___________

Union minister Jairam Ramesh during his visit stressed that Orissa broaden its horizon beyond minerals and metals. Some of his points were sensible and some others politically motivated. In another posting we give a rejoinder to his politically motivated comment on IIT in Orissa. Here we present some of his good ideas excerpted from a Statesman article.

The export of marine products should grow from its present level of Rs 370 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in five years, he said and added that an action plan to this end had been submitted to the state government. The MPEDA has given an action plan and it proposes to focus on shrimp and prawn cultivation over 20,000 hectares along Balasore and Bhadrak districts. Earlier, Mr Ramesh inaugurated the Quality Control Laboratory’ of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) here today. This laboratory is the fourth in its kind in the country.

Organic ginger and turmeric, coffee and other items can be grown in tribal areas of Orissa and “we have a proposal pending since long with the state government for an organic export zone to be set up at Kandhamal district,” he said. Shellac cultivation was another area where Mayurbhanj district of Orissa has been identified as one of the four districts in the country for promotion of shellac cultivation he said.

He also criticizes Orissa’s focus on mines and metal processing industries. Orissa has the mines. What should it do? Hide it? It can’t. The Hoda committee recommends that if states delay in making a recommendation then the central government can make a unilateral recommendation. Now if that happens the minerals may go out of state and the state, which now only gets paltry royalty due to central govt. craziness of having  very low royalty rates, will lose out on development associated with value addition(like making steel). Value addition leads to infrastructure developments such as roads, railways, ports, townships, etc. So unless Orissa pays attention and follows through on its policy of only recommending mines to companies that will do value addition, and helping the companies to do the value addition, it will lose out a lot. So Orissa’s focus on the mines, steel and aluminum is not misplaced. However the point about looking at other sectors is a good one.

Business standard reports that Syndicate Bank and Indian Overseas Bank plan several social schemes involving training villagers. Following are some excerpts from that report.

Syndicate bank said it would take up extension activities in all its rural branches for educating and training villagers in different aspects of agriculture, animal husbandry, plantation and fish rearing.

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) said it would organise at least three training camps for women in southern Orissa during 2007-08.

“We have decided to organise at least three training camps on tailoring, handicraft and beauty therapy for rural women in southern Orissa towns at Rayagada, Jeypore and Bhawanipatna” …

At Jeypore in Koraput district, the bank has decided to impart training to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women.

In Rayagada, training to be given to the weaker section people.

Similarly in Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters of Kalahandi district, women in general categories will get training.

In each camp, scheduled to start in July or August, at least 20 women would be participated.

The respective branch managers would select the women to get training, he said …

After getting training for a fortnight, they would receive financial assistance from the bank for establishment of units in various fields.

“Our corporate office has agreed for three training camps initially and if more number of women come forward for skill and entrepreneurship development, more number of camps will be organised” …

Syndicate Bank would conduct 58 extension activities during 2007-08.

The bank’s Berhampur branch has recently held a farmers’ meeting on jatropha plantation at Narendrapur in Ganjam district in collaboration with the Orissa Nature Care & Council (ONCC), an organisation imparting training on jatropha cultivation for bio-diesel.

ONCC provided technical know-how and inputs for jatropha planting while the bank was financing farmers, …

Syndicate Bank offered Rs 10,000 to each of the 55 farmers in the village for taking up of jatropha plantation, …

Jatropha cultivation was done in about 105 acres in the village.

Syndicate bank would donate Rs 10,000 each for renovation and cleaning of ponds in 10 villages during the current year.

New Indian Express reports that the central govt. has suggested that Orissa apply for an agricultural export zone. Following are excerpts from that article.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday hinted that an Agriculture Export Zone (AEZ) in Orissa could be considered once the proposal for the same was received by the Centre.

Ramesh, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Secretariat, told reporters that the AEZ would be established in Kandhmal for organic turmeric. …

The State Government has already identified land for establishment of the AEZ in Kandhmal where a majority of the tribals cultivate organic turmeric.

Ramesh said that he requested the Chief Minister to concentrate more on export of organic coffee from Koraput, ginger and turmeric from Kandhmal and Sal from Mayurbhanj which could generate more employment opportunities.

The Union Minister said that Orissa exported goods worth Rs 10,400 crore last year, 90 per cent of which accounted for minerals only while the handicraft and other non-traditional products had a very negligible share.

