Strange names of strange insects
By S.S.Khosa and P.S. Sarao
IT resembles an old world reptile dragon so it is called a dragon fly. That can produce silk with the help of its silk glands and so that is called a silkworm. They are parasites of human beings and live on our head scalp, therefore we call them the head lice.

Effects of land ceiling on farmer
By Khushwant Ahluwalia
AGRICULTURE has been the backbone of our economy since Independence and probably will remain so. It has been 50 years since we achieved this landmark, but yet we stand at the crossroads not knowing which path to take.

New turn to basmati patent row
By Radhakrishna Rao
FOR more than a year now, the controversy over a patent granted to a US firm for the long grained, aromatic basmati rice has been simmering. As it is, the Texas-based Ricetec Inc has been promoting and selling the so-called American basmati rice under the brandnames of “basmati” and “Texmati” to the consumers across the world.

Uttar Pradesh leads in milk production
THE cooperative milk development programme in Uttar Pradesh has been a remarkable success and the state has emerged as the largest producer of milk in the country.

Strange names of strange insects
By S.S.Khosa and P.S. Sarao

IT resembles an old world reptile dragon so it is called a dragon fly. That can produce silk with the help of its silk glands and so that is called a silkworm. They are parasites of human beings and live on our head scalp, therefore we call them the head lice.

Insects originated on the this earth long before the man did and have managed to reach this age. The number of their species count over a million, proportionating to almost 90 per cent of the animal kingdom.

Man began to study these six-legged creatures as soon as he felt their importance. Since the time of Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae (10th ed., 1958) all species have been given two names: a generic name and a specific name, which together is called a scientific name. Besides a scientific name which is applicable to an organism all over the world, scientists have given to each organism a common name depending upon their characteristic features.

While most of the insects have been named simply against their host on which they feed as lemon butterfly, milkweed butterfly, mustard aphid, lemon fruit fly and so on. The insect and its host are both included to provide a name such as red pumpkin beetle, red cotton bug, castor hairy caterpillar, spotted alfa-alfa aphid and so on. Consequently and interestingly, strange habits of many insects have helped entomologists give those insects their strange names.

Lepidoptera, an order of insects that includes moths and butterflies, is one of the most fascinating one.

Swinging too and fro as if on an invisible thread with white uppersides of its wings flashing on and off, this moth is aptly called ghost moth.

Arctidae is the family which includes all the hairy caterpillars. The word arctidae is taken from Greek word arctos which mean a beer.

Tiger moth which belongs to this family is so-called due to the markings on its wings which are characteristic to those of a tiger.

The swallow tail butterfly gets its name from the tails on its hind wings which recall the forked tail of the bird, swallow.

Atlas moth is the most famous among the largest moths. Atlas in Greek mythology was one of the titans, thus a giant. Atlas moth is sometimes named as the biggest moth of the world, but in New Guinea and Australia lives the hercules moth named after another giant of mythology. Its wings are slightly less than 10 inches across.

There are some beetles (order Coleoptera) which are also named peculiarly. When a click beetle falls onto its back, it can throw itself into the air making a clicking sound. The male glow-worm has large eyes and two very tiny light producing organs at the tip of the abdomen.

Blister beetle is so called because its body contains a substance called cantharidin that causes blistering of the skin. Merely a touch of the insect causes a blister and a burning sensation.

June beetles are so named because a large number of them emerge on the nights of June, preferably when there is a monsoon shower.

A housefly spends its adult life in houses.

The world blow in a blowfly has nothing to do with the usual meaning. It comes from an old English usage where a fly depositing its eggs was said to the blowing. The blowfly name, therefore, refers to its habit of laying eggs in flesh.

May-fly makes up one of the most distinct and peculiar of insect orders. The insect passes its nymphal stage inside water which may last even more than a year. The adult may-fly emerges out of water with well-developed wings and two or three long filaments at the abdominal tip. Surprisingly after emergence from its long nymphal stage, an adult may-fly will live for a day or two.

