IEP Chandigarh, December 19

The incredible achievements made by Haryana in the Agriculture and Horticulture sector have yet again been recognized at the national level as both the departments have bagged SKOCH GOLD Award for their respective remarkable achievements in Soil Health Card and Crop Cluster Development Programme.

        Giving information in this regard, an official spokesperson said that the award was received on behalf of Haryana by Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Dr Sumita Misra, and Director General, Horticulture Department, Sh. Arjun Saini in New Delhi.

He said that under the leadership of Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal and guidance of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Sh. JP Dalal, Haryana is continuously setting new dimensions in the agriculture and horticulture sector. The state government is making efforts towards increasing the profit and income of the farmers through diversification.

Haryana, the second largest contributor of food grains to the national pool, has taken many policy initiatives for diversification towards horticulture and promotion of agri-business. Haryana has mapped around 400 horticulture crop clusters and formed 700 Farmer Producer Organizations.

To strengthen the backward and forward linkages in the clusters, the State has launched an ambitious Scheme – “Crop Cluster Development Program (CCDP)” with an outlay of Rs. 510.35 crore for establishing on-farm Integrated Pack-Houses through FPOs.

So far, 33 integrated pack-houses have been established and 35 are under progress. By the end of the current financial year, a total of 100 such integrated pack-houses are targeted to be established.

Further, to ensure end to the end value chain for farmers and farm produce, a total of 37 Agri Sector Companies have executed 54 MoU with 34 FPOs for trading and marketing of FPOs produce with a buy-back mechanism to boost agri-business activities. In a short span of 10 months trading of 13400 MT horticulture commodities valuing more than Rs. 14 crores have been materialized and are expected to rise to over Rs. 200 crores.

The CCDP was launched to resolve several issues including aggregation of produce: Cluster formation, Farmers groups and market linkages like Pack-houses, Collection centres, Grading – packing and standards. Besides this, it also aims to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary measures including issues of pesticide residues, and microbiological contamination including pests, diseases, aflatoxins, and heavy metals.

Market access issues like legitimate barriers to trade: Domestic and export including national and international standards like IPPC and Codex and GAP protocols, Organic farming, and quality test labs.

Haryana intends to achieve complete modernization of the horticulture supply chain in the State from end-to-end approach connecting Farmers with the market & consumers. There is a huge impact of this project. Under HarKhet-SwasthKhet Abhiyan, about 75 lakh soil samples will be collected and tested in 3-4 years and Soil Health Cards (SHC) for every acre will be distributed to farmers.

To increase the people participation and awareness about soil testing, the work for collection of soil samples and distribution of Soil Health Cards is being performed through engagement of ‘Kisan Sahayaks’ (local villagers) and ‘Science Students’ of Government Colleges, Government Senior Secondary Schools under ‘Earn While-You Learn’ programme. An incentive of Rs. 40 per soil sample is also being provided to Kisan Sahayaks and Science Students. They were trained by the Department for soil sample collection. With this strategy, the state has collected 30 lakh soil samples in the year 2022-23 which is eight times faster as compared to previous years (2015-2020).

Network of Soil Testing Laboratories in Haryana

Haryana state has a wide network of Soil Testing Laboratories where farmers have easy access for soil testing. In the periphery of 20-25 Kms, there is availability of soil testing laboratory. Before 2020-21, Department 35 Static Soil Testing Laboratories which could test 7.4 lakh soil samples annually. During the year 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Department made 60 new STLs (13 static+47 mini), now, the Department has a total 95 (48 static + 47 Mini) Soil Testing Laboratories which can test 30 lakh soil samples annually

IEP CHANDIGARH

On the first day of 18th Annual Conference of ISBMR held at PGIMER  various national and international speakers gave talks on osteoporosis- Dr Deepak Vashisth , USA spoke about the mechanisms of bone fragility in diabetes n explained how type 2 diabetes increases risk of fragility fracture- Dr Nikhil Tandon , prof n HOD, department of Endocrinology & Metabolism, AIIMSreviewed bone disorders associated with chronic kidney disease, how kidney disease causes fragility fracture.- Dr Ambrish Mittal  , HOD, Endo , Max hospital spoke about osteoporosis in men , how fragility fracture different  in man from Woman- Dr Manju Chandran from Singapore about fracture risk assessment in Indian patients

IEP Chandigarh September 24, 2022

Haryana Government has extended the last date of admission for the second and third-year undergraduate and postgraduate classes in all government, aided and private colleges of the state till  September 27, 2022. The admission portal has been reopened. The admission was closed on September 22.

Sharing more information, an official spokesman said that in view of the demand raised by various colleges, the Higher Education Department has reopened the admission portal for the second and third-year classes.

Interested students can apply online till September 27. Necessary directions have been given to the principals of all government, aided and private colleges to complete the admission process in the respective colleges by September 27. 

Meanwhile, it has been clarified that the last date will not be extended beyond September 27.  The students will have to submit their admission fee through offline mode only.

IEP Chandigarh, September 20

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced a big bonanza for the farmers who are doing the Fisheries business. The State Government will give an advance subsidy to the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) if there is any delay in the subsidy coming from the Central Government. Besides this, the Chief Minister also announced for setting up of a testing lab related to this business in Sirsa. This will directly benefit the local farmers who are in this business as earlier, the farmers of this district had to especially go to Rohtak for the lab testing facility.

Khattar was speaking at a workshop of shrimp farmers organized at Chormar Khera village in Sirsa. He further announced that a wholesale fish market would also be opened in either Jhajjar or Gurugram district for the purchase and sale of fish. This would ensure the economic progress of the farmers. Like the Kisan Credit Card, the government is also providing the facility of credit cards to fish farmers. Similarly, the government is also holding discussions with banks and insurance companies for providing insurance facilities for fisheries as well, added Khattar.

The Chief Minister said that power consumption is a big issue in fish farming. At present, the government is providing electricity at the rate of 4.75 per unit to the farmers whose consumption is 20 kW. Fish farmers can also set up solar plants on their plots, for this a subsidy of Rs. 20,000 per horsepower, with a maximum limit of Rs 2 lakh is being given to them.

The Chief Minister said that an aqua park, at a cost of Rs 30 crore would be established in Garwa village in the Bhiwani district. This aqua park will be established on 25 acres. In this, new research related to fish farming, the new variety of fish farming, and research on seeds will be carried out. This will directly benefit the fish farmers, he said. The Chief Minister said that the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana would be available for the next three years. Shrimp is exported in large quantities. This brings foreign exchange into the country, which is important for India’s economic growth.

The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making several new schemes and projects to double the income of farmers. One of them is fisheries. Ordinary farmers cannot earn more by growing crops only but they can certainly earn more from animal husbandry, pisciculture, mushroom production, etc. Progressive farmers should go ahead and inspire other farmers to join them.

“We are continuously promoting the production of shrimp in saline land and waterlogged areas in Haryana. In the year 2014-15, the total area under shrimp farming was 70 acres and the total production was 140 MT only, which has now increased to 1250 acres and the production has also increased to 2900 MT during the year 2021-22,” said Khattar. He said that the State Government has set this year’s target to increase this area from 1250 acres to 2500 acres and production from 2900 metric tonnes to 4000 metric tonnes. The Chief Minister said that in the year 2014, 1 lakh metric tonnes of fish was produced in Haryana in a total farming area of 43000 acres and this year the target has been increased to 54000 acres. Besides this, the State Government has also set a target of increasing production to 2.10 lakh metric tonnes. A target has been set to provide 25 lakh fish seeds to the farmers in the state, added Khattar.