SRINAGAR : Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today reviewed the overall implementation of various schemes for development of Agriculture in J&K and exhorted upon the officers to fix the responsibility for misplacing 392 revenue maps (Mussavis) and initiate the process for recreating the same at an earliest.Along with other relevant personnel, the meeting was attended by the Ministry of Agriculture’s advisor and chief knowledge officer, the ACS of the Agriculture Production Department, the commissioner secretary of IT, the commissioner of surveys and land records, and the director of remote sensing. The J&K Digital Agriculture Mission (Agristack) should be implemented as soon as possible, the Chief Secretary said, adding that it is unacceptable to miss such a significant record and that the matter needs to be taken seriously. He requested that a comprehensive investigation be conducted in order to determine who was to blame for the loss of these maps. He also gave the order to quickly rebuild these records. Dr. Mehta pointed out that the Geo-referencing of cadastral maps of revenue villages should actually make the process of demarcation simple and more precise. Additionally, he suggested creating SOPs/guidelines for resolving any problems or gaps that might arise during the migration of records from conventional systems to current systems. He also underlined the importance of conducting seasonal Girdawari (crop surveys) digitally in order to more accurately capture the data collected on the ground. He added that in order to construct the farmer’s registry and properly achieve Agristack’s goal, a mechanism needs be developed to register actual growers. The purpose of this Agricultural Mission, according to Dr. Mehta, is to give farmers immediate support. He added that there should be little to no human interaction while providing farmers with financial facilities and other services. The meeting was informed by the ACS, APD, and Atal Dulloo that the Agristack is a significant effort to digitally push agriculture towards a new paradigm. According to him, it offers an ecosystem that makes it easier to give different services to farmers. In addition to benefits under several beneficiary-oriented programmes for sector development, he said that with its proper implementation a farmer will have access to the correct counsel at the right time on crop choices, crop health, selling of produce, access to inputs, loans, and markets. The gathering was informed by the Commissioner for Survey and Land Records, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, that the digitization of land records is progressing satisfactorily. He said that more than 96% of land records have been computerised. Additionally, it was disclosed that 72% of cadastral maps have been georeferenced as of this writing. The availability of the scanned and digitalized data in the public domain was also disclosed. The group was informed that the computerised records might be translated into several languages depending on the user’s preferences.The State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) meeting of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) under the Krishonnati Yojana, RKVY, MIDH, and PMKSY was afterwards presided over by the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary emphasised the importance of maximising the benefits that farmers may receive from these Schemes. Additionally, he requested that some programmes be put into place in places where they are most likely to benefit the general people. Also stressed by Dr. Mehta was the promotion of millets as a “super food.”