The name mantis is derived from a Greek word meaning prophet or soothsayer and refers to the habitual attitude of the insect. Standing motionless on its four hind legs with the forelegs raised as if in prayer, it waits for unwary insects to stray within reach. Preying mantis is, therefore, more suitable term for it.

Best known because of its intimate association with man, bed bug sucks the blood of is host with its needle-like mouth parts.

When you open a book that has been kept undisturbed for many days, you find a small insect running on pages. It is book lice, which feed on the paste, glue and the moulds that develops on the paper.

A splendid display of nature is exhibited by two other strange insects — stick and leaf insects. Their presence on the plant remains unnoticed. Sitting on a plant, a stick insect is easily confused with a twig (green or brown) and some of them resemble the rib of the leaf or the stem and blades of grass.

Katydid. This is name given to an American group of bush crickets. They seem to be calling “Katy did, she did”, against a series of girls’ books on the theme of what Katy did.... A damsel was originally a woman of noble birth or stately position, elegant and well-dressed and so the smaller colourful relatives of dragonfly is called the damsel-fly.

The term ichneumon is applied to all parasitic insects of the hymenoptera order. The term was used by ancient Egyptians for a four-legged animal which was beneficial to them as it helped destroying crocodiles. And these ichneumonid wasps are beneficial to agriculturist as they help destroy the harmful insect-pests.

In addition to indicating their behaviour, the common names of the insect indicate something else too. The tiger moth, the swallowtail, the dragonfly and the ghost moth, clearly disclosed the fact that tigers, swallows, dragons and the ghosts were discovered much earlier than those insects themselves.

Effects of land ceiling on farmer
By Khushwant Ahluwalia

AGRICULTURE has been the backbone of our economy since Independence and probably will remain so. It has been 50 years since we achieved this landmark, but yet we stand at the crossroads not knowing which path to take. It is said that the so-called caretakers of our country have not given agriculture the direction it needed nor have they gone into introspection as to why the farmer is suffering so much and what is the main reason for his economic backwardness which has led him to commit suicide. Today a farmer is locked in a straight battle with the rain god and our policy makers are making it sure that he does not displease Indra.

As a literate farmer I feel it is high time we think about the economics of agriculture and realise that the day has come when we need to review our Land Ceiling Act.

I believe the purpose of enacting such an Act was circumstantial rather than social. If we analyse the circumstances in which it was created and put forward arguments for abolishing this Act, I am in no doubt that the centre of power will have to get down to practicalities and save the farmers from the trauma they are in.

When India became independent, the Britishers left behind a class of people known as feudal who were nothing but their loyalists. In reward for their loyalty they were given jagirs worth hundreds and hundreds of acres. When the Congress assumed power it had to break their clout over their respective areas of control to gain votes and thus the fragmentation of land set in. Secondly, it was felt that the so-called feudals were easy-going people and they were not going to put their land to agricultural use, while we were talking about a self-reliant India in foodgrains.

The third important factor to cut land holdings was that 50 years back modernisation had not set in and ox was the only source for tilling land. As a result one person could not cultivate much land on his own so it was felt best to split it among many people.

Today the situation is different. It demands revaluation and quick thinking on our part. During the past over five decades it has gone obsolete and stale. It’s time that mind is applied afresh and farmers are relieved of the clutches of the ceiling Act. The key to farmer’s success lies in cutting his costs and increasing yields. That is possible only if he gets modern. For him to keep pace with time is too expensive.

The Land Ceiling Act permits an individual to hold 17 acres of irrigated land. A farmer earns about Rs 30,000 an acre if the weather plays good. In that Rs 5 lakh per annum he is supposed to buy and maintain a tractor, a trailer, seeds, pesticides, pay salaries and incur transportation and miscellaneous costs. If the weather conditions are not favourable, his yield goes half and the cost of production gets doubled. He has to survive and educate his children in that meagre amount.

