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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 12 (EMN): Governor of Nagaland, RN Ravi on Friday gave an overview of developmental activities being carried out by various departments in the state as well as highlighted the programmes, plans and projects in the offing, on the first day of the 7th session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) in Kohima.
Recalling the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption that followed due to the lockdown, Ravi said the crisis was a stark reminder of state’s vulnerability in terms of food sufficiency.
“Further the lockdown led to massive layoffs and many of our people who were employed outside were forced to return,” he said, adding that the “numbers were in thousands and there was a huge challenge of creating employment opportunities for them”.
With a view to devise responses to these challenge, a strategic committee for economic affairs headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was constituted and subsequently a core group consisting of experts and other stakeholders was formed to work out strategies and plans to strengthen the state’s economy, he informed, adding that the core group has formulated an economic road map with an integrated convergence action plan to revitalise the economy.
“My government has initiated action on the various plans formulated by the group. Special focus is being given to sectors like up-grading of facilities in healthcare, education, youth resources and sports. Re-skilling and gainful employment for the youth is also being given major focus,” he informed.
He went on to inform that the department of Employment, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship had launched Nagaland job links portal to help connect job seekers and employers for placement in the private sector. “The department also rolled out the multi-skilled handyman programme to ensure that every trainee is skilled in three or four job roles to earn their livelihood,” he added.
He also mentioned e-commerce platform ‘YellowChain’, which was launched by Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN) to empower the traders in selling their products online.
Stating that majority of the population in the state continues to be engaged in agriculture, he said the department of Agriculture through its schemes and interventions is “consistently making efforts to provide the requisites for improving agricultural production and income of the farmers”.
Under Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanisations (SMAM), he said 93 tractors, 878 power tillers, 460 brush cutters, 215 rotary tillers and 372 other machineries were distributed to the farmers both free as well as on subsidy. “This will increase the farm power availability in the state to a great extent,” he said.
During 2020, construction of A/C Organic Market at NE Agri-Expo 4th Mile, Dimapur, under RKVY, has been completed and inaugurated and the foundation stone for construction of Farmers Hostel at the same location has also been laid, he informed. A total of 2,13,613 farmers were registered under PM Kisan as on February 4, 2021, out of which 33,097 were registered during 2020, and “the total amount received by the farmers till 4th February 2021 is 216.08 crore”.
The governor continued that the Agri and Allied department, as a pilot project, has taken up the Naga Model Integrated Settle Farming (N-IsF), with a dedicated expert Working Group drawn from all the Agri and Allied departments. “The project has already started at Boke-Botsa under Kohima district and soon will be replicated in all the districts of the state,” he said.
“Farming clusters set up under the project, will supplement farmer’s income and livelihood, and infra-structural development both for pre and post-harvest activities,” he stated.
He updated that the department of Horticulture, with a view to strengthen the post-harvest management and marketing sector in the state, has initiated works for construction of 240 functional pack houses, 250 low-cost preservation units, 15 collection, sorting and grading units and one unit each of pre-cooling unit and cold room.
“Under Phase-III of Mission Organic Value Chain for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) which is from 2020-21 to 2022-23, the department has targeted the formation of six farmer producer companies (FPCs) covering 3,000 hectares for crops such as dragon fruit in Dimapur, avocado in Kohima, apple in Kiphire, spices in Wokha, ginger in Mon and banana in Mokokchung covering 500 hectare area each,” he informed.
With the formation of the FPCs, he envisaged that the state “will soon be exporting surplus of these crops as farmers will be able to aggregate and collectively market their products with ease and create room for export”.
Announcing that the department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services (AH&VS) under National Livestock Mission (NLM) is strengthening two state poultry farms at Dimapur and Peren, and two state piggery farms at Tuensang and Wokha, Ravi said it is also planning to provide 80,000 chicks, 3300 goats and 6728 pigs to the farmers with a view to boost meat production in the state.
He further informed about the implementation of 138 poultry units and 148 piggery units which are in progress under RKVY to provide subsidiary income to the farmers and also boost meat production in the rural areas.
