rich gold harvest on Thursday in the form of two precious donations.

Reckoned as the richest deity in the world next to the Vatican Church, the Lord of the Seven Hills received a fabulous donation of a dazzling golden crown weighing 14.5 kg.

The exquisitely chiselled stone-studded tiara was offered to the deity by a Mumbai-based business tycoon who however preferred to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

Donated in the presence of Kanchi seer

He handed over the crown to temple priests in the presence of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, the chief pontiff of Sri Kanchikamakoti Peetham. On behalf of the TTD, its Tirumala-based Joint Executive Officer, K. Bhaskar received the crown which is expected to be adorned to the main deity on Friday after the conventional Abhishekam.

Apollo chief makes offering

As yet another bonanza, the Lord also received a pair of gleaming golden ‘Nagabharanams'— a serpent-shaped ornament which would adorn the deity's biceps.

This ornament is also expected to be adorned to the deity on Friday after the celestial bath.

The intricately made jewellery weighing 4.03 kgs and worth about Rs.72 lakhs was donated by the Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Pratap C. Reddy.

Fulfilment of vow

The offering was made in fulfilment of a vow.

source; the hindu

ORGANICS AND GM FARMING

Personal health versus private wealthShalini Himachal Pradesh is taking several steps towards developing its organic image. The State Government is supporting organic farming as one of the thrust areas. But is this encouraging healthy living or only encouraging private players and new untested technologies in the area? For the State and its people the challenge ahead is to make an organic movement in HP truly local, fair and green. That which ensures their health, the health of its local growers and traditional healers, as well as that of the planet. This summer, Shimla hosted its first Organic Fair and Food Festival. It showcased Himachal's organic products, some farmer associations, and yet had stalls advertising private certifiers and company products. What really drew in the crowds, was an interesting array of local Himachali delicacies. The Kolth cutlets, Kinnauri Rajmah to Siddu Ghee, were reportedly made with organically produced ingredients. Most of us associate organic products as simply those that are chemical-free and without any toxic pesticide residues. The real organic movement is the one that not only keeps the health of living beings but also ecological health, nurturing the diverse earth-friendly ways of farming. In the case of organic milk, it would mean that the animals have an organic diet and also have not been injected with synthetic hormones. Likewise, in organic egg production the poultry is not only to be raised on organic feed, and fed with antibiotics only at the time of a disease, but also the birds are to have a cage-free environment with access to the natural environment rather than being locked in factory-like conditions. This broader vision factors in not simply ecological concerns, but also social, ethical and political ones. With growing disparities we need socially sensitive food and farm systems for wealth redistribution amongst our farmers. The climate imperative too demands of us to relocalise our food systems so that we spend less energy resources on processing, packaging, storing, freezing and transporting food to people. Supporting a local organic movement, thus helps support other causes. The Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) comprising grassroots organic farmers' emphasises organic principles for local consumption. Likewise, the Navdanya network in Uttarakhand, effectively links organics with ecological security and food sovereignty. The Dalit women millet growers in Andhra, in their style of organic farming seek to bring due visibility to women farmers in particular and farmers in general. The Nanak Kheti kisaans of Punjab are amongst the nameless crusaders that embrace organic agriculture as a way of life after suffering the aftermath of chemical-intensive farming. Thereby, these organic movements make a conscious choice against potentially hazardous seed technologies like genetic modification (GM), keeping the focus instead on farmer's seeds and biodiverse local knowhow. GM seeds and even GM breeds are being pushed as the predominant 'science' of our times. GM agriculture cannot co-exist with organics. Organic farming is meant to be natural farming. GM products are firstly not natural, they are artificial constructs prepared in laboratories and given an unnatural genetic structure that they otherwise normally would not have. GM seeds sown in the open pose potential risk of uncontrollable genetic alteration of the natural environment. HP's State Department of Agriculture's own brochure on Organic Farming defines it as an agricultural production system “which avoids or largely excludes...GMOs”. Also, GM seeds still require the use of agrochemicals sold by the very same companies that market GM seeds. This locks local farmers into a seed-chemical dependency with inputs coming from the outside. Moreover, as the President of the Ayurvedic Association of India explains, GM poses major issues for our environment and the Ayurvedic profession. In Ayurveda around 14 varieties of herbs are used for medicinal preparation. Each one differs in its medicinal properties. Any intrusion in the basic (genetic) nature will alter the Rasa (taste), Guna (property), Veerya (potency), Vipaka (end taste) and Prabhava (synergetic property) of the drug. So HP will need to address the growing risks to its organics. It will need to brace against possible GM contamination from neighbouring States like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where GM crops are either being grown or field tested. The choice to be made by the people in Himachal is - Organic FOR HP, or organics FROM Himachal with external inputs and headed for sale outside. The decision will be easy if the choice is for health. That will determine what brand of organics the government will support. Himachal needs to push a people's organics for the health of the State, not one that is private (and) limited. The writer is a lawyer and works on trade, agriculture and biodiversity with a small global group called GRAIN. http://www.grain.org/   SOURCE:THE TRIBUNE

Organic agriculture and its prospects

The advantages of organic agriculture include sustained soil productivity, conservation of natural resources, increased employment opportunities, availability of healthy food and maintenance of healthy environmentCharanjit Singh Aulakh

