Agriculture & Higher Education comes under 'Mo Sarkar'

Taking forwards its people centric 5T initiative, Odisha government on Thursday included the departments of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment and Higher education in the "Mo Sarkar" (my government) programme.

The basic objective was to provide good governance to the people under its 5T (teamwork, technology, transparency, time leading to transformation) initiative.

The state government had launched Mo Sarkar (my government) programme on October 2. Though initially Mo Sarkar programme was implemented in the departments of Home and Health, later more departments are being added.

With the state government including two more departments, a host of guidelines have been made for successful execution of various schemes of the departments.

Agriculture secretary Sourav Garg said guidelines are made to reach the people and strengthen the agriculture sector and empowerment of farmers in the state. Plans are made 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 set up in the state," Garg said, adding that the Agriculture department will operate a live call centre to extend help farmers in distress and in case of loss of crops for various reasons.

Similarly, the Higher Education Department has also outlined a 17-point action plan to ensure better service delivery in the sector under the 5T initiative.

Higher Education minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said as per the plan, the teachers attendance will be monitored through bio-metric device to ensure that they discharge seven-hour duty on every working day.

Sahoo said the students attendance should be at least 75 per cent for appearing in examinations. This apart, 'Mo College' platform will be set up in line with state governments 'Mo School' campaign to allow alumni and other interested persons contribute to the development of the college.

The new plan includes distribution of free laptop to meritorious students, new criteria for students to avail benefits, change in the Scholarship Guidelines and others.

A scholarship council will also be formed to maintain transparency in the distribution process, the minister said, adding that the action plan also focus on the career counselling in universities and reputed colleges and skilling of students of degree colleges to enhance their employability, including soft skills like spoken English.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said inclusion of Agriculture and Higher Education departments in the 'Mo Sarkar' programme will help both farmers and students in the state.

Patnaik said the state has acquired third position in the country in terms of crop distribution. He said through 'Mo Sarkar' programme, the 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.