MSP exists only on paper

Since a better administered MSP is the central demand of farmers, I am reading up more about it. 

Farming today means farming with losses. This needs to turn into farming where hard work can produce savings instead of losses.

Before Elections BJP promised MSP 50 % above cost of production

In his election promises, Modi had on multiple occasions promised to implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission on farmers and raise the minimum support price (MSP) offered to farmers to 50% above the cost of production.

The finance minister's budget speech of 2018 said that they were going to implement their electoral promise. Farmers movements had already exposed this to be a fraudulent claim. Finance Minister had admitted that the cost he was speaking about was not comprehensive cost but partial cost.

Why MSP is critical for India's farmers

Minimum support price is at the heart of the existing system to ensure fair and remunerative returns to farmers. MSP is a solemn guarantee to the farmers to the effect that the central government shall ensure the floor price should the farmers fail to get even that level.

The election promise was that the farmer will get an MSP which is 50% higher than his entire cost of production. But the BJP Govt. made it a partial cost: this differs from whole cost in the sense of whether the imputed rent of the farmer’s land is included in it or not. Every shopkeeper or landowner includes this in his cost – just because my father has land does not mean he bears no cost for holding that land. 

The MSP is meant to ensure that the sale price of agriculture produce will not fall below this minimum amount. But the reality is that ordinarily, the MSP becomes the maximum price for the farmer that only some farmers get. 

MSP exists only on paper

MSP is announced for 14 crops. Yet only two are actually bought by the government - only wheat and rice. For the rest, if you can sell them somehow, then that’s it.

Of all the rice produced in the country, the government buys one-third. Of all the wheat produced in the country, the government buys one-fourth. It buys 0.2% of all the bajra produced in the country. 

The MSP exists only on paper. The farmer comes ready with his crop and asks the government to buy it. The government says the arrangement does not exist in your district, the centre will open 15 days later here. Or it closed ten days ago and you’re late. Or you do not have the required paperwork.

India's agriculture goals have to put the farmer first

There is also a frequently made argument that productivity should be increased. In reality, today, we see surplus being the problem. The agricultural policy of India has always been production-oriented instead of being producer-oriented. That is the entire problem. The farmer is not affected by where your production levels have reached. The dilemma is that when production increases to such an extent, the farmer is killed.

We need an independent commission for agricultural costs

The farmer should get a legal guarantee for the MSP. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, which determines the price, is under the thumb of the government and is run by the yes-men of the ruling party. This should be made an independent, accountable commission, whose recommendations should be binding. Farmers should have the legal right to get at least the MSP for their produce. They should have the right to go to court, file a case and get compensation if they do not get the MSP.

For 13 years, the farmer has been denied 50 % MSP over his costs

Since 2014, Indian banks have written off nearly 7 lakh crore in unpaid loans. Just 2 % of these belong to farmers. 

Today the farmer is badly caught in debt. The farmer will have to be exempted from this debt one time. This is not pity or begging. For 13 years, the farmer has been denied the Swaminathan Commission recommendations. The arrears of 11 years turn out to be Rs 22,00,000 crore, the farmers’ loan is Rs 14,00,000 crore. Exempt them of this debt, so that the farmer can stand up.

Yogendraji asks, are farmers today the priority of the country, or are they not? This will determine whether the government has money in its pocket for them or not.

Nearly half of what we pay for Diesel, goes to the central government as excise

One of the comebacks to my farmer posts yesterday was from a neighbour who called to say that diesel was expensive as 'all the money paid by consumers went to Kejriwal.' I asked if he meant state governments in general, including BJP ruled UP, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, which kept back most of the money from diesel sales in state taxes. 

He was forced to agree that all state governments did so. He added that center had no role in increasing prices, only the state governments did. Centre kept back very little of the taxes he said, the lion's share went to state governments.

I wrote back to him : Sir, kal aap ne kaha ki the high price that the farmer is paying for diesel is because of taxes by state governments. Not as per this detailed analysis in May this year : 

Fuel prices in India are currently one of the highest in the world. Every time the farmer (or the rest of us) buys diesel : 

# Nearly half of what he pays goes to the center.

# Nearly a third goes towards the actual price of diesel with small amount of freight and dealer commission.

# Nearly a quarter of the price goes to the state govt. as taxes. 

# Central govt. taxes are double that of State.

This gentleman who called with the diesel story is a leading light of the ruling party at the center. He is helpful in colony affairs and is affectionate. But I supposed he had to project his party's defence. 

That defence follows a familiar pattern - jumble lies with half truths and discredit whoever has a different opinion.. hope most people wont look up the facts and repeated over and over, your lie will become the truth in people's minds. 

That is how the lies about muslims, nehru family, even gandhi are being propagated day in and day out.. thanks to being on several groups i can see what the paid trolls churn out on a daily basis.. all lies.. 

All the forwards you hear and posted on these groups - taken from facebook pages which stock hundreds of lying stories.. are LIES paid for by the ruling party, via trolls. Award winning books have documented this phenomenon in detail. 

Take any of these stories and check it for veracity. i have done it dozens of times... all lies which you happily swallow.

So what is the lie being put out in the case of diesel and farmers ? That centre has no role in increasing prices - lie. 

Central Govt. is the only beneficiary of increasing prices along with state governments (in a smaller proportion). Neither the consumer nor even the oil companies are benefitting from decontolling the price of fuel in india. 

When price of oil goes down in the international market (like it did in most of 2020), central govt. does not lower prices in india - it slaps more excise duty and takes all the savings from oil purchase into its own coffers. this has been done atleast twice this year already. 

No benefit of lower international prices is passed on to indian consumers, including farmers.

Another lie is that only State Governments benefit from slapping taxes on fuel. 

Central Govt. takes twice as much of the fuel amount as tax as state government. 

Nearly half of what you pay at the petrol pump goes to the central government.