Though Orissa is known for its famous handicraft, the export of such products stood only at 3 to 4 per cent of the total export of the country. Ramesh said the State had exported marine products to the tune of Rs 350 crore last year adding that this has to cross Rs 1000 crore in the next five years.

The Centre, he said, would sanction a cold storage for perishable products in Bhubaneswar and another for marine products in Paradip soon.

Various Interational journals( forbes,Hemscott,Abcmoney,Reuters UK) have reported that BHP Bilton is buying a stake in a mining unit Ashapura Minechem Ltd.The stake will be 51%. This provides a backdoor entry for BHP Bilton into Orissa. Earliar it tried toi bid in Sesa Goa. BUt that stake was taken by Vedanta group.

BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc. (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile , Research) (BLT.L: Quote, Profile , Research), the world’s biggest mining group, is in talks to buy a 51 percent stake in an Indian alumina project, the Business Standard newspaper said on Monday.Indian mining and mineral firm Ashapura Minechem Ltd. (ASHM.BO: Quote, Profile , Research) will hold the remaining 49 percent in the 25-billion-rupee ($614 million) project in the eastern state of Orissa, the paper said, quoting unnamed sources.The two partners will invest 8 billion rupees towards equity and the remaining 17 billion will be raised through debt, it said.The spokesman for Mumbai-based Ashapura could not immediately comment on the report.In May, an official at Ashapura had said it was bidding for a bauxite mining lease in Orissa.

The Business Standard reported quoted Managing Director Chetan Shah as saying that it would take three months for government approval, and the project would be commissioned by next year.

But he declined to identify a likely partner, the paper said.

Ashapura has a tie-up with China’s Qingtongxia Aluminium Group for a 25-billion-rupee alumina refinery project in the western state of Gujarat. Construction work is scheduled to start in November. ($1 = 40.7 rupees)

There are currently no plans for a Aluminium plant at this stage though.

New Indian express reports that the Orissa krushak sangha demands that Orissa R&R policy is made as an legislation.

I welcome this as a good step. Also, this signifies that the orissa krsuhak sangha is supporting this policy. This is an encouraging sign. Possibly an indication of a partnership between farmers and industries.

Orissa Krushak Mahasangha has urged State Government to make rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy a law. Citing instance of Mahanadi Coalfields which is accused of not implementing R&R measures causing strong resentment among the oustees, chairman of the farmer outfit Bibhudendu Pratap Das said once it is made a legislation, no company would be able to violate it.

Violators would attract penal provision, he added.

He also demanded that special courts should be set up for such cases.

A one year old baby, named Kalinga, was abandoned by its parents and relatives; after 41 days she was taken back by them. This happened in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Should not we be outraged by the fact that the baby was abandoned in the first place? Should not the parents be put in jail for abandoning their months old baby? And what has this got to do with the growth of Orissa. Read more and watch the following embedded video to find out why this is such a sweet and charming story and its happening in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, makes Bhubaneswar an attractive place.

You see Kalinga is a baby elephant which got isolated from its herd when the herd had strayed into Bhubaneswar from the adjacent Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary. The wild life staff tried many ways for the baby elephant to be taken back by its herd, and finally yesterday a herd took it back. Although the wild life staff which fed it with lactogen is worried about its future feeding, they are extremely happy that the baby elephant was taken back to the wild.This is Bhubaneswar. A city with a similar sized elephant sanctuary just next to it. We discussed this sanctuary in earlier postings (here and here). I have never gone inside the sanctuary, but I will definitely go there in my next visit and spend some time in the Bharatpur watch tower to watch elpehants in the wild. I wonder if there is any other city in India where you have an elephant sanctuary right next to it. This aspect of Bhubaneswar is not much known. May be it should remain that way despite this posting.

Note: New Indian Express has a nice report on the forest officers attempt to reunite the lost baby elephant with its herd. Following are some excerpts.

It’s something unheard of but Kalinga which slipped into a small well after getting isolated from its main pack that strayed into an OUAT farm on May 5, finally found acceptance on Saturday from a group of 22 elephants in forests of Chandaka, on the City outskirts.

Two forest guards monitoring the calf saw how it was welcomed into folds of two herds near the watch tower of the protected area. Kalinga was allowed to roam near a water point adjoining the watch tower at Bharatpur.

