Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 23: R.K Srivastava, Chief General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) called on Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan here today.
The CGM briefed the Lt Governor about the various ways in which NABARD is providing support under RIDF to the UT Government for developing rural infrastructure. It was further informed that this year NABARD focused on strengthening of Agri-Marketing, Post-Harvest Management and Irrigation Infrastructure and with a view to address the issue of improving farmer’s income, NABARD is currently providing support to 17 FPOs in the UT mainly for mushroom, dairy, vegetable, rice, honey, medicinal plant and carpets. Moreover, support is also being provided through Watershed Development Funds and Tribal Development Fund in districts like Samba, Udhampur, Rajouri and Anantnag.
The Lt Governor advised the CGM to take all requisite measures for promoting agriculture and keep assisting in development of rural areas through financial as well as non-financial assistance, besides collaborating with Agriculture Universities both in Jammu as well as Kashmir to take their research to farmer’s field.
Meanwhile, Dr. D Srinivasa Reddy, Director, CSIR-IIIM (Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine) called on the Lt Governor and discussed several issues related to the promotion of Scientific and Industrial Research, besides various programmes and activities which are being carried out under CSIR.
The Lt Governor stressed upon promoting innovations and recent advancements in Scientific and Industrial Research for creating a broad knowledge base to develop IIIM as a centre of excellence in all facets of natural products research and technology.