BJP's claims on protecting MSP will only be believed when it is part of the new law

 In this interview on the farm bills 2.5 MONTHS AGO, Yogendraji again clarifies:

# No Kisan sanghathan has ever asked for the provisions in these bills in the past many decades. # Even the RSS backed Kisan sanghathans are in opposition to the farm bills. # The Government did not consult a single kisan organization in the run up to the bills - it is in a tearing hurry, first passing ordinance and then these bills.. it is clear that the intent is not to benefit farmers, but some other objective. At about 4.15 counter, Yogendraji explains that the ability to stock as much as desired WILL NOT benefit farmers, but very large stockists who will find it easy to manipulate the market for farm commodities. Both farmers and consumers will lose out by such manipulation. At about 7.15 counter, Yogendraji talks about the bill impacting APMC mandis: # For a long time, farmers have been asking for improvements to the APMC Mandi system. # They have also been asking for APMC Mandis to be set up in large parts of the country where APMC Mandis dont exist at all. # But the Government has no response to what the Farmer organizations have been asking for. Instead, it says it will allow private players to set up mandis outside the existing APMC mandis. # The carrot to lure farmers to private mandis is that the 6-8 % tax currently charged at APMC Mandis will not be charged at private mandis. # This will lead to the APMC Mandis becoming dysfunctional in a few years. Once the APMC Mandis are dysfunctional, MSP will not be available to farmers. At about 8.30 counter, Yogendraji explains that if the govt. has farmers' interest at heart, it would create a level playing field between private mandis and APMC mandis : # Same MSP applicable at private mandis as in APMC Mandis. # Same taxes levied at the private mandis as in APMC Mandis. # Same registration of traders in Private mandi as in APMC Mandi. But the Government is not interested in these amendments as it has no interest in farmer welfare in these laws. They are meant for some other objective. At about 9.20 counter, Yogendraji explains that the loose talk about 'freedom for farmers' is a complete LIE. There is no restriction on farmers since 1975. Any farmer can sell his produce anywhere today also, before these bills were ever passed. The restrictions are not on farmers but on traders. And this game is being played to benefit traders and big business, not farmers. The restriction on traders is this : that trade in agricultural commodities is permitted only inside APMC Mandis (where they exist), as per the rules of the mandis. At 10.55 counter, Yogendraji explains that wherever in the country, APMC Mandis have been removed, farmers' situation has deteriorated remarkably. For example, in Bihar, a law was passed in 2006 (by the same NDA Government) to abolish APMC Mandis. Today all over the country, rice is sold by farmers at 1600-1700 while in Bihar it is sold at 1000-1100 Rs., he says. A study on Bihar last year said that “Farmers are left to the mercy of traders who unscrupulously fix a lower price for agricultural produce that they buy from [them].' The report concluded that 'Bihar’s repeal of the APMC system and consequent increase in price volatility could be one of the reasons for low growth of agriculture in the state.' At 11.40 counter, yogendraji explains that farmers dont want to opt out of the AMC mandi system. They want it strengthened. BJP's claims on protecting MSP will only be believed when it is part of the new law. Already there is not a single law in the country that ensures farmers get minimum support price for their produce. For example, the MSP for corn is 1760 but it is selling at 850-900 rs. a quintal in W Bengal and Bihar (when the interview was being recorded in Sep 2020). Once Minimum Support Price is enshrined in law, the farmers dont mind private mandis or laws for company contract farming etc. At about 14.10 counter Yogendraji explains that a model APMC act was created by the Vajpayee Govt. in 2003 at the center. States were requested to reform their acts in line with the central act to remove anomalies in the functioning of APMC mandis. But even State BJP governments since then did not adopt this model law. Today, crocodile tears are being shed at the centre that state governments have not adopted a model law - when it was the same party in power in most of them in the years past ! At 16.45 counter Yogendraji explains that most of the farmer organizations in Punjab protesting against these bills are not allied to either Congress or the Akalis - they have criticized both parties. At 19.45 counter, Yogendraji says that the talk of private investment in agriculture is laughable as all farmers anyway invest their own resources in farming. Agriculture in India is already in private hands - the farmers' hands. But the Government uses the term 'private investment' only in the context of big companies. The idea is to withdraw from government role in building warehousing, in providing minimum support price, and leave agriculture only to market forces. At 23.15 counter, the interviewer refers to the PM saying that the farmer can now sell his produce everywhere, even export it. Yogendraji responds with a sense of shame, that the 'the PM lies'. He asks to be shown the law in any Indian state that prevents a farmer from selling his produce anywhere - there is no such law anywhere. There is a restriction on exports, which is not dealt with by these three farm bills.

+++++++++++++++++ So what is it that the farmers are asking for ? That MSP be maintained and improved upon. That APMC Mandis be maintained and improved upon. How hard is that for a callous, uncaring Govt. to understand ? And how hard is that for us - the rich of this country, but still dependent on food grown by farmers to understand ? Subsidies to Farmers is a complex subject. Suffice to say that many countries around the world spend similar amounts as India in subsidizing farmers or even more, including Indonesia, China, Japan, US and the EU. Only New Zealand has done away with subsidies and continues to prosper in agriculture.

The Reality of BJP's Three Farm Bills, 2020

I still havent had time to delve into the intricacies of the 3 farm bills. But a friend sent me a video of Yogendraji explaining the essence of the 3 bills. 

In the decades I have heard him speak, he is the one of the most measured, well researched, calm, and circumspect speaker on any subject i have heard. 

He has no axe to grind with any party and we would do well to pay attention to what he is saying. He says in the video :

# Unlike what BJP acolytes are propagating, none of the bills has been asked for by any farmer's organization across the country, EVER in their history. And now 450 farmer organizations are in protest of the bills for months. 

# The government has assumed a deaf year to what the farmers have actually been asking for during lock down.. 1. They asked for compensation as they were not permitted to sell their produce in the mandis for months. 2. Farmers asked for lowering of diesel prices (diesel is used in agriculture). Diesel prices are headed downward throughout the world and are rising only in india. 3. Farmers also asked for compensation for destroyed crops. But the government did none of these things.

Instead, the government SHOVED THREE UNASKED FOR GIFTS DOWN FARMERS' THROATS :

FIRST, THE JAMAKHORI KHOLO KANOON, Yadavji says : There were limits uptill now on the  quantities of farm commodities that could be stocked by private entities. Now those limits stand removed. 

For whose benefit ? Adani is making silos in Punjab. The stocking capacity of these silos is 100 times bigger than the biggest godowns now available to farmers. So any amounts of rice, wheat, dals can now be stored by private entities. 

What will be the likely impact ? Stocks may be released to market just before harvesting of crops, to depress rates available to farmers. Later, when farmers have sold all at low rates, prices will be manipulated by large stockists to make them expensive for consumers.

