‘Don’t create panic’: Centre says no fertiliser shortage for kharif
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday said that the country had adequate stocks of fertilisers ahead of the upcoming kharif or summer-sown season, after a review meeting held by agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and fertilizer minister Mansukh Mandaviya, according to an official statement.
“The availability of fertilizers in the country is more than the expected demand. (There is) no need to create panic,” the statement quoted Mandaviya as saying. The ministers pointed to the last week’s cabinet approval for ₹60,939 crore subsidy for crop nutrients for the summer-sown season, which accounts for half of the country’s annual food output. The government also assured that there will not be any fertiliser shortage in the upcoming kharif sowing season.
According to a recent presentation made by fertiliser secretary RK Chaturvedi during the government’s annual kharif conference, the total fertiliser requirement during 2022 kharif season was estimated at 35.43 million tonne and availability was pegged at 48.55 lakh tonne, including imported and domestically manufactured fertilizers.
Prices of fertilisers in the country have nearly doubled due to a global shortage and supply disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting the government to announce a mid-term hike in subsidy.
Russia accounts for nearly 13% of global fertilizer production and is a key supplier to India. Russia temporarily banned fertilizer exports in March, driving up the already high fertilizer prices.
According to a research note by S&P Global Commodity Insights, as of February-end, India had 8.12 million tonne of DAP fertilizers, 1.9 million tonne of MOP fertilizers and 7.7 million of NPKS group of fertilizers, which is lower than the demand for the kharif season. port. All these restrictions, however, stand rolled back in the wake of low infection rate. To be sure, India has among the highest rates of vaccine coverage in the adult population, with around 97% of the 940 million people over the age of 18 in the country having received both doses of the vaccine.
The court was delivering its verdict on a petition filed last year by Jacob Puliyel, who was a member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, and was advising the Union government on vaccines.
Puliyel, through advocate Prashant Bhushan, urged the court to junk vaccine mandates issued by states such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to restrict access to benefits and services by unvaccinated people, besides directing the Centre to release all data relating to clinical trials of vaccines and post-vaccination adverse events.
Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati defended the vaccination policy on behalf of the Union government.
Upholding the Centre’s vaccination policy in toto, the bench found no fault with the policy on vaccination of children and the manner in which emergency approvals were given to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield, noting the decisions were based on scientific evidence and after complying with the strict statutory regime in force.
“The Union of India has placed considerable material on record in terms of scientific briefs and published studies which stand testimony to the significance of vaccination as a crucial public health intervention in this pandemic and its continued benefits to individual health as well as public health infrastructure. Vaccination of a majority of the population of this country has undoubtedly been instrumental in preventing severe disease, hospitalisation and deaths, and benefited the community at large, especially those members with co-morbidities, the elderly and sick persons,” held the court.
The bench rejected Puliyel’s plea to release primary clinical data when the results and key findings of such clinical trials have already been published, but agreed with his plea to widen the scope of reporting of post-vaccination adverse events.
REMOVE CURBS
It directed the Centre to facilitate the reporting of suspected adverse events by individuals and private doctors on a virtual platform, adding such reports shall be publicly accessible after being given unique identification numbers, without listing any personal or confidential data of the persons reporting.
In its verdict, the court emphasised that its directive on reviewing restrictions against unvaccinated people as regards access to public places, services and resources is “limited to the present situation alone” because the Centre and the states failed to justify curbs only on unvaccinated individuals when evidence appears to indicate that the risk of transmission of the virus from unvaccinated individuals is almost on par with that from vaccinated persons. To be sure, this isn’t what has emerged from a clutch of studies that also prove the ability of vaccines to reduce such transmission.
The bench, however, clarified immediately: “This judgment is not to be construed as impeding, in any manner, the lawful exercise of power by the executive to take suitable measures for prevention of infection and transmission of the virus in public interest, which may also take the form of restrictions on unvaccinated people in the future, if the situation so warrants.” It added that such restrictions will be subject to judicial scrutiny to examine if t hey meet t he requirement for intrusion into the rights of individuals.
The judgment went on to state: “Having expressed our opinion on the vaccine mandates in the prevailing context, we reiterate that vaccines effectively address severe disease arising from Covid-19 infections, are instrumental in reducing oxygen requirement, hospital and ICU admissions and mortality and continue to be the solution to stopping new variants from emerging, as per the advice of the WHO.”
The court added that restrictions placed by the governments should not be unreasonable and are open to scrutiny by constitutional courts. “It is difficult for us to envisage the myriad situations in dealing with the evolving pandemic that may call for restraint on individual rights in larger public interest and therefore, as and when such limitations are challenged, they can be assessed by constitutional courts to see whether they meet the threefold requirement laid down in KS
Puttaswamy judgment,” said the bench.