Mentioning that the “department of Fisheries has over the years implemented various successful schemes and programmes vertically and horizontally to develop fisheries in the state”, he said fish production status from both capture and culture sector presently stands at 9,448.12 MT and fish seed production is at 490 lakh.
“The hon’ble Prime Minister’s ambitious ‘Neel Kranti Mission’ (Blue Revolution) vision to achieve economic prosperity of fishers and fish farmers of the country and to contribute towards food and nutritional security is being fully implemented with renewed vigour in the state,” Ravi added.
Under this scheme, he apprised that a coverage of 60 hectares area for fish seed rearing unit was “successfully developed while establishment of fish seed hatcheries and solar power systems for aquaculture have been earmarked and are in progress”. “The department has also successfully renovated and developed 40 hectares of derelict water bodies and 50 units of terrace rice cultivation under integrated paddy-cum-fish culture programme in the state under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme and is embarking on activities such as establishment of raceways for culture of trout under cold water fisheries and entrepreneurship development,” he said.
To conserve and propagate endemic fish stocks, he stated that the department, for the first time has “successfully released the fingerling of Chocolate Mahseer the ‘State Fish of Nagaland’ at Doyang Reservoir which was indigenously reared and bred at the department’s Chocolate Mahseer Hatchery Unit at Longkong village, Mokokchung district”.
Apprising that the department of Rural Development has been implementing several major development programmes for the rural people through 1285 VDBs in the State, the governor informed that out of the approved labour budget of 200 lakh person days, 152.72 lakh person days have been generated under MGNREGS, during the current financial year. “Under PMAY-G against the fund received, 1316 houses are earmarked to be constructed in the state,” he said.
Under the Nagaland State Rural Livelihood Mission (NSRLM), the key achievements during the current financial year has been facilitating behaviour change among rural population towards community preparedness and resilience to Covid-19 through self-help groups (SHG) network covering 1,14,463 households in all the intensive villages across the state, he informed.
Under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), the department also successfully conducted capacity building and trainings for 13,614 persons at the state, districts and block levels as “People’s Plan Campaign -2020” for preparation of the “Gram Panchayat Development Plan 2021-22”. ‘Under Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM), the department successfully complete, among others, beautification of Sokhriezie Lake in Kohima,’ he said.
Recalling the closure of educational institutions in the state, Ravi said the department of School Education was faced with the tough task of ensuring that the students do not suffer.
“I am happy to say here that it soon came up with online digital education in the state from the month of May 2020 for teaching,” he said, adding that it also developed online students evaluation portal, online school monitoring system, Teacher’s App and teachers’ online transfer portal to ensure that the teaching-learning activities are effectively carried out throughout the state.
He informed that the department in association with ‘Pratham Education Foundation’ is implementing the online teacher training and professional development initiative ‘Gurushala’ since December 2020 for all the government school teachers throughout the state.
“The department is in the process of training mathematics teachers in usage of teaching tools like graphical calculators and its emulators in collaboration with M/s Casio India,” he said, adding that after fully evaluating Covid situation, it has decided to resume regular classes for students of classes 6 and above from February 8 this year in all the schools in the state with proper SOPs in place for preventing the spread of Covid-19.
The decision on resuming classes for lower classes will be taken in due course of time, he informed, adding that the class 11 promotion examinations is scheduled to commence from March 11 and the HSSLC and HSLC board exams from April 6, 2021.
He also highlighted several projects being taken up by the department of Higher and Technical Education to improve the infrastructure of higher educational institutes as well as creating new ones. He informed that the science laboratory building of Phek Government College was constructed under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and inaugurated on November 20 last year.
He updated that the department is constructing Professional College of Music and Fine Arts, Tsiesema in Kohima, for which foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on September 7 last year, and that science stream building and 100-bedded boys hostel (under Special Plan Assistance) at Dimapur Government College were inaugurated on November 12, 2020.
The governor went on to inform that under RUSA 2.0, the department is implementing 10 new projects in various districts across the state, some major ones being the construction of Engineering College at Tzurangsa, Mokokchung and one new model degree college at Tzupaksa, Mangkolemba, in 2021-2022.