SECOND, BANDHUA KISAN KANOON, Yadavji says : This does not refer to the contracts farmers do with each other for farming on each other's lands for selected time periods. This law is to facilitate companies contracting farmers for their produce. There is a precedent for this law in the contracts Pepsi company did with farmers in Punjab. Let us say the contract was for potatoes to be sold to Pepsi at Rs. 6 a kg.

The first year the market rate for potatoes when the crop was ready to be sold, was 10 rs. a kg. But the company forced farmers to sell their produce at 6 Rs. still, referring to the contract. 

The next year the market rate for potatoes was 4 Rs. a Kg. The farmers asked for the contracted 6 Rs. from Pepsi. But the company said the size and taste of the potato was not proper ! It forced farmers to sell at Rs. 4. a Kg only. 

The contract farming law says any complaints should be made to the SDM but farmers dont have access to SDM. Thus farmers will be forced to farm on unacceptable terms, making them Bandhua.

THIRD, MANDI TORO, MSP CHORO KANOON, Yogendraji says : This law says private mandis will be built near APMC mandis. Farmers will not be able to make such mandis themselves as investments in the hundreds of crores will be needed for a mandi. 

Initially, the private Mandi owners will offer farmers marginally greater amounts than that being offered by the APMC mandi. So farmers, always trying to survive, will gravitate towards these better paying mandis. but by say the 4th sale season or so, the APMC mandi system will be disfunctional as so many of the farmers will have been persuaded to trade in private mandis.

Once APMC Mandis are no longer an alternative, the private mandis are likely to bring down their rates. Farmers will have no option to sell anywhere else then. 

In fact before the whole nation, Jio company of Reliance, employed the same strategy : it promised free net and calls and lured in large nos. of indian mobile customers. Once it reached a critical mass, it suddenly raised prices.

The Mandi system has not been perfect and farmers have many complaints. But for the last many decades, it has given some protection to farmers. Now, Modiji, acknowledging the problems in Mandis, says let us remove this protection altogether - let the farmer enjoy freedom !

Farmers dont want to damage the APMC mandi system. They want it improved.

Using Turmeric Leaves

Turmeric leaves’ total production is 30–40 tons per 10 ton of the root because of the plant’s massive volume and surface area, which makes turmeric leaves a plentiful resource.

Several studies have reported that turmeric roots possess multiple pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antibacterial and anticoagulant, and anti-diabetic based on its free-radical-scavenging activity. 

The activities of turmeric also include antiseptic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, radioprotective, and digestive activities.  

The rhizome extracts showed high inhibition over bacterial activity of E.coli, S.pyrogens, B.subtilis and C.albicans. 

Turmeric leaf extract has functional effects such as skin immunity, anti-inflammation, and antioxidant activities.

Run out of turmeric? No problem. The extract of dried turmeric leaves soaked in water can serve the same purpose. It will impart the same golden yellow hue you expect from the powder.

Due to the strong anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin, turmeric leaves could prove to be a boon for those suffering osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

A clinical trial, in which 600-mg turmeric root was administered five times daily to patients with peptic ulcer disease, reported ulcer resolution at 4 weeks and 12 weeks in 48% and 76% of patients, respectively. The same study also demonstrated that turmeric markedly improves symptoms of dyspepsia in 1 to 2 weeks.

Turmeric volatile oil is effective against disorders of the respiratory tract. The volatile oil is active in removing sputum, relieving cough, and preventing asthma. Thus, turmeric volatile oil may be an efficacious drug in the treatment of respiratory diseases. 

This oil acts as a repellent against both day- and night-biting mosquitoes.

In a phase I clinical study on the safety and tolerance of turmeric oil use, the oil was administered orally to healthy volunteers for 3 months. No side effects of turmeric oil intake were observed in 3 months on body weight, blood pressure, and hematological, renal, or hepatic toxicity 

How to Make Turmeric Oil from Fresh Turmeric is at this link.

Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization

Nearly two-thirds of the 1,500 archaeological sites related to the Indus Valley Civilization, occur on the dried up banks of the present-day Ghaggar river.

Around 1900 B.C.E., one of the major rivers of the Indus Valley, the Ghaggar-Hakra (also called the Saraswati), began to shift its course and eventually dried up, leaving many sites without a viable subsistence base. These communities would have migrated to other farming regions or to cities such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, resulting in overcrowding and civic disorder.

1500-2000 years before Christ, the Indus Valley civilization witnessed large scale deurbanization, population decrease, abandonment of many established settlements, lack of basic amenities, interpersonal violence and disappearance of the Indus Valley script.

Previously scholars argued that the Indus cities were suddenly abandoned around 1750 B.C.E., but recent work at Harappa has clearly demonstrated that during its late phase, from 1900 to 1300 B.C.E., Harappa was indeed inhabited. 

In fact, signs that drains and city walls were not maintained provide proof of crowding and a breakdown of civic order. The remains suggest that the ruling elites were no longer able to control the day-to-day functioning of the urban center. This loss of authority must have eventually led to a reorganization of society, not just in Harappa but throughout the entire region that the upper classes had dominated for 700 years. Similar changes were occurring at the other big cities, such as Mohenjo Daro to the south and Dholavira in western India.

The crisis led to a cessation of the hallmarks of Indus elite culture. The distinctive pottery with ritual motifs and Indus script and traditional square seals with unicorn and other animal motifs disappeared. Cubical weights for taxation and trade fell into disuse, and the international trade networks began to deteriorate. Shells from the coastal regions no longer made their way to the northern sites, and lapis lazuli from the north failed to reach the sites in the plains. In Mesopotamia the texts that had recorded ongoing trade with a region called Meluhha, which is probably the Indus Valley, no longer mentioned it.

Reading about Indus Valley Civilization again

 Am reading about Indus Valley Civilization again - a topic i go back to periodically. 

The Grid Pattern of Roads and Lanes

The Indus Valley civilization thrived with well-planned cities and elegant streets laid out in a grid pattern. At its height it had 1500 cities spread over a million kms - the largest civilization, by far, among its contemporaries. 

The longest street in Moen-Jo-Daro was 805 m long and about 10 m wide, which likely indicates that wheeled carts were in existence during this period and streets were used for trade.

The city center was connected by main streets from four directions to reduce congestion and allow free movement of people and goods to the central business district. One outstanding feature is a concentric shaped street in the form of a ring structure which was used to control expansion of the cities. The main streets of Moen-Jo-Daro and Harappa intersected one another at right angles with width varying from 3.50 to 10.00 m and up to 1.5 km long.