The time has come when we start talking about big farms — farm holdings which can be termed as “viable holdings”. Without having a viable holding agriculture is nothing but fighting against odds. The requirements for good agriculture are aplenty. Good irrigation systems are required to take optimum from available resources. Spray machines of high quality have become a necessity as have harvesting equipment and godowns. All this needs money and from where to get the money?

Who wouldn’t like to have a modern farm, but it has to be economically viable. Viability can only set in by opening up and giving the farmer an opportunity to expand like we have done in the industrial sector. We have to give up the age-old thinking that anybody having a large holding is feudal. In fact large farms offer better opportunities for employment.

We are in a no-win situation. The suicide rate has increased, debts are never ending and, most importantly, there is lack of inflow of educated people in this profession, resulting in outdated practices.

The solution lies within. We have to decide for ourselves and think on the lines of offering a solution to farmers vis-a-vis land ceilings.

New turn to basmati patent row
By Radhakrishna Rao

FOR more than a year now, the controversy over a patent granted to a US firm for the long grained, aromatic basmati rice has been simmering. As it is, the Texas-based Ricetec Inc has been promoting and selling the so-called American basmati rice under the brandnames of “basmati” and “Texmati” to the consumers across the world. Basmati has traditionally been cultivated in parts of India and Pakistan for more than four centuries now. Basmati, which is the most expensive variety of rice in the world, is as much unique to India and Pakistan as Champagne is to France.

However, in recent development of far-reaching significance, Ricetec has decided against selling its brand of basmati rice in the market of the Great Britain. In fact, India had challenged the profreity of Ricetec marketing its brand of basmati rice under names such as Texmati and Basmati in a London court. But observers in London say: “It is only a strategic move by the company because it fears that an adverse ruling by the British court could mean the end of the road for the company”.

The contention of Ricetec is that basmati refers to a type of rice “in a generic sense in the same way as that the words “Japonica” and “Javanica”. Going further, Ricetec also reiterates that “Texamati is a two-decade old brandname which has been highly popular”. It also drove home the point that all these years, India never chose to challenge its marketing operations involving the promotion of American basmati rice brands.

Meanwhile reports received from Islamabad say that Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry has already lodged a protest with the US Patents Department and is in the process of submitting a formal complaint against Ricetec Inc for appropriating the name “basmati”. A Spokesman of Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry revealed that initially Pakistan was quite keen to launch a joint legal action against Ricetec with India. But India’s lackluster response led to Pakistan ploughing the lonely furrow.

Environmental activities and legal experts in India and Pakistan point out that the use of the Basmati word by Ricetec Inc is violative of the geographical appellation clause in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights which most of the countries in the world have signed.

Indian rice exporters say that though there are many kinds of aromatic rice in the world, only the long-grained, scented rice grown in parts of India and Pakistan is called basmati. According to Brig Anil Adlakha executive director of AIREA (All-India Rice Exporters Association), patenting rice grains as basmati is misleading. He made it clear that any company was free to put out an aromatic rice but it could not use the name “basmati”.

Dr Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign, an organisation devoted to the cause of fighting gene piracy, is of view that basmati rice is exclusively associated with India and Pakistan as Scotch whisky with Scotland. “Just as the USA cannot market its sparkling wine as Champagne, it cannot label its rice as basmati even if it tastes and smells like the Indian basmati”. She also pointed out that importers in Britain and Saudi Arabia label rice as basmati only if it is imported from India and Pakistan, the code of conduct that recognises the geographical origin of this rice variety par excellence.

In yet another development of significance, India’s Ministry of Food Processing has prefused to recognise Pusa No 1 which constitutes one-third of basmati rice exported from India as a genuine basmati variety. Incidentally, Pusa No 1 is a hybrid that was developed by the New Delhi-based Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) a decade ago and notified as basmati by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1980.

Uttar Pradesh leads in milk production

THE cooperative milk development programme in Uttar Pradesh has been a remarkable success and the state has emerged as the largest producer of milk in the country.

