The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar virtually inaugurated the joint conference of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) from Gwalior today. On this occasion, Shri Tomar said that as a result of the hard work of farmer brothers and sisters and farmer friendly policies of the government, today India stands among the top two producers in the world in terms of most agricultural products. He said that India’s organic products are in demand across the world and despite the adverse conditions like corona epidemic, agricultural exports from India touching Rs. 3.75 lakh crores is a good sign. In such a scenario, we must sustain the quality of our agricultural products and ensure it meets the global standards.

 

The conference on 'Getting Agricultural Markets Right' has been organized jointly by ICRIER, one of the leading economic think tanks of the country, and the world's largest exchange, - NSE. The chief guest, Union Minister Shri Tomar said that India is a country with diverse climate and there is a possibility of very favourable weather for farming.

 

'Our agriculture sector is very strong, which stands tall even in adverse conditions. Recently, even during the Covid crisis, when the whole world had almost come to a standstill, then despite the lockdown, all agricultural activities like sowing, harvesting, marketing etc. continued uninterrupted. Indian agriculture sector is vast and a majority of our population depends on agriculture, so necessary changes have been made by the government for its progress and scholars also keep supporting the government through their suggestions, all of which will benefit the agriculture sector. Several initiatives have been taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the last 8 years for the development and management of agriculture. One thousand mandis across the country have been linked with the National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) and the process is on to connect the remaining mandis. Efforts have been made by the Central Government to enable farmers to get remunerative prices for their produce and to adopt technology in agriculture,' he said.

 

Shri Tomar said that the work of setting up 10,000 Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) has started in the country with an expenditure of Rs 6,865 crore.

 

'FPOs constitute about 85 percent of small farmers in the country. Under the umbrella of the FPOs, the farmers gain by expanding their area of ??cultivation resulting in higher volumes of production, they also get better quality seeds and fertilizers and can avail convenient loans, all of which will increase the overall income of farmers and improve farming. The government has arranged custom hiring centers at various places and farmers are also being given subsidy for agricultural implements. Earlier, the doors of private investment in the agriculture sector were often closed, but now efforts are being made to bring facilities like warehouses, cold storage, packaging machines etc. to the villages, for which the Center has earmarked a special package worth Rupees 1.5 lakh crore in agriculture and allied sectors. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has been set up with an investment of more than Rs. One lakh crore, out of which loans worth about Rs. 9.5 thousand crore has been approved for about 13,000 projects so far, which will greatly benefit the farmers,' he said.

 

Shri Tomar called upon the farmers to adopt organic and natural farming and its quality should benefit the consumers. He said that the Central Government is also focusing on the promotion of animal husbandry, based on the principle of complementarity with agriculture. The Union Agriculture Minister said that the Government has announced a policy to promote the use of drones and the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has issued an SOP in this regard.

 

'As the use of drones increases, it will not only benefit the farming, but it will also help avert the chemical side effects on farmers’ health and create new employment opportunities. The government has launched several schemes for the benefit of farmers and they are being disbursed easy loans at low interest rates, the total amount of which is about Rs. 16 lakh crores at present. Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, claim amount totalling Rs 1.15 lakh crore so far has been given to the farmers as compensation for the loss of their crops. It is our endeavour that the productivity of farmers should increase, for this the government is taking continuous steps,' he said.

 

Shri Tomar expressed confidence that the best proposals would come out of the deliberations during the conference, which would guide the formulation of better policies. ICRIER Chairman Shri Pramod Bhasin and NSE Managing Director and CEO Shri Vikram Limaye also addressed the conference. ICRIER Chair of Agriculture, Professor Shri Ashok Gulati proposed the vote of thanks. NSE Director and Chief Executive Dr. Deepak Mishra, NITI Aayog member Prof. Ramesh Chand were among the panelists and dignitaries present in the conference.

The PM GatiShakti is already beginning to fast-track a number of infrastructure projects across the country with some states beginning to use it for better implementation of social sector projects. Commerce and Industry Minister, Shri Piyush Goyal, chaired a review meeting of the PM GatiShakti here today. The meeting deliberated the progress achieved so far and saw participation of various senior officials from M/o Railways, MoRTH, MoPSW, D/o Food & PDS, M/o Coal, M/o Steel, D/o Fertilizers, DoT, M/o Rural Development, and BISAG-N( Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics).

