Saurashtra Kutch Districts - Pass percentage in Gujarat State Average

The pass percentage of the Saurashtra Kutch region was slightly less than the overall state result.

While the average pass percentage of the state was 69.16, the same for the region comprising eight districts was 66.16.

District-wise, Surendranagar registered the second best pass rate in the state at 80.12 per cent while Rajkot stood fourth with 76.03 per cent.

Students from the desert district of Kutch fared well, as a result of which the district registered pass percentage of 70.32.

Amreli recorded the lowest pass percentage in the region with little over 56, followed by Porbandar (58.86 per cent), Jamnagar (60 per cent), Junagadh (61 per cent) and Bhavnagar (67 per cent). Centre wise, Mahuva in Bhavnagar recorded the highest pass rate at 88.12 per cent, followed by Dhoraji in Rajkot, which registered 83.84 per cent result.

Pass percentage in urban centers, including Rajkot City, Jamnagar City, Bhavnagar City, Surendranagar City, Junagadh City, Porbandar City and Kutch, remained between 71 and 58. Rajkot District saw the maximum number of students (35) securing A grade (91 to 100 per cent) in the region, followed by Bhavnagar (25), Surendranagar (16), Kutch (11), Junagadh (9), and Jamnagar (7).

In Amreli and Porbandar Districts, no student could get the highest grade.

Most of the students from across the eight districts got Grade C1 (51 to 60 per cent).

Jamnagar District News Samachar

Soya protein to resurrect Gujarat farmers crippled by delayed rains.

Delayed monsoon has led to the introduction of a new crop in Gujarat—soyabean. Cultivation has been done on an area of over 1.5 lakh hectares; and for farmers, this seems to be a good alternate crop, for soyabean does not only require less rain and time to grow, it also rakes in profit as much as groundnut, if not more.

“As monsoon was delayed by 20-30 days, farmers have tried soyabean as an alternative, replacing groundnut,” said Bhartiya Kisan Sangh president, Praful Sengalia.

He added, “It has been done mostly in Junagadh and some parts of Jamnagar district, touching a total sowing area of around 1.5 lakh hectares, which is good for a new crop.”

Pulses and sesame have also been a choice of farmers in case of less or erratic rains, but this is for the first time that soyabean cultivation has been done at this scale.

Junagadh Agriculture University Vice-Chancellor, K Patel, said: “Soyabean grows faster than groundnut and requires less water. That was the reason many farmers chose it when rains were delayed.” But following heavy rains from the second week of July, sowing of groundnut and cotton—the primary crops—took the centre stage.

Until now, farmers did not consider soyabean, as in Gujarat, groundnut oil is consumed much more that any other edible oil like sesame, castor or soyabean. Besides, there are around 900 groundnut oil mills in the total seven districts of Saurashtra.

“Although soyabean consumption is less in Gujarat, the farmers seem to be confident to find buyers in other states and get good returns like groundnut,” said Sengalia.

Patel and other farmers like him say soyabean cultivation requires less water and time, which means relatively lower cost of production. “This can help in getting better profit margins,” said Patel.

However, except soyabean, there has been little change in the sowing pattern in Saurashtra, which is a hub for groundnut and cotton.

According to the Agriculture Department, by Sunday, sowing in Saurashtra has been done over 37.17 lakh hectares, which is nearly 90 per cent of the total cultivation area in the eight districts of Saurashtra-Kutch, including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Amreli and Kutch. This includes cultivation of groundnut in nearly 15 lakh hectares and cotton over 13 lakh hectares.

Jamnagar District Monsoon(Varsad) News

Gujarat flood relief work in full swing

Personnel of the National Disaster Management Force (NDMF) on Sunday distributed food packets to people in flood-affected areas in Gujarat.

Over 40 NDMF personnel have been involved in rescue and relief activities in Porbandar district, where several villages have been marooned by floods.

The personnel also distributed food packets to people in marooned Gosa, Madhavpur, Chikasa and Rajpur villages in the district through helicopters.

"Rescue operations have started and we have distributed 40,000 food packets. We have also distributed 50,000 packets through two helicopters, which have been put in to use.

In Porbandar city, 20 pumps of 920 horsepower have been installed to dewater marooned areas," said M.B. Parmar, collector Porbandar district.

The State authorities have also dispatched medical teams to the areas.

Over 3,000 families in Junagadh, Porbandar and Jamnagar districts have been shifted to safer places.

According to sources heavy rains have led to overflowing of almost all the dams in the Jamnagar region, leading to flooding in the nearby areas.

The water has also inundated the roads, culverts and bridges, disrupting transport and cutting off the region from rest of the state.

Agricultural lands with sown crops have been badly damaged. The overall losses caused by the heavy downpour are estimated to be millions of rupees.