Govt waiting to upscale natural farming

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 22: Nearly 500 farmers have been trained and are practising natural farming in 25 villages even as the State government is waiting for the Centre’s approval to scale up the area under the natural farming in the state.

This was informed by the Minister-in-charge of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ampareen Lyngdoh while replying to a short-duration discussion tabled by UDP Nongpoh MLA Mayralborn Syiem on the last day of the Assembly’s autumn session today.

Lyngdoh said the Meghalaya State Rural Livelihood Society (MSRLS) has initiated training on national farming across the state. They have entered into an agreement with experts from Andhra Pradesh and have established 18 farmer field schools and have also trained over 35 community resource persons (CRPs) who are further promoting and training farmers in their areas to practice natural farming.

She informed over 475 farmers have been trained so far, in natural farming and are practising the same in 500 acres across 25 villages. Under the program, MSRLS has also set up 380 multi-cropped kitchen gardens.

Lyngdoh also said that the department has submitted the annual action plan for natural farming to the Government of India for approval.

“If approved, the department will implement the scheme as per the National Natural Farming Guidelines and scale up the area under natural farming in the state,” she added.

Stating that organic farming is the other alternative which is being promoted at a large scale, the minister said currently, 32,000 ha is under organic farming and the government has plans to bring in an additional 50,000 ha by 2030.

“Much like natural farming, this farming system is also harmonious with soil and local biodiversity, increases productivity, is good for the health of the consumers and producers, and also fetches better remuneration for the farmers,” she said.

On the initiatives to promote organic and natural farming in the state, Lyngdoh said that the department is implementing the centrally sponsored Mission Organic for Value-chain Development – North East Region (MOVCDNER), under which 28 FPOs have been set up and are practising organic cultivation.

The Cabinet endorsed the Meghalaya State Organic and Natural Farming policy on January  11, 2023. This comprehensive policy aims to foster organic farming as a viable income-generating activity for farmers. It outlines crucial objectives, including capacity building, technology development and augmenting farmers’ income through training, value addition and market linkages.

She said the establishment of Meghalaya’s Natural and Organic Society for Livelihood and Innovation in Agriculture (MEGNOLIA) marks a pivotal step in our journey to being a leader in organic cultivation in the country.

MEGNOLIA will act as a dedicated entity, synergizing efforts across departments to propel organic and natural farming. This society is set to play a pivotal role in realising the objectives set forth in the state’s organic and natural farming policy.

The minister said while the state believes in the principles of organic and natural farming, we are also cognizant of the challenges faced by other North Eastern states that have taken drastic steps towards promoting organic farming.

Asserting that a blanket ban on the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers puts farmers who are using chemical inputs at a disadvantage, Lyngdoh said, “Therefore the government’s approach is to first set in place systems that help farmers transition to organic and natural farming and simultaneously phase away the use of chemical farm inputs.”

“We are building the state’s capacity in the production of bio-inputs so that our farmers are not reliant on costly inputs from outside the state and don’t compromise on yields. This will ensure lower cost of production and thus farmers will be able to compete with in-organically farmed produce from outside,” she added.

At present the state has the capacity to produce over 70MT from 3 bio input plants and the same is being scaled up.

Through various extension services and state and central schemes, the farmers are being trained in good agricultural practices for natural and organic farming. The objective is to build the capacities of the farmers to transition and adopt these systems to agriculture without compromising on yield and quality of the produce.

Meghalaya’s aspiring nurses may soon have to learn foreign languages

There is a huge surplus of nurses in Meghalaya even as the government is contemplating making learning of foreign languages compulsory for nurses keeping in mind there is a big requirement of nursing care in foreign countries.

Informing this after reviewing the human resource (HR) status in the health sector here today, Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh told reporters that there is a huge surplus of nurses in the state of Meghalaya as there are more nurses against the numbers of jobs that are available.

“Because of this engagement as an entire department going from previous advertisements that were called so we are now of this opinion that we need to look for avenues for these nurses where do you direct these trained individuals or what do they do next with their lives,” Lyngdoh said.

“So the government is going to be engaging with institutions engaging with various agencies that can help us bring gainful employment to these nurses as there are more nurses in the market than what government intake can do,” she added.

Asserting the need to ensure that nurses are compulsorily given an opportunity or made to learn languages or language skill, the health minister said, “For example, we are aware that several foreign countries require nursing care which is not available in their own countries whereas if our nurses who are already very hospitable in nature, very kind in nature, if they can have a language skill opportunity to pick up a language in any European country maybe if they could learn French, if they could learn Japanese (as) I am told very recently that there is big requirement for nursing care, nursing aid in these foreign countries. So we now need to look at this huge unemployment even in this one category alone.”

