Odisha: Agriculture department comes under 'Mo Sarkar' programme

Expanding its people-centric '5T' initiative, the Odisha government on Thursday included the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment in the "Mo Sarkar" (my government) programme. The Department of Higher Education has prepared an action plan for its implementation and will soon follow suit.

The basic objective of the '5T' (teamwork, technology, transparency, time leading to transformation) initiative is to provide good governance to the people. The state government had launched 'Mo Sarkar' programme on October 2. The programme was initially implemented in the departments of Home and Health. More and more departments are being added to the programme subsequently.

A host of guidelines have been framed for successful execution of various schemes of the departments under the programme. Agriculture secretary Sourav Garg said guidelines have been made to strengthen the agriculture sector and for empowerment of farmers. The aim is to double farmers income.

"There would be a special portal for disseminating information about the Kalia yojana. A large number of farm ponds would be created in the state," Garg said, adding that the Agriculture Department will operate a call centre facility to extend help to farmers in distress. The Higher Education Department has also outlined a 17-point action plan to ensure better service delivery.

Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said as per the plan, teacher attendance will be monitored through bio-metric device to ensure that they discharge seven-hour duty on every working day. Sahoo said a student's attendance should be at least 75 per cent for appearing in examinations.

The new plan includes distribution of free laptop to meritorious students, new criteria for students to avail benefits, and change in scholarship guidelines. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the inclusion of agriculture department in the 'Mo Sarkar' programme will help farmers.

Patnaik said the state has acquired third position in the country in terms of crop distribution. He said under 'Mo Sarkar' programme, farmers will get more benefits. The chief minister said he will speak to farmers of different regions of the state to get their feedback on the services provided to them by the government.

He said reward or punishment for the government officials depends on the feedback of the farmers. The officials who get accolades from the farmers will be given certificate of excellence, Patnaik said.

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