The lanes were joined with the streets. Each lane had a public use and was provided with street lamps. The life in the Indus cities implies a democratic urban economy.

The Modern Water Supply Systems in the Indus Valley

The people of Moen-Jo-Daro had expertise in digging water wells. The residents of the city had built about 700 wells, where a single well serviced three houses. The wells were assembled with tightening mud bricks to have a stronger life to last for centuries.

Terracotta pipes used for washing basins and manholes constructed by the Indus Valley people are still in good condition after nearly five thousand years.

Linked to larger mains, which eventually emptied outside the city walls, the sewers at Harappa would have removed wastewater from the habitation areas, depositing fertile sludge on the surrounding agricultural fields. 

Did the Minoan Civilization learn its water & sanitation techniques from the Indus Valley ?

The Minoan civilization in Crete, Greece was the earliest sophisticated society in Europe. About 1250 years after the Indus valley had begun to use modern sanitation and water supply systems, the Minoans developed ones very like them, although no other society around them had anything like it. 

It is even surmised that a wave of migration from the Indus Valley to Crete may have occurred for such developments to have taken place in Crete. 

The landmark technological achievements by both civilizations had no precedent in prior civilizations.

Save for the Indus cities, no other city in the ancient world featured such a sophisticated water and waste management system. Even during the Roman Empire, some 2,000 years later, these kinds of facilities were limited to upper-class neighborhoods.

A Sophisticated Governance System in the Indus Valley

During this period, Indus scribes developed a sophisticated writing system comprising more than 400 symbols.

Excavators have found distinctive pottery with widely used ritual motifs at all settlements throughout the greater Indus Valley.

Similar city organization and trade patterns existed throughout the Indus Valley, showing a sophisticated governance system without the use of warfare.

The Indus script

The Indus script became widespread in all the major urban centers of the Indus Valley. Its most prominent use was on seals that also bore animal motifs and ritual objects. The unicorn image is the most common (found on more than 65 percent of known seals), but other animals appear as well, including elephants, humped zebu bulls, water buffalo, bison, tigers and rhinoceroses.

We also see for the first time small tokens or tablets made of soapstone incised with script and symbols. Because many of these items feature the same set of signs and what appear to be numbers, researchers think that they served as tools for accounting. 

The writing may indicate the owners name, the commodity and its quantity, or the creditor to whom it is being presented. Some of these tablets have been intentionally snapped in two, possibly to indicate a contract between two parties, each of whom retained half until the transaction or work was completed.

The DISplaced...

India's document on climate change, notes how rain-fed agriculture covers 60% of the country’s net sown area, with 40% of the total food production affected by frequent droughts, floods, climate variability and extreme weather. 

Research reveals that the tidal flood water level has risen by a metre between 2004 and 2009 and continues to rise.

In India, close to 1.5 million people are classified as internally displaced every year, many for climate change reasons. At 2.7 million people, India had the highest number of people displaced by disasters and extreme weather events in 2018. 

For example, when cyclone Phailin ravaged the coastal state of Orissa in 2013, the state witnessed an unprecedented scale of migration of fishing communities that had otherwise been based there for decades. 

Even six years after cyclone Phailin, subsidies promised to replace fishing boats and nets lost in the disaster had not been disbursed. 

Researchers in the state of Assam in India and in Bangladesh have estimated that around a million people have been rendered homeless due to erosion in the Brahmaputra river basin over the last three decades. The figure can potentially go up to six million people.

Feb 2020 report : In the last two years, India has been hit by at least one extreme weather event every month. India recorded just 9 out of 93 disasters in Asia in 2019, but accounted for nearly 48% of the deaths.

27 of the 37 states and union territories in India are disaster-prone. 

A recent study in the Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences, co-related 50 years of annual temperature data with the GDP of 165 nations. The study found that India’s GDP is 30% lower today, than it would have been had it not been affected by climate change


The reasons behind these negative impacts are mainly due to decreased productivity and losses due to climate-induced disasters.

In 2018, of the total new 28 million internally displaced people in 148 countries, 61 per cent were due to disasters. In comparison, 39 per cent were due to conflict and violence. 

More countries reported displacement due to disaster than conflict and violence: 144 for disaster and 55 for conflict and violence. 

According to UN, disasters and geophysical hazards have an average of 3.1 million displacements per year since 2008. 

In December 2019, the World Meteorological Organization released the annual State of Global Climate 2019. According to this report, 22 million people would be displaced by December 31, 2019, due to extreme weather events. 

According to the report, more than 10 million people were displaced internally — within a country — between January and June 2019. Out of this, 7 million were due to extreme weather events like floods, cyclones and hurricanes. 

Everyone knows that climate change is displacing people, but no government is willing to acknowledge this officially, for fear of having to recognize these people as refugees and be held responsible for their welfare.

The Highest Temperatures on Earth

In 2010, the most-common value of near-surface air temperature was near 25 °C and a thin tail reached to 50 °C (albeit with very few points above 40 °C). Confirmed temperatures over 50 C had not occurred till then. 

Only five days ago, one of the top-three highest temperatures ever measured on the planet at any time has been recorded at California - 54.4 C. Some climatologists consider 53.88 C readings recorded in California on June 30, 2013, and in Kuwait and Pakistan in 2016 and 2017, respectively, as the highest ever reliably measured on the planet.

A study projects that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at a high rate, temperatures in parts of northeastern India and most of Bangladesh will exceed a deadly threshold during seasonal heat waves. Extreme heat waves that now happen once every 25 years will become annual events with temperatures close to the threshold for several weeks each year, which could lead to famine and mass migration.

Explaining 'Wet-Bulb' Temperatures

What Are 'Wet-Bulb' Temperatures

Source for Two Graphics

Wet bulb temperature is a combination of temperature and humidity. There are limits to what wet bulb temperature the human body can survive beyond a few hours, absent airconditioning.

The 1st chart has temperatures on top in C. and Humidity on Left. The intersection of both shows the applicable wet-bulb temperature. 

The second chart shows how to interpret the colours of the wet-bulb temperature squares in the first chart. Concern really begins at Red and then Black squares. 

When the wet-bulb temp is in Red, one should not work for more than 30 min at a time (followed by rest for 30 min), and one should be having one litre of water for every such work hour. Even these guidelines are for fit hikers, and the rest of us ordinary folks should work even less I suppose. 

When the wet-bulb square is black, one is not suppose to work at all outside of airconditioning.

What Did This Imply in say Delhi, in June, 2018 ?

