In This NEWS Bulletin
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1. India, Philippines sign 9 bilateral deals
2. Indian businesses see opportunity in Philippines dairy and meat sectors
BIO-SECURITY - TERMINATOR TECH-----
3. New exotic pests, diseases enter India; experts call for bio-security - Reference to TERMINATOR TECH in BOLD ITALICS UNDELINED & Yellow
4. US, India join hands to generate information on pigeon pea improvement. - Reference to TRANSGENIC TECH in BOLD ITALICS UNDERLINED & Yellow
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India, Philippines sign 9 bilateral deals
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Friday , October 05, 2007 at 2046 hrs IST
The Philippines signed nine bilateral agreements with India on Friday, including a framework agreement for bilateral trade.
Addressing a joint meeting hosted by the apex industry bodies – Assocham, CII and FICCI – the Philippines President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo disclosed, "the series of agreement signed with India includes those on defence, health and medicine, energy security, agriculture, tourism, culture. It is proposed that both the countries would jointly combat global terrorism and take up joint exercise in non-combat areas".
Bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries in 2006 was valued at $ 520.31 million, out of which India's was $ 400.85 million while its imports from the Philippines was only $ 119.46 million. India's major exports consisted of cheap life saving drugs, meat and bovine animals, wheat products, finished products of iron or non-alloy steel and wheat used as feed. India's imports from the Philippines consisted of parts of electronic integrated circuits and micro assemblies, phosphoric acid, newsprint in rolls and sheets, portable digital automatic machines and cellular phones.
Stressing the need to bridge the gap in trade balance which was weighed heavily in favour of India, Macapagal-Arroyo suggested that India import fashion garments and consumer products from the Philippines. She said that whenever a comprehensive agreement is signed, India needed to take care of Philippines trade concerns in view of its size and GDP growth which is much lower as compared to India.
She also disclosed that the Indian government has agreed to extend $ 50 million credit line to the Philippines through the Exim Bank to support its trade and industry particularly in the area of health and medicines.
Macapagal-Arroyo along with a 47-member delegation of businessmen and officials is on a 4-day visit to India beginning from October 3, after a two-day visit to China.
The two countries have also agreed to set up a joint monitoring group, which will closely keep a watch on the implementation aspects of agreements signed here so that further areas of joint cooperation are identified to push and integrate the trade and economic ties between India and the Philippines.
Elaborating on pharmaceuticals cooperation, the Philippines President said that Indian industry should open up manufacturing units in her country for providing low cost medicines for its population and also export to other countries. She disclosed that the State Trading Corporation of India has signed an accord with the Philippines International Trading Corporation to export $ 35 million affordable medicines to the Philippines. Two Indian pharma companies have also signed an agreement with their counterparts in the Philippines.
Macapagal-Arroyo also urged the Indian industry to invest in power transmission projects in the Philippines. She expressed her willingness to replicate Indian experience of producing bio-fuel from Jatropha and ethanol from sweet sorghum
She also suggested that India attract investments from Philippines construction industry. Urging India industry to step up investments in the Philippines, she said ;"I am glad to hear that Mittals have joined the billion dollar club and have agreed to invest $ 1.6 billion in south Philippines."
The Philippines President also invited the Indian industry to invest in dairy sector and meat processing. She said that an agreement has been reached with India to supply live buffalo and genetic material for buffalo breeding. She also invited the Indian film industry to take advantage of the scenic beauty of her country. She said that her country has already relaxed visa norms for Indians.
Speaking on the occasion, Indian minister of state for defence, MM Pallam Raju emphasised the need for promoting trade and cultural ties with the Philippines as according to him the country has strategic importance for India in the entire ASEAN region.
He sought joint venture cooperation between the two countries so that their age old ties are cemented and India and the Philippines emerge as leading trade partner in the ASEAN region.
In his address, the ASSOCHAM President, Venugopal N Dhoot said that the Philippines provided for huge opportunities in the areas of film and BPO and ad film making and therefore a special task force should be formed so that cooperation in this specialised field could be enhanced under mutual beneficiary conditions.