The milk procurement and the sale of milk and its products has reached the record high in many aspects during the current financial year and the state is all poised to set an all-time record during the period, according to Mr J.P. Sharma, Secretary, Milk Development.

Uttar Pradesh had outperformed even Punjab and Gujarat in this field and the state had the distinction of producing 18 per cent of the total milk production of the country, he said and added the availability of milk per capita per day had gone up to 220 gm as compared to 192 gm last year, thanks to professionally run organised milk development programme in the state. The sale of milk during the current finacial year had already shown 20 per cent growth as compared to last year.

Claiming that the state was all set to witness “white revolution” in the near future due to the success of this programme, he said many new plans were in the offing.

Mr Sharma, who is also the Managing Director of the Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation (PCDF), the apex body in the state to conduct milk development programme, further claimed the PCDF had set a new record by procuring 11.36 lakh liters of milk on a single day during the current year while another record of sale of 8.50 lakh liters of milk was also achieved on the day of Id this year.

The Milk Secretary said under the scheme, based on the three-tier Anand pattern, the PCDF was represented through 63 milk unions in 83 districts of the state which had the capacity of cooling and processing about 21.52 lakh liters of milk everday. At present the state had 24 dairies and 39 cooling centres. The milk was procured from the milk producer members of this union and later selling off to consumers.

Mr Sharma said on an average the PCDF had procured 7.32 lakh liters of milk per day from over eight lakh milk producers of over 15,000 milk unions and Rs 206.33 crore was paid to them. Similarly, about 50,000 liters of milk was procured from 69,000 producers of 1321 milk unions in Uttarakhand and Rs 135 lakh was paid to them. He said 7.84 lakh liters of milk was sold to urban consumers per day. — UNI

Wheat:

— Wheat sown during December needs second irrigation. In light textured soil, third dose of nitrogen may be applied through 27 kg urea per acre after the second irrigation.

— Wheat plants affected by flag smut, especially in Hoshiarpur district, should be rogued out and burnt to reduce the inoculum potential for next year.

Oilseed crops:

— To save the oilseed crops from frost damage, irrigation may be applied at the time of flowering.

— In case severe incidence of mustard aphid is noticed then spray the crop with 400 ml Metasystox 25 EC/Rogor 30 EC/Thiodan 35 EC/Ekalux 25 EC/Anthio 25 EC/Malathion 50 EC or 600 ml of Dursban/Coroban 20 EC or 60-100 ml Dimecron/Cildon/Phosolik 65 SL in 125 litres of water per acre. This spray must be carried out in the afternoon.

— The check alternaria blight on RAYA pods, the crop may be sprayed with 250 g/acre Blitox 50 WP or Indofil M-45 in 100 litres of water.

— In taramira, check aphid by spraying 200 ml of Rogour 30 EC/250 ml of metasystox 25 EC in 100 litres of water per acre.

Sunflower:

— Sowing of sunflower should be completed at the earliest as delayed sowing cause reduction in yield and give preference to early maturing hybrids like NSFH-592, GKSFH-2002, PSFH-67 during this month. The late-sown crop also matures late and delay the sowing of the succeeding crop. Sow the crop in rows 60 cm apart with a plant-to-plant spacing of 30 cm. The sunflower performs better when planted on southern side of east-west ridges. Place the seed about 6 to 8 cm below the ridge top. Apply irrigation to ridge sown crop two-three days after sowing. Water level in the ridges should remain well below the seed placement line.

— Treat the seed with Thiram at 2 g/kg of seed before sowing. Two kg seed is sufficient for sowing one acre.

— Apply 50 kg of urea and 75 kg of single superphosphate at the time of sowing. Also drill 20 kg muriate of potash on soils testing low in protassium.

— Cut-worm damage in sunflower can be prevented by applying to the field two litres of Chlorpyriphos 20 EC after mixing with 10 kg of soil at the time of sowing. The crop sown on ridges is also found to be less attacked by this pest.

(Progressive Farming, PAU)