Tag: Birsa Agricultural University

Monsoon weakens over Jharkhand, rain deficit at 60% so far

Source: hindustantimes.com

Erratic monsoon has again worried Jharkhand farmers, who are yet to come out of last year’s drought pain. The rain deficit in the state has reached 60% in June, a crucial month for raising nursery for paddy crops and direct seed sowing of other crops such as maize and pulses.

The farmers could not start activities of nursery raising and direct seed sowing due to deficient rainfall in June, agricultural scientists of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Ranchi, said.

The monsoon hit the state on June 21 has slowed down in last four days causing more rainfall deficit.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) centre in Ranchi, the state received merely 63.4mm rainfall against the normal rainfall of 156.7mm from June 1 to June 26.

The deficient rainfall condition is likely to prevail for next 48 hours.

“The monsoon has weakened over Jharkhand in absence of any strong system. This is a normal characteristic of the season. However, we are expecting a spell of good rainfall from June 29,” said SD Kotal, director IMD centre, Ranchi.

He said a low pressure was expected to develop over the Bay of Bengal by June 30, impact of which would be visible from June 29.

“We are hoping the upcoming spell would fill the gap of rainfall deficit to a great extent,” he said.

Seedling process in Jharkhand has already delayed by 16 days. Senior agro-meteorologist of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Ranchi, A Wadud said this was the peak time for nursery raising for paddy crops and direct seed sowing of other crops including maize and pulses.

The two major activities generally conclude in the state by the end of the June last.

“However, farmers are yet to take up the activities due to the lack of sufficient rains. If rainfall remains elusive for next one week, it will have an impact in overall kharif production, as sapling transplantation to paddy field would not take place by first week of July,” Wadud said.

Even as the parts of Jharkhand, including Ranchi, received brief rainfall on Wednesday, farmers said it was not enough to start for nursery raising or direct sowing of the seeds.

Hari Munda, a Ranchi’s Mandar based farmer, said, “I could not start seedling due to the lack of rainfall. A seed takes at least 20 days to grow as sapling. If we could not start the process by June 30, it would certainly have an impact on the overall production.”

Jitendra Kumar, Ormanjhi based farmer, said, “Next 10 days of the June are crucial for nursery raising, as farmers begin transplanting of saplings to farm field from July 1.”

He said “A heavy rainfall will be enough for nursery raising. Sadly, there is no significant rainfall till date.”

Notably, the state has been the victim of erratic monsoon rainfall for last few years. In 2018, the state faced 28% rainfall deficit, causing drought in half of the Jharkhand’s blocks. The state government in November last year had declared 129 blocks as drought. At least 91 blocks were declared severely affected.

The government recently released Rs 346 crore drought relief package to farmers of 129 blocks. Jharkhand has around 39 lakh hectare arable land, of which about 27 lakh hectares land is used for Kharift crops. About 18 lakh hectares area is used for paddy, three lakh hectares for maize, six lakh hectares area for pulses and 60,000 hectares for oils seeds.

Where are the jobs? Angry students ask Jharkhand minister

Source: telegraphindia.com

Angry students at Birsa Agricultural University on Wednesday confronted state agriculture minister Randheer Kumar Singh with a question: Where are the jobs?

The minister had gone to attend the 39th foundation day event of the varsity in Kanke. When he was leaving after delivering his speech, around 50 students were waiting outside the auditorium to pepper him with questions such as why no student from Jharkhand’s only agriculture university has got a state government job for the last 20 years, and what future could they look forward to with such a bleak placement record.

The minister tried to duck the barrage by saying that he wishes for the students’ good academic performance. Agriculture, he said, is the priority sector of the government and steps are being taken to provide employment opportunities for students. He said that vice-chancellor Parvinder Kaushal would address the students’ concerns.

The students were not in the mood to be swayed by perfunctory assurances. They raised slogans against the minister and the vice-chancellor, and followed the minister till he reached his car.

“The last recruitment was done in 1989,” said Varunesh Kumar, a former student of the university, who secured a gold medal in 2016 for academic excellence. “In 2015, the government had started the recruitment process for 450 block agriculture officers through the Jharkhand Public Service Commission. The preliminary test was successfully conducted. But two days before the mains examination, the recruitment was cancelled without citing any reason. Students of B.Sc (agriculture) are the worst victims.”

Ruplal Prasad, a current student, said the university’s alumni can be the backbone of an agriculture revolution in the state.

“But then we are neglected,” Prasad said. “Where we will display our skills if employment opportunities are not given to us? Jharkhand’s achievement in agriculture is only on paper. The government may be opening new research centres and colleges for agriculture studies in the state but there is employment opportunity for students. We are under pressure of our parents to get jobs. Now we feel that we made a mistake by opting to study agriculture. Every year the minister visits BAU during the foundation day programme and assures to look into our matter, so today we decided to protest.”

A group of students from veterinary and allied subjects, who were also part of the protest on Wednesday, said the state has 16 Krishi Vigyan Kendras, each with six teaching faculty and scientists, but veterinary and allied sciences students are not deemed qualified for recruitment in the Kendras.

The varsity runs a number of courses such as animal husbandry, forestry, biotechnology, fisheries, agri-business management and horticulture. There are six colleges under the varsity, of which four are agricultural colleges, one is a veterinary college and the other is a forestry college. There are over 600 students at the varsity.

The angst at BAU is not isolated. The unemployment rate in India rose to 7.2 per cent in February 2019, the highest since September 2016, and up from 5.9 per cent in February 2018, according to data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy and released in March this year.