Past president of CII, Subodh Bhargava sought building of special relationships between India and the Philippines in the area of pharmaceuticals, arguing that India has an edge over it and Philippines requires India's help. Therefore, emphasis should be laid on this area to exploit its potential to the maximum.
Vikas Jalan, Chairman, India Philippines JBC of FICCI in his address said that the Philippines was India's third largest trade partner in the ASEAN region and since its economy is fully market oriented and India too has liberalised, the two nations should work closely for economic and trade ties.
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Indian businesses see opportunity in Philippines dairy and meat sectors
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Sunday , October 07, 2007 at 2330 hrs IST
New Delhi, Oct 7 Indian exporters are upbeat with the offer of the Philippines president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to import more dairy products and meat. The captains of the dairy and meat processing industries, too, are firming up their investment proposals at the call of the Philippine president.
India exports about 1.7 million tonne skimmed milk power and 1.50 million tonne buffalo meat to the Philippines annually.
"We will avail of the opportunity to increase our exports of buffalo meat," said Afzal Aziz, GM (marketing) of the Mumbai-based Allanasons.
Macapagal-Arroyo had led a 47-member delegation to India last week consisting of top businessmen and senior officials.
The chairman of the Filipino firm, Alternatives Food Corporation, Kishu Sehwani said, "We import a lot of food products from India. We will book new orders from India." Sehwani is a Filipino national of Indian origin.
The secretary of the Philippines department of agriculture, Arthur C Yap said that his country would also prefer to import buffalo and genetic material from India to strengthen the animal breed for meat and dairy purposes. An agreement to this effect has been signed with the Indian government, he said. Yap also invited the Indian industry to set up dairy and meat processing units in the Philippines.
The secretary in the Philippines department of energy, Angelot T Reyes said, "We would like to replicate India's bio-fuel and bio-ethanol programme in our country, and would like to invite investments and technology transfer. The managing director of Rusni Distilleries, AR Palani Swamy said, "We have developed the technology of extracting ethanol from sweet sorghum and are planning an investment in the Philippines."
The Philippines also invited Indian investments in pharma industry and urged India to invite Philippines construction industry.
India's exports to the Philippines is about $ 400.85 million, while its imports from that country is about $ 119.46 million. As the trade balance was in favour of India, Macapagal-Arroyo suggested that India can import fashion garments, metal parts, electronic components, processed fruits, ceramics, gloves and mittens, seaweeds, phosphatic fertilizers, fatty alcohol, coconut and other vegetable oils, glycerol
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New exotic pests, diseases enter India; experts call for bio-security
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Sunday , October 07, 2007 at 2343 hrs IST
Experts have urged the government to set up an inter-ministerial body to deal with bio-security problems and prevent the entry of alien pests and diseases. They have suggested that effective mechanism should be put in place on the lines of the bio-terrorism law in the US.
The inter-ministerial body on bio-security should consists of representatives from the union ministries of agriculture, defence, health, environment and forests and commerce, they said. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) has identified a number of exotic pests and diseases which have entered the country.
NBPGR has been given the responsibility of conducting quarantine checks on imported plants and plant materials used in public research institutes.
According to official reports NBPGR had found incidence of Peronospora manshuria on soyabeans from US, tomato black ring virus on French beans from Columbia, Anthonomus grandis on cotton from US. These pests are not known to occur in India.
Race or bio-type or strains of pests which are not known to occur in India was also found in some imported consignments. These are Helminthosporium maydis/race T on sorghum from US, pea seed borne mosaic virus on broad bean and Burkholderia solanacearum biovar 2 on groundnut from Australia.
NBPGR also found number of pests occurring on host plants in different country on which it had not occurred before. NBPGR findings have sounded a note of caution to the government about the need for developing an appropriate mechanism to prevent the entry of dangerous pests and diseases in the interests of food security.