The herds – in groups of four and 18 – reached the spot at 5.30 pm where a female, as if in a gesture of welcome, tugged at the calf before dragging it into the group. The rest encircled the baby and vanished into the jungle. …

The Chandaka Sanctuary officials had tried the reunion earlier but in vain. Kalinga was kept confined in a breakable enclosure near sanctuary’s entrance at Godibari but the herds would pass by it.

However, DFO Akshay Kumar Patnaik was not one to give up hope. The calf was shifted near Bharatpur watch tower on June 11 as the area is frequented by several herds because of the water point. On the first day itself, two herds came calling but Kalinga found no acceptance.

Then the calf was freed from its enclosure so as to facilitate interaction with the approaching herds. On Tuesday, three packs came across the calf and approached it but Kalinga was reluctant and returned to its base where it is fed and taken care of by the forest officials, Patnaik said.

On Saturday, Kalinga had ‘lactogen’ for lunch and what followed was nothing short of milestone in wildlife management.

But sanctuary officials are worried about Kalinga’s diet as it was on lactogen for last 41 days and could face difficulty in taking milk from its mother.

Following is a picture of Kalinga with a mature elephant trying to take it back. This did not work out. The picture is from Kalinga Times photo gallery and the photo was taken by DFO Akshaya Patnaik. But the next attempt succeeded. (CNN-IBN also has a nice video.)

There are several other charming stories associated with the Chandaka Sanctuary. Decades ago a royal Bengal tiger from the sanctuary jumped into the enclosure of another tiger in the adjoining Nandan Kanan zoo. More about this another day.

The Hindu has a nice rememberance of poet Mayadhar Mansingh. Following is a picture from that article.

Samaja reports on a technical competence workshop being organized in Orissa for the first time where graduates of various technical schools at all levels (engineering, diplomas, ITIs etc.) will interact with the various industrial units coming up in Orissa.

Dharitri has a nice overview (page1, page2, page3) of the status of the various ports that Orissa plans to have. Following are some highlights from that report.

• Aditya Birla group S.L. Mining has expressed interest in developing the Chudamani port in Bhadrakh district. IIT Madras has done the technical evaluation of this project. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Navajuga engineering of Hyderabad has proposed developing Astaranga port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Puri ports limited has proposed developing the Baliharchandi port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Good earth maritime of Madras has proposed developing the port in Bahuda muhana of Ganjam district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Gopalpur: Being developed by Orissa Stevedores. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Dhamara:TISCO and L & T are devloping this port. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Jatadhari: Being developed by POSCO. Page 3 of the article has more details.
• Paradip: Existing major port. We discussed its expansion plans recently.
• Palur, Ganjam: no proposals yet
• Barunei, Kendarpara: no proposals yet
• Inchudi, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Chandipur, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Bahabalpur, Balasore: no proposals yet

The article says that the Balasore district ports face problems from the Dept. of Defense because of the missile testing range nearby. The article does not mention the following plan:

• Creative ports, Chennai plans to develop the Kirtania port on the mouth of Subarnarekha in Balasore district.

Zee news reports that Arcelor-Mittal’s project in Orissa on schedule. Following is an excerpt from that report.

Announcing that the company has already acquired space at the fortune tower for opening its Orissa office, the CEO said that the Dasturco would prepare reports for its steel mill, rehabilitation colony and an environment management plan (EMP).

“Since the Orissa government has been pressing for an EMP, we have also asked the Dasturco to look into this aspect”, Mishra said, adding that the company would proceed further after getting the reports.

Sources said the company expected the DPR from Dasturco within the next 12-18 months. Mittal Steel had signed an MoU with the Orissa government in December 2006.

The world’s number one steel company plans to set up its 12-mtpa steel unit in two phases. It has sought 8,000 acre of land in Keonjhar district to house its steel plant, a 7,500 mw captive power plant and a township.

IBM does a lot of business with SMBs (small and medium businesses) in India. Thus it plans to expand its operation across India. Various news reports mention that it has plans to expand to 14 tier two cities. It has already started at Coimbatore and Goa, will start with Lucknow, and then follow it up with Bhopal, Nashik, Nagpur, Surat, Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Vizag and Madurai.

Business standard reports that the Orissa government is after Accenture and other big IT consulting companies. There is nothing concerete here except that its a policy decisions to go after these biggies with an attractive package. Following are excerpts from that report.

The Orissa government is rolling out the red carpet to get the management consulting, technology services and outsourcing firm Accenture to set up facilities in the state. …

Orissa IT minister Surya Narayan Patro said, “We have initiated discussions with Accenture.”