 

The meeting reviewed the status of the National Master Plan since its launch on October 13, 2021 and discussed plans for faster integration of data into the portal. With over 900 data layers updated by Central Ministries and 316 essential layers by States/UTs, the meeting took note of various Ministries/Departments using the same to share their proposed projects after having been mapped and aligned digitally.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that under the PM GatiShakti’s transformative approach, the government is committed to resolve user issues by overcoming various departmental silos. He added that its role through the National Master Plan and the Institutional Framework is essential to lay down the stepping stones to India’s multimodal infrastructure network

 

The meeting also acknowledged the progress made on state-level institutional arrangements. The Secretary, Shri Anurag Jain, DPIIT informed that along with a functioning Empowered Group of Secretaries in 32 States/UTs, 29 among them have also been able to formulate their Network Planning Group and Technical Support Unit.

 

The Special Secretary, Amrit Lal Meena, DPIIT, also highlighted the role that the National Master Plan has been playing in inter-ministerial planning and coordination. He shared that, with portals for Central and State Ministries now fully functional, all essential data layers have been uploaded to enable infrastructure Ministries/Departments extensively utilise the National Master Plan for all pending and future projects. He highlighted the case of the Taranga hill- Ambaji-Abu Road Broad Gauge New Railway Line which had stalled its pre-alignment for nearly 6 months due to the lack of khasra data, field survey on forest and wildlife sanctuary and no visibility of intersection with mining areas. It was completed in just 7 days using the National Master Plan. Senior official representing the MoRTH also shared that the pre-alignment of 5 Greenfield Corridors were fast-tracked using the National Master Plan.

 

The meeting deliberated over releasing the National Master Plan in public domain. Senior officials informed that guidelines for the release are already underway. The meeting particularly emphasised the role that the National Master Plan could play in decision-making for the social sector. The Special Secretary, informed that few States/UTs have already been doing the same. 

 

As an approach towards integrated planning and coordination, the meeting applauded the recently operationalized GatiShakti Sanchar portal by the DoT. Since its launch, the portal has been able to reduce pendency, thus leading to faster implementation of projects. Senior officials from the M/o Steel also shared the launch of a mobile app under the National Master Plan for geotagging infrastructure and resolving geolocation availability issues.

The Centre has amended the export policy on wheat flour (atta), mandating its export subject to the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on the export of wheat from July 12.

 

The export of wheat flour remains free as the IMC recommendation is to maintain its quality , according to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Wednesday.

 

This means unlike wheat export, which has been banned since May 13 2022, the export of wheat flour will continue subject to permission from the IMC.

 

'Whereas global supply disruptions in wheat and wheat flour have created many new players and has led to price fluctuations and potential quality-related issues. Therefore, it is impentive to maintain the quality of wheat flour exports from India,' the notification stated.

 

In the interim period, from July 6- 12, the government has specified the consignments of wheat flour that will be allowed to be exported. This would include consignments where loading of wheat flour on the ship commenced before the notification and where the consignment was handed over to the Customs before the notification and was registered in their system.

 

Wheat exports were banned in May as an unseasonal heat wave had affected the crop leading to a spike in domestic prices.

 

Yogi government has identified 26 countries, which have the export potential for products from Uttar Pradesh. The UP government has prepared a list of 26 countries where its exports are nominal and would now focus on them.

 

The export promotion bureau of UP has prepared a plan to boost export in these 26 countries of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. These countries have great potential for export of toys, clothes, leather items, carpets, electronic items, furniture and various other products from UP.

 

According to the official spokesperson, UP is the fifth largest exporting state in the list of countries. However, its exports are mainly to 10 big countries including the US, UK and a few gulf countries. To boost exports from UP, the export promotion bureau has identified countries such as Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, South Africa, Qatar, Oman, Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. Officials of the bureau said that UP exports nominal items to these countries and now a special drive would be launched to boost it. According to them, the products made under the one district one product (ODOP) could play a major role in boosting export to these countries.

 

The officials of the export promotion bureau said that the UP government would find trade agents in these countries to reach potential buyers. The products made in UP would be displayed in these countries through special fairs and exhibitions. The buyers from these countries would be invited in UP to attend trade fairs and conventions. Besides the help of Indian embassies in these countries would also be taken to reach to potential buyers. The UP government has decided to approach the union foreign affairs ministry and seek its help in establishing contact with the international trade bodies. The artisans and manufacturers of traditional items from UP would be encouraged to participate in international exhibitions and display their products.

Russian logistics firm RZD Logistics has stated that it has commenced transportation by full container trains from Russia to India by the eastern branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) involving transport infrastructure of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and India.

 

The first container train has left the Chekhov station near Moscow. This intermodal transportation includes a sea leg with the end point at the Indian port of Nhava Sheva (Mumbai). Expected transit time - 35-37 days, route length – over 8,000 km. The key driver of the project is the balanced tariff policy of all the participants.

