India signs up to COP26 action agenda on sustainable agriculture
India is among 27 countries to sign up to a sustainable agriculture action agenda at the conclusion of the first week of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, laying out new commitments to make farming more sustainable and less polluting.
The ‘Sustainable Agriculture Policy Action Agenda for the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture and Global Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture’ was among the highlight action pledges to be clinched by the participating countries at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Saturday.
The countries laid out new commitments to change their agricultural policies to become more sustainable and less polluting, and to invest in the science needed for sustainable agriculture and for protecting food supplies against climate change.
Centre holds consultations with 32 states/UTs on new central scheme to digitalise PACs
The Centre on Monday held a virtual consultation with 32 states and Union territories on a new central scheme to modernise and digitalise over 97,000 primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACs) spread across the country.
PACs, commonly known as agri-cooperative credit societies, are village-level lending institutions based on cooperative principles. They provide short- and medium-term loans to rural people to meet their financial requirements.
There are about 97,961 PACs across the country, out of which viable ones are about 65,000.
India’s fisheries sops proposals diluted in new WTO draft text
Ahead of a crucial ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) later this month, a draft text aimed at reducing global fisheries subsidies has diluted India’s proposal to curb such sops.
The latest draft made India’s proposals – to curb such sops for distant water fishing and extending the carveouts to developing countries – negotiable, but included the issue of usage of forced labour in fishing, proposed by the US.
Officials said the revised text circulated by the chair of the negotiating group on fisheries, Colombia’s Santiago Wills, on Monday, is imbalanced. Intense clause-by-clause negotiations can be expected in the run-up to the ministerial scheduled from November 30 to December 3.