Organic products for sale in the market Preparation of compost by an organic grower

Organic agriculture is the fastest growing sector in agriculture with an annual increase of about 20 per cent in sales of organic products in the last decade. The area under it in India is on the continuous rise and India has achieved the first position in the world organic cotton production.
Organic agriculture in India has been a tradition rather than a new concept. Even today, the farmers in several parts of India are doing organic agriculture but without any knowledge of the term organic.
The resurgence of organic agriculture is backed by increased health consciousness and concern for environment. The increased awareness of consumers about pesticide contamination of food products and environmental concerns like high nitrate content of underground waters due to excessive use of nitrogenous fertilisers have resulted in a joint movement by the health conscious consumers and environmental groups in favour of organic agriculture.
As organic products cannot be differentiated from the conventional products, so it is the system of farming, certified by an inspection and certification agency, that makes the products of a farm organic. The word organic in organic agriculture is a process claim rather than a product claim.
Organic agriculture relies on crop rotations, green manures, organic manures, biofertilisers, composts and biological pest management for crop production, excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilisers, chemical pesticides, plant growth regulators and livestock feed additives. Enhancing soil health is the cornerstone of organic agriculture.
The advantages of organic agriculture include sustained soil productivity, conservation of natural resources, increased employment opportunities, availability of healthy food and maintenance of healthy environment. This is associated with the higher net income to the farmer due to reduced external input costs and availability of price premium on organic products.
Organic agriculture itself does not require any certification but the organic food market demands certified organic products. The importance of certification becomes more important where the consumer is likely to pay a premium on organic produce.
The organic certification is not limited to the production of crops only but it encompasses the whole chain of processing, packaging, labeling and transportation.
The organic production area at the farm should be clearly inspectable from the conventional production with natural barriers or buffers. The seed of the crop to be sown under certified production programme should be from the previous organic crop and in case of nonavailability of organic seed, the chemically untreated seed from conventional crop can be used. Genetically modified crops like Bt cotton are not permitted under organic programme.
All the agricultutral inputs have been classified as prohibited, restricted and permitted. The major prohibited inputs include synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, synthetic growth regulators, farmyard manure and poultry manure from commercial establishments and sewage and sludge effluent.
The major permitted inputs include farmyard manure, poultry manure and crop residues from the organic farm, green manure, pest management practices such as mechanical control devices, pheromone traps, soap containing plant fatty acids and potassium soap, pyrethrins, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) spray, granulose virus preparation, gelatin and hydrolysed protein.
The restricted inputs, like farmyard manure from conventional farms, in organic agriculture are those inputs that can be used in a restricted manner with the prior permission of the certification agency.
The reduction in crop yield during the initial years of conversion from conventional agriculture to organic agriculture may occur but after a few years the yields get stabilised and similar yields as that with conventional system can be achieved if organic manures are applied on a regular basis. So the conversion of whole farm to organic should be done in a period of 5 to 10 years starting with 10 per cent area of the farm.
The limitations in adoption of organic agriculture include the competitive uses of farmyard manure like cowdung cakes as fuel, limited adoption of green manure due to its extra cost on its raising and nonavailability of water during crop growth, inconsistent performance of biofertilisers is a rule than an exception, nonavailability of quality bio- pesticides for pest and disease management, costly and complex certification procedure and lack of market infrastructure for organic produce with a price premium.
Contract farming having legal binding with super markets and multinational companies is a viable option to take care of two basic constraints of organic agriculture i.e. marketing and supply of quality organic inputs.
The issue of food security of India is no doubt vital but simultaneously the farmers should get the advantage of emerging global market of organic food to improve their socioeconomic condition. The demand of non-food organic products in the international market can be tapped without compromising the national food security. The non-food products in demand are cotton, spices and fruits and vegetables.
The major component of national food security comes from the about 35 per cent intensive high input rice-wheat based cropping system area of the country which should not be the priority area for organic agriculture in these crops. In this area, only those crops can be considered for organic agriculture, which require high organic manures even under the conventional system like mentha, turmeric, potato, onion, chillies and garlic and the crops which require very less nutrition like basmati rice.
In Punjab, rice/ basmati rice-wheat, maize/soybean-wheat, maize- durum wheat-cowpea (fodder), maize-potato-onion cropping systems and turmeic have been recommended for organic cultivation but the area under organic agriculture in Punjab has not increased noticeably due to the marketing problems and nonavailability of premium price.
The major prospects of organic farming in Punjab exist in organic cotton, basmti rice and kinnow, that also if contract organic farming is done. The possible areas of organic agriculture promotion in Punjab can be south-western districts of Punjab for organic cotton, the areas around Abohar and Hoshiarpur for kinnow and districts of Gurdaspur and Amritsar for basmati rice. The shift of these areas and crops under organic agriculture will have least effect on foodgrain production.
The diversification of area under rice in Punjab is a pre-requisite for conservation of soil health and underground water. The diversification of crops, adoption of conservation practices and prohibition of agrochemicals being the integral components of organic agriculture system will definitley contribute towards the conservation of our natural resources ie soil and water.
The writer is from the Department of Agronomy, PAU, Ludhiana
 
source:The Tribune

Data Source: The Economist