 

According to Dmitry Murev, General Director of RZD Logistics, Russian Railways registered a 26-pct increase of the North-South ITC NSE 0.59 % traffic, year-on-year.

 

When speaking at the 6th Caspian Summit in June 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is expanding port infrastructure in the Caspian region. 'First of all, we are talking about building the International North-South Transport Corridor …. This is a truly ambitious project, a 7,200-kilometre-long transport artery from St Petersburg to ports in Iran and India,' emphasized the President.

 

'An agreement between the Caspian littoral states on transport cooperation, which came into force last year and is aimed at turning the Caspian Sea region into a major international logistics hub, is designed to facilitate a faster launch of this corridor,' said Putin.

 

In 2021, cargo turnover between Russia and India rose by 46.5%. It is evident that the two countries should continue their economic cooperation through involvement of intermodal logistic services on the North-South route. Apart from expansion of the trade, that will contribute to further infrastructure development including creation of new border checkpoints, cargo consolidation terminals and closer interaction between customs, phytosanitary and other regulators.

Britain and India agreed on Friday to step up defence and business cooperation during a visit to New Delhi by Boris Johnson, who said a bilateral free-trade deal could be wrapped up by October.

 

On his first visit to the Indian capital as UK prime minister, Johnson discussed with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi ways to boost security ties with India, which buys more than half of its military hardware from Russia.

 

India's foreign secretary, however, said Johnson did not put pressure on Modi over New Delhi's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

'Prime Minister Johnson shared his perspective on it, Prime Minister Modi shared ours - which is that the Russia-Ukraine war should end immediately,' Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters. 'There was no pressure of any kind.'

 

India abstained from a United Nations vote condemning the invasion of Ukraine and unlike Britain and other Western nations has not imposed sanctions on Moscow, which calls Russia's actions in Ukraine a 'special military operation'.

 

Johnson said after meeting Modi it was unlikely India would end its long-standing ties with Russia.

 

'The position on Russia that the Indians have historically is well known. They are not going to change that, of course, that's true,' he told a press conference on the final day of his two-day trip.

 

'But they can see what is going on and there is an increasing appetite to do more with the UK.'

 

Johnson, who is under political pressure at home for breaking his own lockdown rules during the pandemic, said negotiators from the two countries were expected to complete a free-trade deal by the end of this year.

 

'We're telling our negotiators to get it done by Diwali in October. This could double our trade and investments by the end of the decade,' he said.

 

DEFENCE TECH

Johnson said Britain would support India’s goal of building its own fighter jets, to reduce expensive imports of military equipment. India now has a mix of Russian, British and French fighter jets.

 

The Indian government last year gave a 480-billion-rupee ($6.28 billion) contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for 83 light-combat aircraft, Tejas, for delivery starting around 2023.

 

The United States last month offered India more defence and energy sales, after President Joe Biden called India 'somewhat shaky' in acting against Russia. read more

 

Johnson said Britain was also creating an India-specific open general export license to slash delivery times for defence items. Only the European Union and the United States currently have such licences.

 

Foreign Secretary Shringla said India could seek Britain's support on electric propulsion systems for naval ships and jet propulsion systems for planes. The focus was on 'co-development and co-production' of defence equipment, he said.

 

But Mohan Guruswamy, a director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in New Delhi, said India would remain reliant on Russian military equipment, partly because it is cheaper.

 

'Russia's offer to India is always that 'Our cupboard is open', (but) Britain doesn’t offer India everything it wants and what it does make available is usually more expensive,' he said.

 

Johnson said a free-trade agreement would help India sell more rice and textiles to Britain.

 

British trade with India, the world's second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people, was worth 23 billion pounds ($29.93 billion) in 2019, much lower than the UK's trade with some much smaller economies such as Ireland.

 

Johnson said that during his trip he had felt like Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, as hundreds of people lined the streets and dozens of billboards depicted his image.

 

'I had an amazing reception,' he said. 'My face was everywhere to be seen.'

India has decided to make special trade concessions to Bhutan in view of the close trade and economic ties with the Himalayan Kingdom.

 

A statement issued by the Embassy of India in Thimphu on Wednesday said the Indian government has made a special exemption for Bhutan by lifting the restriction on import of potato only from Bhutan with effect from July 4 , 2022 to June 2023, thereby alleviating the difficulties faced by Bhutanese traders in exporting potato to India.

 

Potato is the most important cash crop of Bhutan and India is the top export destination for its potato exports.