What does this imply for Delhi wet-bulb temperatures, say in June ? The science says, no work should be done in day light hours, at all outside of airconditioning in June ! Here are four sample June days where i studied the hourly temperatures :

# On June 1st, 2018, for example, one could have done restricted work from midnight-7.30 AM, and 8 PM to midnight ! but no work in day time as it would fall into black wet-bulb squares.

# On 8th Jun, one could have done unrestricted worked midnight to 6 AM.  No work till midnight after that !

# On 15th June, no work outside of airconditioning over 24 hours !

# On 22nd June, only midnight to 6 AM was within safe wet bulb temperature. All the rest of the hours were in black, that is no one was supposed to do any work outside of airconditioning !

Health Impacts of Great Heat and Humidity

A healthy internal body temperature falls within a narrow window. The average person has a baseline temperature between 98°F (37°C) and 100°F (37.8°C). If your body temperature rises as high as 107.6°F (42 °C), you can suffer brain damage or even death. 

Just 5 degrees C deviation of temperature from the usual can have severe health consequences in the human body. 

If your body needs to cool down, these mechanisms include:

 #   Sweating: Your sweat glands release sweat, which cools your skin as it evaporates. This helps lower your internal temperature.

 #   Vasodilatation: The blood vessels under your skin get wider. This increases blood flow to your skin where it is cooler — away from your warm inner body. This lets your body release heat through heat radiation.

This makes the heart beat faster and pump harder. On a hot day, it may circulate two to four times as much blood each minute as it does on a cool day.

Sweat pulls more than heat from the body—it also pulls out sodium, potassium, and other minerals needed for muscle contractions, nerve transmissions, and water balance. Most healthy people tolerate these changes without missing a beat. People with damaged or weakened hearts, have a much harder time, and may succumb to heat stroke.

What do Wet-Bulb Temperatures do to Humans ?

Here is a detailed study on what high wet-bulb temperatures do to the human body : 

Distance runners were asked to run at speed for 60 min at 31 C temperature at 5 levels of humidity : 23, 43, 52, 61 and 71% (on separate days for each varying level of humidity I presume). 

Immediately thereafter, participants continued running at the same velocity while the treadmill gradient was elevated by 2% every 2 min until volitional exhaustion.

The ability to regulate body temperature during running exercise at 31°C ambient temperature was progressively compromised as humidity increased, and became substantially so when humidity exceeded 60%.

There was a non-linear increase in core temperature and skin temperature during the exercise taken when humidity was at 61 % and at 71 %.

Evaporation of sweat from the skin halved as humidity levels increased from 23 to 71 %.

The study showed that evaporative heat loss plays a vital role as the main avenue for heat dissipation during exercise in the a heat-stress environment.

Heat Stress Imposes a Robust Upper Limit to Adaptation by Humans

A pioneering study published in 2010 had shown that heat stress imposes a robust upper limit to adaptation by humans to gloabl warming.

Peak heat stress, quantified by the wet-bulb temperature TW, is surprisingly similar across diverse climates today (the reference is to 2010). TW never exceeds 31 °C. Any exceedence of 35 °C for extended periods should induce hyperthermia in humans and other mammals, as dissipation of metabolic heat becomes impossible. While this never happens now, it would begin to occur with higher levels of global warming.

Humans maintain a core body temperature near 37 °C that varies slightly among individuals but does not adapt to local climate. Human skin temperature is strongly regulated at 35 °C or below under normal conditions, because the skin must be cooler than body core in order for metabolic heat to be conducted to the skin.

Sustained skin temperatures above 35 °C imply elevated core body temperatures (hyperthermia), which reach lethal values (42–43 °C) for skin temperatures of 37–38 °C even for acclimated and fit individuals.

India’s clean energy prospects

The optimism in the private sector about India’s clean energy prospects a couple of years ago is hard to find now.

Rating agency CRISIL in a recent report said India would not have 100 GW of solar capacity and 60 GW of wind capacity even by 2024, leave alone 2022.

Unfortunately, wind and solar energy developers are running into some of the same problems as their counterparts in thermal power a few years ago, chief among them being outstanding dues from utilities.



To meet the international Paris Agreement commitments, the world was to have started to sharply decelerate it use of oil and coal in 2018. But that has not happened.

As of July 2019, distribution companies across India owed renewable power producers Rs 9,736 crore, according to CEA data. Around three-quarters of that were owed by four southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka.

Acme Solar Holdings, the country’s largest solar power developer, is waiting for payments totalling Rs 210 crore from Andhra and Rs 386 crore from Telangana. Payments have been delayed between three months and a year.

“We only factor in a delay of 1-2 months,” says Shashi Shekhar, vice-chairman of Acme, “There is a significant loss in return on capital because of these long delays.”

Solar power developers are yet to be compensated for the goods and services tax and safeguard duty on imported cells and modules they paid on projects they won before either of the taxes came into effect.

The CERC has ruled in separate cases that these amount to a change in law and developers have to be compensated for the payments. But companies say they do not know when they will be reimbursed, either as a one-time payment or in the form of increased tariffs.

“I don’t know if some other duty will be imposed tom,” says Acme’s Shekhar. Acme has around Rs 800 C stuck in GST and safeguard duty payments. Because of its liquidity constraints, Acme, which has a portfolio of 5.5 GW, has not bid for any new projects in the past 7 months.If no solution is found to clear the dues from utilities or on the proposed revision of tariffs in Andhra, in addition to making land acquisition easier and easing tariff caps, global investors is likely to look for opportunities in other economies.

That could lead to a consolidation in the industry, and banks and non-banking financial companies will further tighten their purse strings. Then, India’s bold clean energy targets will remain just that.

A May 2020 report said that with no domestic module and cell manufacturing capacity getting added in the renewables sector during the year, the supply of components from China will be critical.

There’s a widening gap between what the research says needs to be done to curb carbon emissions, and what is actually happening. For instance, demand for electric vehicles is growing but so, too, is demand for much larger and much less energy efficient SUVs.

The number of SUVs on the road around the world increased from 35 million in 2010 to over 200 million in 2018, representing 60% of the increase in the global car fleet over the 8-year period, the IEA said.

As the world tries to cut back on carbon emissions, rising temperatures and erratic weather patterns haven’t made it easy. IEA estimated that nearly one-fifth of 2018′s energy demand growth stemmed from hotter summers and colder winters.