A top official of the Orissa IT department said, “The government would leave no stone unturned in bringing in big companies like IBM, Cognizant and Accenture to the state. Discussion were on and the government would contact Accenture.”

The Orissa government was working out a package offering excellent infrastructure to companies keen to invest in the state.

Accenture currently had 1.5 lakh employees in 49 countries with global revenues of around $18 billion, and was one of the largest computer services and software companies.

India was an integral part of Accenture’s global delivery centre (GDC) and its second largest country of operation, with branches at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi employing 15,000 professionals in India.

The Orissa government recently allotted 1074 acres of prime land for three IT zones labelled Infocity 1 to 3. While Infocity-1 was functional, Infocity-2 and Infocity-3 were
under planning and development. TCS, Infosys and Satyam had units here while Wipro, MindTree and Hexaware were expected to decide on facilities in Bhubaneswar soon and Genpact had committed to invest at Infocity-1.

Orissa expected software exports to cross Rs 1000 crore from the 2006-07 export figure of Rs 734 crore.

IT small and medium enterprises (ITSMEs) in Orissa were working on a plan to take up software exports. Currently there were about 135 IT firms registered with the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) in Orissa.

Times of India reports that Arcelor-Mittal has hired M. N. Dastur to prepare the detailed project report of its proposed plant in Patna area of the Keonjhar district. Following are some excerpts of that article.

The world’s largest steelmaker Arcelor-Mittal has roped in M N Dastur and Company (P) Ltd (Dasturco) to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for its proposed Rs 40,000 crore steel facility in Orissa’s Keonjhar district. …

The Arcelor-Mittal group, which signed an MoU with the state government for a greenfield steel plant in December, 2006, plans to have its DPR in place within the next 12 to 18 months, sources said.

Dasturco, a five-decade old leading engineering consultancy and design company, has well-known expertise in project planning and appraisal, economic evaluation, design and detailed engineering, project management, supervision of construction and erection and et al and this helped the company bag the deal, sources added.

Pioneer reports the inauguration of Goudia Setu in Brahmagir in remote part of Puri district. Following is a quote from that report.

Brahmagiri Congress MLA Laletendu Bidyadhar Mahapatra on Wednesday inaugurated the Goudia Setu under Rahadmalla panchayat. Built at a cost of about Rs 3 crore with NABARD assistance, the bridge is expected to improve the communication network in this remote part of Puri district.

Following is a roundup on HRD related postings at orissawatch.org.

• Foundation For Excellence (FFE) gave 264 scholarships to students from Orissa
• Orissa engineering colleges in Outlook India ranking
• NISER deadline for submitting application form is extended till June 15 2007
• Chennai B-school in Bhubaneswar and Plan for Insurance University in BBSR
• Specialized government management institutions of Orissa
• Branch changes allowed after first year at NIT Rourkela
• Status of private Medical Colleges in the State
• M.Tech and M.Arch programs in Orissa
• KIIT has approval for 100 Medical (MBBS) and 100 Dentistry (BDS) seats.
• Institutions with Nontraditional programs – a dated list
• Biju Patnaik Film and TV institute advertises for admission into its programs
• Apparently Orissa students are doing well in medical entrance exams
• Tathya: Please no politics over IIT
• Pursuing M. Ed in Orissa
• Ranking of Engineering Colleges in Orissa based on student preferences
• Nursing Schools catch on in Orissa
• TCS recruits 1100 students from Orissa engineering colleges

There have been several news items regarding the beauty of handicrafts made up of dried grass which becomes yellow and golden in color. Following are some excerpts on this from a report in New Kerala.

Dried grass, which becomes yellow and golden in colour, has been innovatively used by a group of Oriya women to craft attractive items of daily use.

The grass is made of Khus Khus stem. It is sturdy and can be bent to any shape to be turned into items of household use. It can also be crafted into decorative items. This has been the occupation of a group of Orissa’s Jajanga Village of Kendrapara District for the last ten years.

Nearly 80 per cent of the women in Jajanga village create various decorative items like flowers, baskets, wall-hangings, mats and pen-stands. All that each of them earn is about Rs.500 to 1,500 per month. …

The Golden grass items were introduced to Jajanga by Mahila Samiti committee headed by Swarna Prabha Swain. Today, it exists as a cottage industry here. …

At times they take five days to make an item. They take pride in their produce, and hope that the day is not far when their handicrafts are sold all over the country, or at least in all part of Orissa.