 

In 2020-21, India had formally notified 12 additional agri-exports of Bhutan, including potato, in the Plant Quarantine Order of India, thereby allowing formal market access of these Bhutanese products in India. In order to facilitate bilateral trade of agri- products, India had opened a new plant quarantine office at Jaigaon in 2020.

 

The Indian government had recently revised the import policy to allow the import of fresh wholly produced ginger from Bhutan with effect from May 19, 2022. This will address the problems faced by Bhutanese farmers and traders in exporting ginger to India.

 

The Government of India will also supply 10,000 litres of Nano urea / nano nitrogen fertilizer ( liquid) to Bhutan through the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) at a special concessional rate. This is intended to benefit the Bhutanese farmers who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, both for domestic consumption and export market. 

 

The Indian government will supply 111,000 metric tonnes of coal per annum to Bhutan through Coal India Limited to meet the requirement of the coal dependent industry of Bhutan and allow for unhindered supply and export of related products to India. 

 

It is hoped that the supply of coal from India will greatly alleviate the current shortage of coal in Bhutan, which has an impact on cement production and on consumption activities in Bhutan. 

 

The Embassy said despite the challenges brought on by Covid-19 pandemic and disruptions in the global supply chains, India has been extending fullest cooperation and support to Bhutan in order to ensure smooth movement of commodities during this period.  

 

'Our close trade and economic ties are a reflection of the exceptionally close and friendly relations between India and Bhutan. In view of the special relationship,  notwithstanding global supply chain disruptions and shortages of various commodities, India has decided to accommodate Bhutan’s special requests,' the statement said.

Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said that there is need to strengthen the cooperative movement in the livestock sector. Inaugurating First India Animal Health Summit 2022, he called for greater use of Ayurveda for ensuring better animal health.

 

First India Animal Health Summit 2022 was held at NASC Complex, New Delhi today understanding the significance of animal health towards the broader objective of the country's food and nutrition security, rural incomes and prosperity and overall economic development.

 

Shri Rupala was the chief guest at the inaugural function of ‘India Animal Health Summit 2022’ organized by Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) and the Agriculture Today Group. He said that by ensuring good animal health, veterinarians are playing a very significant role. Shri Rupala called for suggestions from the general public on the initiatives that can be taken to give due recognition to the work of veterinarians in serving the nation.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying said that animal health is a very major component of One Health and there is need to ensure even more respect for veterinarians in the community at large. He said that the department is taking initiatives to address animal pandemic preparedness.

 

The two-day event will host a plethora of panel discussions ranging from topics such as Animal Health policy initiatives to Business environment & investment opportunities in the Animal Health sector. The deliberations evolved will later be documented and presented to authorities.

 

Dr Praveen Malik, Commissioner, Animal Husbandry; Dr KML Pathak, Chairman, ICFA Working group on Animal Husbandry, Dr Umesh Sharma, President Veterinary Council of India, Dr Dieter Joseph Schillinger, DDG, International Livestock Research Institute, Dr BN Tripathi, DDG Animal Science, ICAR, Dr MJ Khan, Chairman, Indian Chamber of Food & Agriculture and Mrs Mamta Jain, Editor & CEO, Agriculture Today Group were present at the event.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar on Wednesday met with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in the island country and held discussions on boosting bilateral relationships along with sharing views on the global situation.

 

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, 'Glad to meet Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong in Singapore. A good discussion on taking our bilateral partnership to the next level. Also exchanged views on the global, political and economic situation.'

 

India-Singapore relations are based on shared values and approaches, economic opportunities, and convergence of interests on key issues. Political engagement is regular. The defense relations are particularly strong. Economic and technological ties are extensive and growing.

 

Additionally, the cultural and human links between both nations are very vibrant. There are more than 20 regular bilateral mechanisms, dialogues, and exercises. There is a great convergence on a broad range of international issues and both are members of a number of forums, including the East Asia Summit, G20, Commonwealth, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium).

 

Singapore is India’s 6th largest trade partner (2020-21) with a share of 3.2 per cent of India’s overall trade. In 2021-22 (April – September 2021) bilateral trade stood at USD 14.2 billion.

 

In 2020-21, bilateral trade stood at USD 21.98 billion. The cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore to India stood at USD 118.39 billion (April 2000 -June 2021) which is 22 pc of total FDI inflows in India. Singapore was the largest source of FDI in India in 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21.

 

During the second wave of the pandemic, Singapore’s position as a logistic hub enabled both the public and private sector to source emergency relief supplies such as oxygen- tanks, cylinders, concentrators, ventilators among others from Singapore to India. Till the end of June 2021, 26 Indian Air Force sorties and 4 Indian Navy Ships transported substantial quantities of these items from Singapore to India

 

The close ties between India and Singapore have a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links across a millennium.

