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Soil is a major source of nutrients needed by plants for growth. The three main nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Together they make up the trio known as NPK. Other important nutrients are calcium, magnesium and sulfur. Plants also need small quantities of iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron and molybdenum, known as trace elements because only traces are needed by the plant. The role these nutrients play in plant growth is complex, and this document provides only a brief outline. Major elements Nitrogen (N) Nitrogen is a key element in plant growth. It is found in all plant cells, in plant proteins and hormones, and in chlorophyll. Atmospheric nitrogen is a source of soil nitrogen. Some plants such as legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen in their roots; otherwise fertiliser factories use nitrogen from the air to make ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and urea. When applied to soil, nitrogen is converted to mineral form, nitrate, so that plants can take it up.

The Gram Swaraj Abhiyan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, to reach out to villages, most of which have a majority of Dalit and tribal homes.   The official objective of the outreach programme, which was launched a fortnight after nationwide protests against the dilution of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, was to “promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of government, reach out to poor households to enrol them in various welfare programmes.” Villages in Karnataka and West Bengal, where the election code of conduct is in effect, were left out of it.   The Saubhagya scheme to give every household an electricity connection reached 4 lakh homes, as against a target of 14.5 lakh homes, thus reaching 27% of the intended beneficiaries. Under the Ujjwala scheme to give gas connections to all homes, 39% or 5.6 lakh households were reached out of a total

Unlike the earlier peasant movements that arose from discontentment among the peasantry, the peasant movements in the twentieth century were influenced by national freedom struggle. This phase witnessed an increased involvement of middle-class, modern educated class in peasant resistance movements. This led to percolation of the idea of nationalism among the peasantry too. Gandhian Peasant Movements These movements were essentially non violent in nature. Satyagraha (fast unto death) was the defining feature of these moments to build moral pressure on britishers to accept their demands. Champaran Satyagraha 1917 : In Champaran, the peasants were agitating against the planters who were forcing the peasants to grow indigo under the exploitative tinkathia system . This system forced cultivation of indigo in 3/20th of land held by the peasant. One of their leaders, Raj Kumar Sukul invited Gandhi to resolve the issue. Gandhi led the movement by launching satyagraha and mobilised the peasan