Maize Cultivation ▪ Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam announced that the TamilNadu government would implement a special scheme to increase the area under maize cultivationin 18 districts at a cost of ₹30 crore. ▪ A kit with high quality maize seeds, natural and liquid fertilizers, and urea would be distributed to50,000 farmers to increase the area by 50,000 hectares. Note ▪ According to the action plan of the Agriculture Department for 2024-25, the government has set a target to increase the area under millets to 9.95 lakh hectares. ▪ The total food grains production target was 129.63 lakh metric tonnes for 2024-25. Perumbalai Excavation ▪ Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology recently released the report, titled ‘Excavations at Perumbalai 2022’ ▪ The report was prepared by S. Paranthaman and R. Venkata Guru Prasanna. ▪ The report stated that Graffiti marks “resembling geometric symbols” were among the potsherds discovered. ▪ An unidentified copper coin and a copper bell were also discovered. Note ▪ Kongumandala Satakam is a 13th Century literary work by Karmegakavirayar of Vijayamangalam. It refers to Perumbalai as the northern boundary of the Kongu region. ▪ Perumbalai is located on the bank of the Nagavathi (ancient Palar). It is one of the tributaries of Cauvery river.
