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Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma inaugurates the newly created Purakhasia C&RD block at Chongnapara in South West Garo Hills

Shillong, December 1, 2022: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma inaugurated the newly created Purakhasia C&RD block at Chongnapara in South West Garo Hills district in the presence of local MLA Winnerson D Sangma, Co-Chairman, State Planning Board, Ian Botham K.Sangma and host of other dignitaries and district administration officials on Thursday.

Before, the creation of the Block, the people of Purakhasia area which earlier was under Dalu C&RD Block in West Garo Hills, had to face a lot of difficulties as they had to travel more than an hour to the headquarter even for minor works.

In his inaugural address, the Chief Minister said that although Meghalaya is a small state there are more than 6000 villages and localities making it difficult for the Government to reach all developmental works to each and every village, and therefore there is a need to create more C&RD blocks, sub-divisions and administrative units so as to bring administration closer to the public. As such, the Government is working hard to create more new blocks in different parts of the state according to the needs of the area, he added. He assured that with the creation of the new block, many developmental projects and programs will be reaching the people of the block.

Earlier, Chief Minister handed over the Governor’s Notification for creation of Purakhasia Block to the District Administration of South West Garo Hills represented by Ms. A.V.D. Shira, ADC, after it was read out by the Joint Secretary, C&RD, Ms. S.R. Marak.

Later, the Chief Minister also distributed FOCUS Plus cards to beneficiaries, piglets and chicks under PROGRESS to SHGs and hybrid seeds to farmers under MeghaLAMP project funded by IFAD.

FOCUS Plus is an extension of Meghalaya Government’s biggest program of giving financial assistance directly to the beneficiaries.  The Chief Minister said FOCUS+ was launched to celebrate the success of FOCUS, which has benefited 4.5 lakh farmers who had formed and registered themselves as Producers Groups. Urging the farmers as well as SHGs to register for FOCUS + to avail its benefits, he assured the money will be given to the beneficiaries by 5th December and again on 12th December, 2022 in a phased manner.

“FOCUS + is a Meghalaya specific programme and is not centrally sponsored”, he added.

The Chief Minister also spoke about implementation of PROGRESS and YESS programs in the state.  He said YESS Meghalaya is a very unique program of the Government under which youth groups and organizations are given upto Rs.1 lakh assistance for youth specific programs and events.

Initiatives : Agriculture

Launch of “Restart Meghalaya Mission’ on 15th August 2020

The Mission comprise of a series of interventions to support farmers and entrepreneurs by enabling them to build growth-promoting basic infrastructure and services. Under this Mission, 1917iTEAMS – the IT Platform aimed at enabling farmers access to agricultural information, crop advisories and markets will be expanded logistically through induction of another 100 vehicles.

Creation of the Directorate of Food Processing on May 2018

With the objective of seizing opportunities in the sector and the untapped food processing potential of the state for uplifting the livelihoods of farmers and value chain actors, the Government of Meghalaya created the Directorate of Food Processing (DFP) as a one-stop agency to handle all matters relating to food processing in the state and to deal with all central government Ministries and Agencies (viz. Ministries of Agriculture, and Food Processing, SFAC, NCDC, NABARD, etc.) in all matters pertaining to the development of agricultural food processing sector.

First Ever Farmer’s Parliament held on 4th - 5th December 2018

The parliament was organised by the state department of agriculture in collaboration with Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and the Hill Farmers' Union (HFU). As a step toward the promotion of new technologies, HFU with the support of Meghalaya government, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence App for farmers — called Nongrep (nongrep in Khasi language means farmer) with its software partner Impetus Solutions from Hyderabad — as a social innovation project. This app will address matters of farm aggregations, soil health and disease identification, crop yield, farm produce pickups, market linkage and retail sellers app.

Launch of the Farmer’s Portal on 7th May 2018

The Meghalaya Famers’ Portal (www.megfarmers.gov.in) of the Department of Agriculture is a platform for farmers to seek any information related to agriculture. Detailed information on farmers’ insurance, agricultural storage, crops, extension activities, seeds, pesticides, farm machineries, etc. is provided. Details of fertilizers, market prices, package and practices, programmes, welfare schemes are also given.

Awards & Recognitions
  • Meghalaya has been selected for the Commendation award in 'Total foodgrains Category-III' for 2017-18. The award consists of a citation and an amount of Rs. 1 crore.
  • Meghalaya Agriculture Department and the MIE Meghalaya Team won the '7th eNabling North East (eNorth East) Award 2019-20' in the 'Agriculture & Rural Development' category for 1917 iTEAMS project which is a project in collaboration with Digital India.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded Meghalaya on May 2018 the Krishi Commendation Award for the year 2015-16, in recognition of the commendable foodgrains production achieved by the State.
  • Meghalaya has been adjudged the Most Improved Small State in the category of Agriculture and received the India Today – "The State of the States” Award on 23rd November 2018.