Andhra Pradesh Harita-Priya Agriculture Project wins 2016 WSIS Prize

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Project  has won the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2016 prize in the e-Agriculture category. 

• Harita-Priya (Harmonized Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda – Precision Technology for Agriculture) Project is meant to collect very specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalised information through SMS. 

About  Harita-Priya Agriculture Project :

• The Harita-Priya Project uses wireless sensor networks to collect micro-climatic information from farms. 
• The data is used to create advisories and alerts on irrigation schedules and pests and plant diseases.
•  Based on this state agriculture officers disseminate personalised crop advisories in Telugu language to farmers by way of SMS. 
• The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Hyderabad has developed the project and is having a pilot run in Anantpur district.
•  Andhra Pradesh government, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) station and Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University also have partnered for the project.

J&K Govt approves 5% interest subsidy for flood-hit traders

 Jammu and Kashmir government on 27 April 2016 approved five percent interest subvention to flood-hit traders with effect from 1 April 2016.

•  The decision will bring a major relief to September 2014 flood hit traders and business units. 
• The interest subsidy will have a cap of five lakh rupees per unit for a period of four years, that is, up to 31 December 2020. 
• The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu.

Jammu and Kashmir :

Capital -Jammu (October–March) ,Srinagar (March–October)

Districts-  22

Government-

 • Governor- Narinder Nath Vohra

 • Chief Minister-  Mehbooba Mufti (PDP)

 • Deputy Chief Minister -  Nirmal Kumar Singh (BJP)

 • Legislature -  Bicameral (87 + 36 seats)

 • Parliamentary constituency- Rajya Sabha 4,  Lok Sabha 6

Area rank-  5th

Population  Rank -  19th

Govt. constitutes Ashok Dalwai committee for doubling farmers’ income

   The Union Govt. has recently constituted 8-member inter-ministerial committee to prepare a blueprint for doubling farmer’s income by 2022.

• The committee will be headed by Ashok Dalwai, Additional secretary at the Union Agriculture Ministry and is expected to submit the report in two months.
• Earlier,  Govt. had announced in the Union Budget 2016-17, to double farm incomes by 2022.
• "The committee will chalk out a plan to shift farm policies from being production-oriented to based on incomes,"
• The eight-member panel will identify potential areas of agriculture where more investment should happen and suggest ways to reduce the risk of farming by diversifying to horticulture and allied activities like livestock and fisheries to boost income .