Referring to the national norms, Lyngdoh said that the state does not have as many sanctioned posts which is about 1500 plus adding that “we are going to be looking at a probable move to ensure that the sanction number of such posts at least as per national norms are already made available.”

“As every time you have to inaugurate a PHC or a CHC that has already been built and when you suddenly come against this hard wall which says there is no sanctioned post. So we must have all of this put in mind because as we move along in the next five years there has been a huge focus kept on funding for improvement of health services post Covid. Now, we must make sure that once these infrastructures start seeing the light of day, they have the necessary manpower that is there,” sha added.

Stating that HR management is very important in the health sector, Lyngdoh said, “I think this is one way we can start seeing a health system which is functioning. We are working on it and today’s meeting is a meeting where we were able to review all of this so that we can perform better.”

She further informed that a dashboard will be created in this regard to better manage the HR in the health sector.

Meanwhile, the health minister informed that there is also a huge number of specialist doctors to be filled up in the state. “I think we are at 177 and the national standard is about 300 plus,” she said.

She also informed that another 50 -60 plus doctors are already going for these specialized courses and said, “Also the new recruit a lot of them at the time of recruitment at that time only they qualified they have also gone for those specialization so this is a very good thing as if you look 10 years down the line I think we will be a better system as compared for last 10 years and this evaluation of ourselves and our system is very important.”

Meghalaya among 27 states to get new nursing colleges

Meghalaya will be one of the 27 states selected for the establishment of new nursing colleges.

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In a significant move towards strengthening nursing workforce in the country, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the establishment of 157 new nursing colleges in co-location with the existing medical colleges established since 2014.

One of the 157 new nursing colleges will be established in Meghalaya.

The step will add approximately 15,700 nursing graduates every year.

This will further ensure quality, affordable, and equitable nursing education in India, particularly in underserved districts and States/Union Territories.  The total financial implication will be Rs 1,570 crore.

The initiative aims to address the geographical and rural-urban imbalances in the healthcare sector, which have led to the skewed availability of nursing professionals and impacted healthcare services in underserved areas. The establishment of these nursing colleges will provide a significant boost to the availability of qualified human resources in healthcare.

This is also being done as a part of the national mandate for Universal Health Care (UHC) and will help in attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Reforms in regulatory structure for Nursing education to meet with the emerging requirements in the sector are also under consideration.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) also collaborates with leading International & National agencies for skill development and placement of qualified nurses for overseas positions.

Co-location of these nursing colleges with existing medical colleges will allow optimal utilization of the existing infrastructure, skill labs, clinical facilities, and faculty.

This initiative is expected to provide better clinical exposure to nursing students and will also result in better care and service provision for patients in medical colleges. Use of green technologies will also be explored in these Nursing colleges and will be adopted as per relevancy to ensure energy efficiency and reduction in carbon footprint.

The Government plans to complete the project within next two years and has laid out detailed timelines for every stage of planning as well as execution of the project.

The Empowered Committee headed by the Union Health Secretary in the Centre and Principal Secretary, Health or Medical Education in the States will monitor the progress of the work.

The State Government/UTs will intimate to MoHFW on regular basis, the physical progress of the works being done for the establishment of new nursing colleges under the scheme.

There has been a tremendous focus of this government to ensure quality healthcare workforce with a substantial increase in their numbers. The Government has increased number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats in last few years. There is a substantial increase of around 71 per cent in Medical Colleges from 387 before 2014 to 660 as of now.

Further, the number of MBBS seats has almost doubled and Post Graduate seats have more than doubled since 2013-14.

The services of Indian Nurses are considerably recognized in foreign countries, so it is important to bring Indian nursing education at par with global standards in order to facilitate their mobility and better employment opportunities. They are recognized as highly skilled professionals and drive the healthcare delivery system, but their numerical strength is below global norms and needs to be adequately enhanced.

AIM against gambling in melas

The Awakening Indian Movement (AIM) has sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills district to ensure a blanket ban on gambling at melas being organized by different agencies.

Speaking to media persons, chairman of AIM Bansharai Marbaniang said that many people from other part of the country come to Meghalaya to host various kinds of melas, however these melas have games that encourage gambling with money which is detrimental and have a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

Marbaniang alleged that melas throughout the country are being held in order to provide entertainment to all citizens where they can experience happiness especially for children, students, and youth but at present melas in Meghalaya are being held with gambling which have detrimental and a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

“During our visit to the mela held at the Parking Lot outside Polo Ground in Shillong, the mela hosted various gambling activities with money and young people and students in uniform participated in various gambling games” said Marbaniang.

Marbaniang said that AIM is not against organizing melas in the state, however it stands against the act of gambling that is being held at the venues hence the AIM sought the intervention into this matter.