Some Corporates in India are Moving towards Renewable Energy

Corporate (industrial and commercial sector) electricity demand accounts for about 50% of total electricity consumption in India and globally. 

Infosys, Dalmia Cement, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts and Tata Motors – are Indian-headquartered companies that have voluntarily adopted 100% renewable electricity consumption targets. 

Additionally, there are more than 40 international companies that have India presence and are moving their operations to renewable energy.

A leading company representative said in May 2020 that the prime hurdle for achieving full renewable energy for their company was the volatile policy and regulatory framework.

Companies leading the transition towards 100% renewable energy have asked to be rewarded, possibly through special policy incentives.

Solar Power in India Since 2014

By Feb 2020, India had installed 35 GW of solar power generation capacity. Solar power tariffs in India are among the lowest in the world.

As of 2019, a third of the world’s total installed solar capacity was in China, and 7 % in India.

The NDA government chose a strategy that prioritised retaining a low minimum tariff on projects while increasing protection against imported panels, thereby forcing developers to buy panels at a higher cost. Since then, bidding processes have slowed down, highlighting the incompatibility of these goals. 

In Jul 2020 Modi said that as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, the country’s aim is to end its dependence on import of all equipment, including solar panels.

International experts said in March 2020 that India has seen too much policy inconsistency and change, as well as state-centre conflicts, plus the drag of national policy objective contradictions to be on track to achieve the goal of creating 175 GW renewables capacity by 2020.

The history of Solar Power in India till 2014

The Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources was formedin 1982. 

Indian renewable energy development agency was formed in 1987 to operate a revolving fund for developing, promoting and commercialization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy.

From the late 90s, Independent Renewable Power Producers were given the right to wheel the (renewable) power through existing transmission lines of the State Electricity Boards on payment of reasonable charges for selling the power to any third party in the country. 

Upgradation of technology for solar photovoltaic cells was undertaken.

By 2007, 3000 villages were electrified using solar technologies. There were 2000 solar power plants in operation, and over 6 lakh solar lanterns / 3 lakhs home lighting systems in use. Over 60,000 street lighting systems were in operation.

Government of India launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission in 2010, as one of its eight missions under National Action Plan on Climate Change. It was believed that solar power can be important in attaining energy independence. 

As of April 2014, India's total installed capacity through grid connected solar power plants had crossed 2.2 GW.

In SIX Years, NDA Managed to Increase Electricity Generation from Renewables only by 3.5+ %

I have been reading about solar power in India again – last I read in-depth was I think in 2017. I found then that the rosy headlines were far from the reality of many stumbling blocks on the way of serious renewable power adoption in India.

In today’s reading also, I found a great distance between the reality and headlines. What matters is NOT installed capacity (large portions of which may never be used and which become net contributors to climate change because of the CO2 generated in constructing them), but the electricity generation mix.

After all the sound and fury of the last six years, in 2019-‘20, India generated nearly 10 % of its electricity using wind-power, solar, biomass and mini-hydro.

In SIX years of constant soundbites, the improvement in electricity generation mix in favour of renewables was only a little over 3.5 % - in 2014 it was 6.38 % of the total electricity generated, and in 2020 it was 9.99 %.

The UPA government had achieved similar improvements in electricity generated from renewables in the 5 years before demitting power to NDA : from 3.76 % of the electricity generation from renewables to 6.38 % - that is a little over 2.61 %.

In fact, in the 5 years after taking power, NDA had a similar performance : It improved the electricity generation in favour of renewables from 6.38 % to 9.24 % : nearly 2.86 %.

So the NDA government at best takes the work of the UPA government forward in its logical trajectory. It makes a whole lot of noise to show astronomical achievements which are never there on the ground when I check. Besides, it does enormous damage in other areas of life in India.

Tourism's Impact on the Environment and Local Communities

I have begun to read on tourism's impact on the environment and local communities. Found these beginning steps in the context of tourism in the USA, but applicable anywhere.. atleast these need to be part of the ethos of all travellers anywhere. 

The Audubon Society has recognized the potential for adverse effects of tourism, and has developed a “Travel Ethic” for tour operators that provide wilderness trips. The Travel Ethic encourages tour operators and cruises to stay on trails to protect vegetation, keep a minimum distance from wildlife, refrain from destruction of coral reefs, maintain and enforce an anti-dumping policy, and educate tourists about the types of souvenirs not to buy (such as sea turtle products and ivory). 

The Sierra Club also educates its members on methods to minimize their impact on the environment. The club’s concern about the potential impact of member travelers on the environment started as early as 1970, when its leaders commissioned a report from three professors about any adverse impacts Sierra outings had, and how they could be mitigated. These “Wilderness Manners” include traveling on durable surfaces, camping away from water bodies and trails, reducing litter by repackaging used food and carrying out all trash and garbage, minimizing use and impact of fires, and respecting wildlife and other travelers. 

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) uses the trips it sponsors as a way of fulfilling one of the tenets of ecotourism: using tourism to support conservation. The WWF attempts to minimize the environmental impacts of their trips by selecting commercial tour operators according to their reputation as environmentally friendly.

The report speaks of this : Three examples of tourist infrastructure that minimize environmental impact and incorporate local people’s needs are two eco-resorts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a riverfront park in Detroit, Michigan. 

Maho Bay Camps and Harmony Resort were built in the 1970s, and are two of the best known and successful eco-resorts. Wooden walkways minimize soil erosion and vegetation damage from trampling. Communal toilets and captured rainwater reduce water usage, and reliance on solar and wind power along with computer monitoring of electricity and water use help reduce energy use. 

The “Detroit Linked Riverfront Parks Plan” is a good example of effective tourism planning. In lieu of indiscriminate development based solely on economics, planners first determined the needs of the local people, and then designed the area accordingly.

Sectors of the tourism industry have the opportunity to “channel” activities of both
tourists and employees toward more environmentally responsible activities. This type of
influence has been termed “downstream” leverage. The lodging industry exerts downstream influence on tourists by encouraging environmentally sound practices. Ramada International Hotels and Resorts distributed 20,000 copies of “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” to guests as a method to encourage environmentally responsible behavior. 

It has been suggested that an effective way to implement changes favorable to the environment is by starting with hotel employees in areas such as laundry, housekeeping, and engineering (Shanklin, et al., 1991, p. 65). These employees have first direct contact with some aspects of the hotel business that have an impact on the environment (such as washing linen and sheets).