 

India and Singapore added new momentum and direction to their Strategic Partnership in 2018, anchored in the official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Singapore from May 31 to June 2, and his second visit on November 14-15 for attending the ASEAN-India and related Summits.

 

Prime Minister Modi became the first Indian PM to deliver the keynote address at the annual Shangri La Dialogue on June 1, 2018. He outlined India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific region and reflected India’s commitment to promoting peace and stability in the region.

 

When PM Modi visited in November 2018 to participate in the multilateral Summits, he also became the first Head of Government to deliver the keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival, world’s largest Fintech event.

 

He projected India’s success in financial inclusion & digitalization as a means for economic progress and empowerment. PM Modi also launched a global digital platform, APIX, to connect fintech companies and banks, starting with India and ASEAN. (ANI)

Odisha has been adjudged the top ranked State followed by Uttar Pradesh at the 2nd spot and Andhra Pradesh at third amongst the General Category States in ‘State Ranking Index for NFSA’. Among the Special Category states/UTs, Tripura stood first followed by Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim respectively. Further, among the 3 UTs where Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)- Cash is operational, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu is the top ranked UT.

 

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal released the 1st edition of ‘State Ranking Index for NFSA’ during the conference of Food Ministers of States/UTs on ‘Food Nutrition and Security in India’ organized by Department of Food and Public Distribution here today. Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Rural Development along with Secretary DFPD, Shri Sudhanshu Pandey along with Food Ministers and senior officials of 8 states were present at the daylong conference.

 

This 'State ranking Index for NFSA' attempts to document the status and progress of implementation of NFSA and various reform initiatives across the country, post consultation with states. It highlights the reforms undertaken by States and UTs and create a cross-learning environment and scale-up reform measures by all states and union territories. The present Index is largely focused on NFSA Distribution and will include procurement, PMGKAY Distribution in future. The Index for ranking the states and UTs is built on three key pillars which covers the end-to-end implementation of NFSA through TPDS. These pillars are: i) NFSA— Coverage, targeting and provisions of the Act, ii) Delivery platform, and iii) Nutrition initiatives. The detailed list of the States is at Annexure-I.

 

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) was enacted on July 5, 2013 and in order to celebrate the day, the conference was organized to deliberate and discuss nutritional security, food security, best practices followed in Public Distribution System, crop diversification, reforms in PDS and storage sector.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal said that India is now 100% connected under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC). He complemented Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi for visualizing this pathbreaking initiative and all those associated with it. He said that 45 crore transitions have taken so far providing the beneficiaries the freedom to collect ration from any State/UT in the country. He said that during COVID, ONORC supported migrants.

 

Shri Goyal said that going forward, the system of digitized, Aadhaar linked Public Distribution will be used to issue Ayushman Bharat Card. He mentioned that Uttar Pradesh is using the system to issue Ayushman Bharat card. He urged other states to consider this system to provide nutritional security as well as health security. He said that immunization of migrant kids can also be linked with the system to ensure medical facility to them.

 

Talking about the food subsidy to states, Shri Goyal announced that the deadline to submit claims of pending dues till the year 2019-20 is August 15, 2022. He reiterated that no dues will be entertained after the deadline. He added that the pending bills of the States/UTs that will finalize the audited accounts with supporting documents by August 15, 2022, will be cleared within 60 days (October 15, 2022). However, the States/UTs that will provide details in next 3 months (July-Sept 2022), their bills will be paid by January 31, 2023. And the States/UTs that will take longer than that, will not be paid any interest. He further said that the subsidy claims are pending not because the funds are not available with the Centre, but because the States/UTs are not providing relevant data. As many participating States/UTs raised concern over delay in CAG audit, he directed the officials to get in touch with CAG for expediting the audits. Adding on he said that all claims after April 2020, will be digitized. Shri Goyal said that the absence of states Telangana, Orissa, Jharkhand, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland reflects poorly.

 

Earlier, the Conference began with a moderated discussion on food security, rice fortification and food-basket diversification. The panel discussion was moderated by Shri Vinay Kumar, Secretary, Food & Consumer Protection Department, Government of Bihar and joined by Smt Mamta Shankar, Sr. Economic Advisor, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India; Dr Kapil Yadav, Additional Professor, Community Medicine, AIIMS; Dr Shariqua Yunus, Head Nutrition Unit, World Food Programme; Dr MS Radhika, Sr. Scientist, ICMR-NIN; and Dr Konda Reddy Chavva, Consultant, FAO (India).