Concern in RS over rampant use of chemical fertilisers

Members in Rajya Sabha today drew the attention of the government towards rampant use of chemical fertilisers and sought promotion of organic manure.
Participating in a discussion on a private member's bill, EMS Natichiappan (Cong) said government should promote organic manure production as there is bound to be a food crisis after 2025 and it is India which is going to be the food bowl.
"We have lost our capacity to produce natural manure...It is high time attention is paid to organic manure," he said, speaking on the Fertilizer (Price Control) Bill, 2013, introduced by Vivek Gupta (Trinamool Cong).
Mansukh Lal Mandavia (BJP) said India's age-old ways to preserve foodgrains should be revived as these do not affect health.

"Encourage use of bio-pesticides like neem leaves and restore use of our age-old farming system," he said.
CS Yadav (SP) demanded that fertiliser prices should be checked as India needed 310 million tonnes food grain.

Bhupinder Singh (BJD) demanded that the government should pay fertiliser subsidy to farmers and ensure that railways should give priority to foodgrains and fertilisers while carrying goods.
CP Narayanan (CPI-M) demanded that state-run fertiliser mills be revived and brought to profit.
Earlier, 18 private members bills were introduced which included The Citizenship (Amendment) Bil 2014 (amendment of section 9) by Shantaram Naik (Cong) and a bill to amend the Constitution.

Prabhat Jha (BJP) introduced two bills - The Accident Affected Persons (Equal Compensation ) Bill 2014 to provide for equal compensation to persons affected with accident and The National Himalayan Region Environment Protection and Development Bill, 2014 for establishment of an institute in the Himalayan region.