Cultivation of Heeng and Saffron, Quality Education
1. Cultivation of Heeng and Saffron in India
- Saffron and Heeng (asafoetida) are the most valuable spices of the world and widely used in Indian cuisine.
- In India, the annual demand for Saffron spice is 100 tons per year but its average production is about 6-7 tons per year.
- Hence a large amount of Saffron is being imported. Similarly, there is no production of heeng in India and currently about 1200 tons of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan.
- To increase the production of these two spices in India, the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh, have forged strategic and implementation partnership based on their mutual strengths.
- Introduction of these crops will reduce the import.
- At present, about 2825 hectares of land is under cultivation of Saffron in Jammu and Kashmir.
- CSIR-IHBT will provide technical know-how to the farmers, impart training to state agriculture department officers and farmers, and set up corm and seed production centres of Saffron and heeng, respectively, in the state.
- A total of 750 acres of land will be covered under these crops in the state in the next five years.
- This programme will improve the farmer well-being of the farmers by providing better income prospects and the state will be benefited by cultivation of these high-value crops.
- A state-of-the-art tissue-culture lab will be established for large-scale production of quality planting material of these crops.
2. Quality education and more effective students
- To make e-learning more constructive, NCERT and Rotary India digitally signed MoU for e-learning content telecast for class 1-12 over all NCERT TV channels.
- It is great pleasure to know that under Vidya Daan 2.0 Rotary International will provide the e – content in Hindi language to NCERT for classes I to XII for all subjects.
- In this scenario MHRD is working tirelessly to develop best education system rooted in Indian ethos with technology and innovation as strong pillars.
- Union Minister said that MHRD have been working on integration of technology in education through various schemes and initiatives like Operation Digital Board, DIKSHA, E – Pathshala, SWAYAM and SWAYAM PRABHA.
- In order to strengthen innovation and digitization in education, the Ministry of Human Resource Development is focusing on creating e-learning, accurate and updatedstudy material for all and learning enhancements so that students can access quality education at home.
- Also through e-learning programs, we will be able to fulfill prime ministers vision of ‘one nation one digital platform’.
- By resolving the issue to reach our students through radio and TV where there is no internet or mobile connectivity available, this MoU is a big step in that direction.
- Hence, we hoped that through this MoU quality education will reach to students more effectively.
Rotary International Director 2019-21 Shri Kamal Sanghvi informed about the details of the tie ups, which includes:
- NCERT TV Tie-up: There will be curriculum modules telecast for classes 1-12,through twelve national Television channels of NCERT, to be available from July2020 (content to be vetted by NCERT as per their curriculum).
- DIKSHA App tie-up: The e-Learning modules would also be available through GOI’snational mobile app, DIKSHA, at the same time.
The content is currently available in Hindi (and Punjabi) adherence shall be implemented immediately across 12 states/ UTs schools of approx. 10 crores students.
The intellectual rights to the content would be with Rotary and provided to NCERT, so that the said content can be translated to all regional languages by NCERT & the respective state in the next few months.
Rotary has curated e-Learning content for classes 1-12 through our partners & plan to provide it free to the nation, as a home-based teaching solution related to their school curriculum.
Rotary has a vast experience in e-Learning, having installed e-Learning software/hardware to over 30,000 Govt. schools across India, in the past 5 years.
