Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 531/18

WORKSHOP ON SCOPE OF AROMATIC PLANTS IN MEGHALAYA

The Institute of Natural Resources under MBDA Shillong organized a one day workshop on Scope of Aromatic Plants in Meghalaya here today at Raj Bhawan, Shillong which was attended by the Governor, Ganga Prasad as the Chief Guest. Speaking to the gathering, the Governor, Ganga Prasad, said that Meghalaya has ideal conditions for the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. He added that there is a demand in the global market for the produce of these medicinal and aromatic plants and there are immense opportunities in the State for sustainable expansion in the areas under cultivation for larger interest of the growers and entrepreneurs. “With the increasing demand of natural essential oils, aroma products and herbal extracts from medicinal and aromatic plants, the ability of the farmer or the entrepreneur to process the plants for value addition and for making high quality products has opened the possibility of increased income generation and better quality of life”, he said. Earlier, K N Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary in his Opening Remarks informed that there are 834 medicinal plants found in the State and there is a need to have a compendium of all these plants. He also said that there is a need to have a Capacity Building of the ‘Kabiraj’s of the State. He further stressed on the requirement of having Aromatic and Medicinal Plants policy and also to launch the Aroma Mission for the larger protection and conservation of the medicinal plants in the State. The Institute of Natural Resource under Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) has planned promotion of medicinal and aromatic plants related activities in the State with the aim to introduce, develop and disseminate technologies for cultivation, promotion and processing among the growers and entrepreneurs in a time bound manner. It is emphasized to introduce only such commercially viable crops which are suitable to the agro climatic conditions of the State. The workshop was organized with an aim to provide awareness to the people and young entrepreneurs for development of entrepreneurial skills in area of essential oil processing and value addition and to impart knowledge to participants. Among others who spoke during the Inaugural session were P Sampath Kumar, CEO, MBDA, Dr A K Tiwari, Director, CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow and L Shabong, OSD, MBDA.

Press Release No. 533/18

WORKSHOP ON ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma today said that government has envisaged a roadmap to enhance the delivery mechanism, where services for the benefit of the people are addressed through different means including adoption of technology. “As politicians and government servants, we should have a single agenda to serve the people. Our intervention has to be effective to ensure that best possible, fastest and most efficient system is adopted for a transparent and accountable monitoring of schemes and projects for the welfare of the people,” said the Chief Minister at inauguration of Workshop on Enterprise Architecture for North Eastern States, organised by North Eastern Council (NEC) in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC) Talking on the advantage of technology, the Chief Minister underlined the importance of e-governance and satellite based technology to assess flood and other natural calamities and design a response system to tackle the challenge of such situations. “The government has embarked on a mission for digital transformation but the challenge lies in sensitization. Unless and until the public is sensitized on available technology, its effective use will be negated,” the Chief Minister added.

He told the gathering that through video conference the government was holding review meetings with DCs of all districts in the State every second Tuesday of the month to discuss and chart out measure for effective implementation of schemes and programmes. The tech savvy Chief Minister also elaborated on the importance of IT in governance and an approach for result oriented IT enabled services for the welfare of common good. The objective of the workshop was to chart out a long term vision for India as a Digital Enterprise. The workshop focused on digital transformation initiatives as a move towards one citizen – one government vision and build India as a digital enterprise. Others who spoke on the occasion were Minister of IT Hamlet Dohling, DDG NIC and SIO NIC Meghalaya T Dkhar, DDG and HoG EARD, NIC New Delhi, D C Mishra, President and CEO NeGD MeitY, New Delhi M S Rao, Director General NIC New Delhi Neeta Verma and Planning Advisor NEC C.H. Kharshiing.