There are also efforts in place to minimize water use. 77% of U.S. hotels use low flow shower-heads, and 33% use low consumption toilets. However only 4% of hotels reclaim their laundry wastewater, and 2% use their gray water for irrigation, as of 1990.

Royal Caribbean Cruises is an example of a cruise line using leverage with suppliers to encourage use of products that minimize environmental impact. Through a Quality Supplier Development Program, the cruise line has convinced suppliers to reduce packaging and substitute more environmentally benign materials. In the last five years they have reduced packaging by 35% through several different routes including ordering ketchup and chili sauce in 5-gallon pouches instead of tin cans, ordering some beer in kegs rather than cans, putting fountain syrup in 5-gallon boxed bags, which saves 250,000 syrup cans annually, and purchasing soda in cans without plastic rings.

Decreasing water availability and growing demands due to climate change and increasing tourist numbers in the Mediterranean basin are likely to result in worsening conflicts between socioeconomic sectors that depend on water to survive. In a study, hotel size, category, and year of construction/renovation were all directly associated with the implementation or lack of implementation of certain water-saving measures.

The hoteliers did not perceive any strong incentives to adopt water-saving measures, but there were clear indications of cost and technical barriers and a lack of awareness about possible options.

Hotels with more rooms, more stars, and more services tend to consume more water.

The most widely implemented water-saving measures by the hotels surveyed were low-cost, low-tech, and legally enforceable measures. The main measures were dual-flush toilet systems and improved towel and bed linen reuse policies (both present in 78.9% of hotels) and faucet sensors, timers, or aerators (73.7%).

In regard to hotels with swimming pools, the most common measure was the installation of shower sensors or timers (71%). Of the six hotels with gardens, 4 (66%) had installed more efficient irrigation systems (sprinkler or computerized irrigation systems), and just two (16.7%) had planted native or drought-tolerant plants. None of the hotels had replaced lawns with paving or synthetic grass. The maintenance of natural lawns requires large volumes of water as they are typically composed of non-native grasses.

Overall, just 42.1% of hoteliers stated that their workers received training on water-saving practices, whether in the form of specific programs or informal training by the owners or managers. All the large hotels and some of the medium-sized hotels provided training and the hoteliers were of the opinion that this was crucial for helping to save water and reduce operating costs.

It is noteworthy that 77% of hotel managers stated that all the measures implemented had been effective and had resulted in a real reduction in water consumption.

None of the hotels had introduced systems for gray-water reuse, rainwater harvesting, water consumption monitoring in key areas, or leak detection. All four measures require greater investment and technical knowledge and have a longer payback period.

There was a lack of awareness about water shortage problems and their potential impact on hotels in the future: Almost 60% of those interviewed were of the opinion that their hotel did not have water problems and believed that this would continue to be the case. They were also unaware that the implementation of water-saving and efficiency measures could be both beneficial for the environment and profitable for their business.

Barriers related to marketing and publicity were mentioned by several managers. In particular, faucet flow restrictors, bathtub-to-shower conversions, and towel and bed linen reuse programs were perceived as measures that could lead to a loss of business.

Those interviewed suggested various ideas, including technical training for owners and managers.

The False Notions Peddled in India about Westerners

This is a fantastic story of a woman who started giving away excess garden produce for free and then others started also leaving their excess produce for others - poor or just sharing people, to take as they need. Lou Ridsdale started "Food is Free" 6 years ago in Ballarat in  Victoria and its still going strong.

Our friend sent this little video from Australia. 

I had never bothered to travel abroad before 2014... I was also told by elders that all civilization, all culture, all history, was really only in India, and not elsewhere ! 

I bought the crux of this thinking, but began to Q this recieved wisdom when about ten years ago, i deeply read about WW2 and its aftermath in Europe. 

Mainland Europe - and Britain, were in 1945 at the end of the war, bombed out ruins over large parts.. Agriculture, sewage, water systems, train stations and bridges were destroyed.. 

1 % British, 6 % of Austrians, 8 % of Germans, 9 % of Greeks and Yugoslav people and 17 % Poles were dead as a result of the war. 

All other countries in Europe had also lost large nos. of their people. 

There were large food shortages in Europe towards the end of the war and after it, even resulting in mass starvation in a few countries.

India had suffered too ofcourse, with 2 million dead in the Bengal famine in 1943 because of British mismanagement, and a further 2 million dead during the partition riots in 1947 (0.5 % of the population of undivided India). 

A lakh soldiers from India had also perished in WW2, fighting on the British side. 

So Europe set to rebuilt itself, and so did India, 2 years apart - 1945 and 1947. But the difference, even between the poorer economies of East Europe, and India, is vast. Even if they did have a head start on industrialization, and had exploited other regions of the world, this did not fully explain to me, why we were so much behind.

I decided to travel to these countries to get a better sense of this.. so my family and I went to England, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and mainland Europe in different trips from 2014-2017. These were in the nature of study tours.. I had Qs I wanted answered.

Ofcourse these trips of 2 weeks each to a country were too small for in-depth study, but I did get some answers to Qs on farming, attitude to water supplies, degraded land, and the work ethic. And public transportation systems, urban planning et al..

But the most important learnings were about people.. I had been told Westerners did not value family life - which was patently false in my experience. The people we met also had meaningful friendships where they did a great deal to help each other out. 

Most impressive was, that I have not met a single person in these nations who DID NOT volunteer frequently for causes they believed in.

The very elderly also in New Zealand and Britain, some of them on wheelchairs, volunteered in churches, changing flowers, guiding people, and collecting money to train guide dogs to help disabled people.

Update on Locust Invasion end May-Beginning June 2020

• Last reported locations of Locust swarms in India
• Threat from Locusts to three Districts in Punjab
• These are immature locusts which pose a greater threat
• The threat from locusts is to wildlife also
• Efforts by Rajasthan against Locusts
• Natural control methods adviced by University in Maharashtra
• Why Helicopters have not been pressed into service against locusts
• Helicopter Sprayers will start arriving from Britain around mid-June

Outlook : Last reported locations of Locust swarms in India are in MP/Maharashtra : Locusts crossed into Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh from eastern Maharashtra on Thursday afternoon, a senior agriculture department official had said.
Earlier on Thursday, officials had said the swarms were moving eastwards, towards Gondia district of Maharashtra after entering Bhandara from Nagpur district on Wednesday.