The scientific body has already noted the presence of some exotic pests on some crops, like blight on chickpea which possibly came from West Asia, B.tabaci biotype K on cotton, PSTV on peanut, BBTV on banana which possibly came from Sri Lanka, San Jose Scale on apple which came from US and Golden nematode on potato which came from UK. It also identified pests like Lantana camara coming from central America and Phalarius minor from Mexico. The presence of other exotic pests identified are fluted scale, codling moth, potato cyst nematode, coffee berry borer, potato wart, banana mosaic virus and apple scab.
Interestingly the NBPGR has listed the years of entry of exotic pests—Sunflower downy mildew in 1984, Peanut stripe virus in 1987, American serpentine leaf miner in 1991, Spiraling white in 1993, Vegetable/pea leaf miner in 1994, Banana bract, streak virus and Coconut mite in 1995 and Bemisia tabaci biotype B in 1999, coconut mite in 1995.
"We have been suggesting to the government from time to time for the need to take stringent measures to prevent the entry of any exotic pest or disease which may endanger our food security. We can also conduct agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR to detect terminator technology in imported transgenic plants," said a senior scientist in the NBPGR plant quarantine division.
There are some National laws to ensure bio-security to a certain extent like Destructive Insects and Pests Act 1914, Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order 2003, Environment (Protection) Act 1986, Biological Diversity Act 2002 and Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
Experts, however, feel that there should be one comprehensive law to ensure bio-security in the country. The government's recent relaxation of quarantine norms in case of wheat import and deregulating imports of processed genetically modified food have been severely criticised by experts. Trade analyst, Vijay Sardana said, "There is a need to have stringent law to ensure bio-security. The government should not relax any quarantine norms in case of imports."
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US, India join hands to generate information on pigeon pea improvement
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Sunday , October 07, 2007 at 2344 hrs IST
The study on pigeon pea genomics has been taken up under the US-India Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture. The use of genomics tools is expected to generate basic information needed for pigeon pea improvement.
Pulses are important for nutritional security and it forms a principal part of the common Indian diet. Pigeon pea is the second most important pulse crop in India after chick pea, more than 90% of which is produced and consumed in the country.
The Board meeting of the India-US Knowledge Initiative held in Washington early this year, had finalised the work plan for four major areas like education and training on resources, food processing and marketing, biotechnology and water management.
"Genome sequencing projects are very costly and can be undertaken in collaboration with partners. We have, therefore, initiated this programme under the US-India Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture," said NK Singh of the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi.
The pigeon pea variety, Asha has been selected for genomics study. This variety is of medium maturity and resistant to wilt and sterility. The plant height is about 180-200 cm. Apart from pigeon pea, applications of genomics for improvement of chickpea and peanut are slated to be taken up under the US-India Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture.
Singh along with six other members of the team are principal investigators in the pigeon pea genomics project. Several NGOs and farmer groups in the country have been critical about the US-India Knowledge Initiative signed on the occasion of the visit of President George Bush to India in March 2006.
They apprehend that as major US corporates are on the board, the programme would ultimately result in taking over Indian agriculture by the multinational companies. They have also alleged that the controversial transgenic technology would be thrust upon Indian agriculture under this programme.
Singh said India benefited by joining the global club which successfully sequenced rice genome. Disease resistance genes have been identified and the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology has set up a rice gene database called VanshanuDhan, he said.
He further added, a number of rice genes known for important agronomic traits have been recently cloned and this was possible due to the information gained from rice genome sequencing. Some of the important agronomic traits identified in various genes are resistance to bacterial blight, plant height, amylose content, grain number, salt tolerance, grain aroma, blast resistance, submergence tolerance, lodging tolerance and seed shattering.
"These traits would be useful in molecular breeding of rice," said Singh.
The study of plant genomics will not necessarily lead to development of transgenic crops. Genomics tools like allele mining, gene pyramiding, marker-assisted breeding can be applied to improve the conventional and hybrid crops, according to experts.
"Another important study undertaken is the sequence analysis of the long arm of rice chromosome 11 for rice-wheat synteny and colinearity. Findings show that seven wheat chromosomes seem to have evolved from 12 identified ancestral rice chromosomes." said Singh and added
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