The Puttaswamy (right to privacy) judgment in 2017 laid down that the government needs to demonstrate three requirements before placing restraints on the right to privacy – there must be a law; existence of a legitimate state aim and proportionality of the measures adopted.
On the vaccination policy, the court held: “Given the considerable material filed before this Court reflecting the near-unanimous views of experts on the benefits of vaccination in dealing with severe disease, reduction in oxygen requirement, hospital and ICU admissions and mortality and stopping new variants from emerging, this Court is satisfied that the current vaccination policy of the Union of India, formulated in the interest of public health, is informed by relevant considerations and cannot be said to be unreasonable.”
The bench declined Bhushan’s plea to delve into whether natural immunity acquired from Covid-19 infection is more long-lasting and robust as compared to vaccine immunity, pointing out that the lawyer’s argument is tenable only with respect to a healthy, young individual.
“Surely, the Union of India is justified in centering its vaccination policy around the health of the population at large, with emphasis on insulating the weaker and more vulnerable sections from the risk of severe infection and its consequences, as opposed to basing its decision keeping in mind the interests of a healthy few,” it said.
plans for Asia, and said the country’s economic and population growth made it a key player for tackling global climate change and its consequences. “Look at the impact the current heat wave in India has had on its population – that is an indication of the impact climate change is having and that we have to do what we can to stop it,” he said, speaking in German.
The Green and Sustainable Development Partnership will intensify bilateral, triangular and multilateral cooperation and link it with the implementation of commitments under the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), according to a joint statement. Germany will strengthen its financial and technical cooperation and other aid to India with a long-term goal of providing €10 billion in new and additional commitments till 2030.
This funding will support the achievement of climate action goals, promote bilateral research and development and encourage private investment. Both sides will create a ministerial mechanism to provide political direction to this partnership, which will include existing initiatives in climate action, sustainable development, energy transition and development cooperation.
The two sides also agreed to launch a renewable energy partnership focused on innovative solar energy and other renewables, including challenges related to electricity grids and storage, and to create a Green Hydrogen Task Force.
Both sides welcomed the finalisation of negotiations on a bilateral agreement for a comprehensive migration and mobility partnership, as reflected by the initialling of the draft agreement. “They agreed to take action to swiftly sign the agreement and bring it into force. They highlighted the importance of this agreement in facilitating two-way mobility of students, professional and researchers as well as addressing the challenges of illegal migration,” the joint statement said.
Scholz said the proposed migration and mobility agreement will allow both sides to benefit from the “enormous potential of migration and skilled labour”. He added: “This goes to show that our relationship is not only broad and intensive but it is also based on a deep sense of trust.”
More than 1,800 German companies that are active in India have recognised the country’s potential and have helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs, he noted.
“Our companies are well aware of the locational advantages of India – a big market, a high potential for growth and an impressive ability to innovate. The higher education and science sector too is a good indicator for the ever closer integration of both our countries,” he said.
Scholz further noted that more than 7,000 Indian students are currently enrolled in German universities and higher educational institutions, and added: “They are very welcome, above and beyond studies in Germany.”
Modi said many countries had benefited from India’s skilled workers and professionals and the migration and mobility agreement with Germany will facilitate movement between the two sides at a time when India is witnessing the fastest growth in the post-covid era as compared to other developing economies.
“We are confident that India will become an important pillar of the global recovery. Recently we signed trade agreements with the UAE and Australia in a very short span of time. We remain committed to early progress in FTA negotiations with the EU as well,” he added.
The Prime Minister also referred to the agreement on implementing joint development projects in third countries and said these ventures will gain from India and Germany’s long experience in development cooperation in other countries. “Our collaboration will provide an alternative to transparent and sustainable development projects for the developing world,” he said.
The other agreements signed by the two sides covered the exchange and mutual protection of classified information and establishing a direct encrypted connection between the foreign ministries, cooperation in advanced training of corporate executives and junior executives from India, agro-ecology, and forest landscape restoration.
Both sides expressed serious concern about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, resurgence of violence, systemic violations of human rights and hampered access of girls and women to education. They reiterated their support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan and also strongly condemned terrorism in all forms, including “any use of terrorist proxies and cross-border terrorism”.
“They called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and financing in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law,” the joint statement said.
Earlier, Modi was accorded a guard of honour and received by Scholz on his arrival at the federal chancellery. Besides the IGC, Modi and Scholz held a bilateral meeting that covered key areas of bilateral cooperation and regional and global developments, including the Ukraine war.