Perhaps the Orissa government can push this village to become an arts-n-crafts village like Raghurajpur and include it in a tourist circuit. In general, Orissa government should identify a few more craftsman villages where 80% of the houses are involved in some handicraft or some art-n-craft and develop amenities there  and include them in tourist circuits. Besides the above mentioned village other candidates could be a village or villages in Baragarh district that weave Sambalpuri sarees and villages near Pipli. My knowledge of such villages is rudimentary, but we will keep our eyes open and report about them here.

The Hindu reports that Orissa is planning a palace on wheels similar to the concept of the one in Rajasthan. It will be the 3rd such state after Rajasthan and Haryana. I’m sure that Orissa has higher potential than these two states in terms of tourism. Following is an excerpt.

In an attempt to attract more tourists to the state, Orissa tourism has mooted to introduce luxury trains for travellers following Rajashtan’s much hyped palace-on-wheels model. If implemented, Orissa would be the third state in the country after Rajashtan and Haryana to be the proud provider of this service. Sources in the Department of Tourism said talks were on with the Ministry of Railways for earliest launch of the service following which the Indian Tourism Finance Corporation has undertaken a survey to find the feasibility of the project.

The project proposal has already been endorsed to the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) that has evinced keen interest in it, the sources added.

Collaborative project

While the Ministry would provide the luxury train, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) would look after the hospitality expenses of travellers, the proposal says. It would be a collaborative project of the IRCTC and the OTDC, it was learnt.

The travel plan would extend over a minimum period of one week and a maximum period of a fortnight.

The train would commence its journey from Kolkata and would be back to its originating point via Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Berhampur, Koraput, Sambalpur and Rourkela, it was learnt.

Nice step.

Pragativadi reports that the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has taken two Orissa villages under the cluster village program. These villages are Jayapur in Koraput district and Erkana in Khorda district. Following is an excerpt from that report.

... under the programme, the Commission would encourage leather and industry in Jayapur while it would boost bamboo craft in Erkana village. Stating that the Commission is providing all support to the artisans of these two villages to enable them to further sharpen their skills in their profession, she said that efforts are being taken to provide high-end technical support to these artisans. She also said that the Commission has selected 534 rural entrepreneurs to set up small scale industries. Joshi also said that KVIC has already set up 4853 small scale units in Orissa under the National Rural Employment Generation Programme while it has insured 1220 rural entrepreneurs under Janashree Bima yojana in the state.

Livemint was mentioning that POSCO is renowned to be socially a very conscious Industrial company. Following are some excerpts:

A mobile health van goes to some villages at least one day a week, young women have trained as beauticians, doctors have flown in from Korea to fix the cleft palates of local children, scholarships for study have been awarded and street lights have been erected.

On an international level, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a major focus for Posco, the only major steel company listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which track the performance of leading companies deemed to operate in a socially responsible manner. Its efforts in India coincide with increased attention to the subject.

Perhaps, this could be a pointer for MNCs who want to invest in backward states like Orissa.

Bhubaneswar, May 30, 2007

For the convenience of travelling public and keeping in view the demands of passengers, East Coast Railway has decided to run two pairs of Passenger Train between Cuttack & Paradeep from 1st June’07 replacing Rail Bus service except Sundays.

5 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 07.45a.m, Kandarpur at 08.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 08.22a.m, Gorakhnath at 08.44a.m, Rahama at 09.03a.m, Badabandha at 09.15a.m and will arrive Paradeep at 09.45a.m.

In the return direction, 6 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 10.15a.m, Badabandha at 10.31a.m, Rahama at 10.44a.m, Gorakhnath at 11.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 11.23a.m, Kandarpur at 11.43a.m and will arrive Cuttack at 12.15p.m.

Similarly, 7 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 03.00p.m, Kandarpur at 03.18p.m, Raghunathpur at 03.37p.m, Gorakhnath at 03.59p.m, Rahama at 04.19p.m, Badabandha at 04.30p.m and will arrive Paradeep at 05.00p.m.

In the return direction, 8 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 06.00p.m, Badabandha at 06.16p.m, Rahama at 06.29p.m, Gorakhnath at 06.49.m, Raghunathpur at 07.09p.m, Kandarpur at 07.29p.m and will arrive Cuttack at 08.00p.m.