Tribune : Threat from Locusts to three Districts in Punjab : Sources in the Agriculture Department said the primary threat was to areas of Fazilka, Muktsar and Bathinda districts, which are located close to Rajasthan. “At present, the locust swarms which entered India from Pakistan have caused losses in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Like Punjab, the governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are also on alert,” an official said.

The Hindu : These are immature locusts which pose a greater threat : Last year, mature locusts had entered parts of India after a gap of 26 years. But the locusts that have come in this year are immature. Immature locusts are not fully grown and have the capacity to cause more harm. They also have a longer lifespan. The locusts which entered India were about 10-12 days old and were flying huge distances in search of food. Since the Rabi crop harvesting is over and the Kharif sowing season is yet to begin, they were unable to find any vegetation.

Mongabay : The threat from locusts is to wildlife also : In terms of the environmental implications, locusts impact native grazing species that rely upon grasslands and croplands for survival. Swarms consume everything in their path, leaving behind ruined cropland and barren pastures. While they are not known to impact forests or natural tree cover, their voracious consumption of most species of crop creates food scarcity for native fauna and other insects.

CNN : Efforts by Rajasthan against Locusts : State officials are using 100 tractor-mounted sprayers and 20 fire engines across 11 districts to spray water and pesticides. Drones provided by the central government were also used to spray pesticides in two districts in Rajasthan, according to an official of the State Agriculture Department. He added that about 70% of the locusts there had been destroyed. While locust invasions can be devastating for communities because they pose a threat to food security, India has so far appeared to have escaped from the worst as farmers have not yet begun to sow the new season's crops. "The locusts were sitting on barren land. The winter crops have been cut and it hasn't rained yet so the new season's crops have not been sown. Those who planted fodder crops or vegetables could chase the locusts away. This time, there wasn't much loss," said the official. Outlook : Natural control methods adviced by University in Maharashtra : The Vasantrao Naik Agriculture University at Parbhani in Marathwada said threat from swarms of locusts destroying crops and travelling long distances in search of food can be tackled by undertaking certain measures. Destroying their eggs, digging trenches of a specific size and spraying neem oil on standing crops are some of the effective methods to tackle the menace caused by locusts, it said in a statement. The department of agricultural entomology of the university published a set of guidelines on Thursday for farmers in this regard. "Female locusts lay 50 to 100 eggs in moist sandy land. The hatching period of these eggs depends on environment and may stretch from two to four weeks. Larvae cannot fly immediately when they come out," the varsity said. The university suggested destroying those eggs in groups. Farmers can dig trenches in a size of 60 centimeters wide and 75 centimeters deep which can help to catch small locusts from the flock, it said. "If a swarm of locusts is in one square km area, their weight can be up to 3,000 quintals. Their flocks can be neutralised during night time (which is their resting time) with the help of smoke. "But farmers need to be very careful and ensure their crops do not catch fire," the university said. Spraying 2.5 litres of neem oil per hectare has also proved effective in controlling swarms of locusts, it said.

Outlook : Why Helicopters have not been pressed into service against locusts : None of the six states, affected by locust attack, have pressed into service any helicopter for the aerial spray of chemicals despite a large number of crops continuously being destroyed. Parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are in the grip of large swarms of locust attack and alerts have been released for far more severe attacks in days to come. Despite that, locust control authorities are using either sprayer mounted on a vehicle or a drone for an aerial sprinkling. Experts say that both the measures have their own limitations and a helicopter is the most deadly weapon against the locusts. “There is no dearth of helicopters in the country but we don’t have Ultra Light Vehicle (ULV) spraying kit which is specially made and fitted on both sides of a helicopter,” KL Gujjar, deputy director, Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (PPQS), said. “The Ministry of Agriculture has identified five helicopters for this purpose but in the absence of ULV kit, they are of no use as of now,” Gujjar said. He further said, “There is only one UP-based company in the country which manufactures ULV spraying kit for helicopters but due to the lockdown they couldn’t manage spare parts to manufacture it. The company can deliver only in September.” Sources say that the government is trying to import kits for helicopters but it hasn’t materialised yet. So, as of now, sprayer-mounted vehicle and drone are the only options. “Even with full pressure, a sprayer-mounted vehicle cannot take the chemical for more than 15 feet high in the air. The locusts fly higher and rest on top of the tall trees of up to 30 feet of height,” GK Bunker, Assistant Director, Locust Circle Office, Bikaner, said. Bunker added, “We take the help from fire tenders but that’s not feasible every time and at all places.” Field officials also find drone an inefficient tool to fight against large swarms of locust. “A drone can take 5 to 10 litre of chemicals at one go and it can fly for only 15 to 20 minutes. It needs to be recharged after that. Where you need thousands of litres of chemicals to be sprayed to control a huge population, what can a couple of drones do,” Kamal Katiyar, deputy director, agriculture, Jhansi district, said. Katiyar adds that locusts rest at night on trees and bushes and that’s the right time to spray chemicals on them. “We start spraying from 12 in the night and continue until the early hours. But often due to varying physical features of an area, it is difficult to reach places where they rest. So, a helicopter is the most potent weapon against the locusts,” Katiyar said. Reuters : Helicopter Sprayers will start arriving from Britain around mid-June : Despite large-scale incursions by the insects, the Indian government and farm experts do not foresee major crop damage for the moment as the pests have arrived during the gap between the previous harvest and the next planting season. But experts warn that federal and state governments need to kill the pests quickly over the next few weeks to ensure they don't breed again and then devour summer crops. If the insects continue to multiply, India could see extensive losses in June and July when monsoon rains spur sowing of rice, sugarcane, corn, cotton and soybean crops, they said. The government said it was arranging drones to drop pesticides on trees and in inaccessible places to kill the insects. It also plans to use helicopters for aerial spraying. Up to 15 sprayers will start arriving from Britain over the next two weeks and 45 more in one-and-a-half months, it said. Farm experts said that while loud noises can briefly get rid of the pests, they do not amount to a sustainable plan and can make it more difficult for authorities to target and contain the pests. "It's not killing any locusts, it's just shifting the problem to the neighbours," said FAO's Cressman. He said chemical pesticides were the cheapest and most effective solution to tackle such large numbers of the insects. Farmers can also dig trenches around their fields, in an effort to trap and bury newborn hoppers that try to march in and eat their crops, he said. But he said controlling locusts is not a job for individual farmers but for well-trained government agencies equipped with technical know-how and the correct sprayers and safety gear.