Statesman has a report on Paradip port aiming to be the number two port in the country. Following are some excerpts from that report.

Armed with a Paradip business and strategy plan for the next 20 years and an action plan for the next seven years, Paradip Port has set on sail to become the No-2 port of the country. The charted course envisages investments to the tune of over Rs 3,500 crore and it aims at handling capacity of 106 million tones in five years. … The growth recorded was a phenomenal 15 per cent and the revenue surplus was around Rs 198 crore last year. All new berths being planned will be on PPA mode and the capacity which is 51 mt will be increased to 106 mt by 2011-12, said the chairman. He pointed out that by November this year, the single point mooring will be commissioned adding 15 mt handling capacity. This is a IOC project with a berth floating 20 km offshore and pipelines which are already in place. … Maritime trade is on the upswing and each port has set high targets but the uniqueness of Paradip is that it has handled 38.4 mt with only bulk cargo. Despite limitations of being a bulk port with 14 berths and a limitation of 12.6 metre in terms of depth of the channel, the port has handled such huge quantities. … There are plans and projects to deepen the channel upto 16 meters to accommodate 125,000 tonners. Presently, it can accommodate 75,000 tonners. The project entails investment of Rs 253 crore and is scheduled to be completed by August 2008. Simultaneously, enhancement of draught at the existing dock system from 12.5 to 14 metres has also been planned for completion by March 2008. … The port plans creation of southern dock system with an investment of Rs 530 crore and four berths. This is targeted for commercial operation by March 2012. The approaches and connectivity have also been planned in a futuristic manner with enhancement of rail connectivity Haridaspur-Paradip line slated to be over by March 2009, four-laning of Chandikhole to Paradip road by March 2008. Even relocation of the existing township has been proposed keeping in view the raid development of the port activities.

Statesman reports on several strategies that were discussed on agriculture and horticulture. Following are some excerpts of that report.

The government has decided to encourage contract farming in cotton and has fixed a target of covering 60,000 hectors under such contract farming during 2007-08. To ensure renumerative price for cotton growers, two additional mandis will be set up in Ganjam and Gajapati districts.

With floriculture having tremendous potential in the state, the government has planned a mandi in Bhubaneswar. Among other proposals discussed today were the steps to encourage organic farming in Phulbani district and aromatic rice in Koraput district. Women Self Help Groups will be encouraged to undertake fishery activities.
Simultaneously, measures to train farmers will be stepped up. Last year, over 23,000 farmers were trained and over the next four years, another 3.32 lakh farmers will be trained, said official sources.

Cashew, mango and banana will be promoted and targets for such plantations were fixed for 2007-08. Primary seed replacement, seed production and other measures in this regard were also discussed.

New Indian Express reports on some of these plans. Following are some excerpts from that report.

The State Government has decided to prepare a five year plan to expand the activities of the Watershed Mission to benefit six lakh landless families.

Official sources said that the activities of the Mission would be intensified in areas inhabited by tribals of the Juang community to create employment opportunities.

Mission activities include digging of ponds to meet the water requirement in the villages and promotion of dairy and horticulture. …

Other projects undertaken under the Mission include the Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP), a centrally sponsored programme implemented in 23 districts. The outlay of the project has been fixed at Rs 148.07 crore for 2.78 lakh hectare.

The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), another centrally sponsored scheme is being implemented in eight districts covering 47 identified drought prone blocks.

Sources said that 800 micro watershed projects have already been executed while another 600 are being implemented. The total expenditure has been pegged at Rs 227.4 crore .

Besides, 314 micro watershed projects have been taken up by the Mission in the KBK districts for treatment of 1.67 hectare with an expenditure of Rs 100.57 crore.

Coffee Development Programme (CDP) for small growers has also been taken up under the Mission in Koraput and Rayagada districts.

The programme aims at providing sustainable livelihood to tribal farmers. In the first phase, coffee cultivation was taken up in 2,000 hectares, 1,000 hectares each in the two districts. In the second phase, the programme would be implemented in more than 8,000 hectares with Rs 67.21 crore.

The River Valley Project (RVP) is being implemented in the catchment of inter-state projects, Hirakud, Machhkund- Sileru, Rengali-Mandira and Upper Kolab dam projects to prevent land degradation and prevent silt inflow. The expenditure has been pegged at Rs 4.97 crore.