KERALA

An electronic market place for aqua farmers and buyers, e-SANTA, was inaugurated by Union Minister for Commerce and Piyush Goel at a virtual programme.

The platform will help aqua farmers get better price and exporters to directly purchase quality products from the former enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade, said a release.

The term e-SANTA means Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA Farmers Trade in Aquaculture. The National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of the Kochi-based Marine Products Export Development Authority, under the Ministry of Commerce.

e-SANTA is a paperless end-to-end electronic trade platform between farmers and exporters. Farmers have the freedom to list their produce and quote their price while exporters have the freedom to list their requirements and choose the products based on their requirements such as desired size, location, harvest dates.

The platform will provide detailed specification of each product listing and is backed by an electronic payment system with NaCSA as an escrow agent.

The government is aiming to make the state self-sufficient in milk production, said development ministerJ Chinchurani.
While inaugurating the Milmaon Wheels project nearErnakulam Boat Jetty, she said, Milma will be developed to meet the milk demands of every household in the state. For this,Keralagovernment is addressing issues of dairy farmers. Government is trying to get more farmers into the dairy sector.

The is set to expand itsMittayi Clinicsthe centres providing free treatment to diabetic children to nine more centres, social Justice and higher Education ministerR Bindusaid in the assembly on Tuesday. There are five centres at present in the state.

In addition to the five existing centres, the government has decided to launch nine more satellite centres of the Mittayi Clinics.

The concept of Mittayi Clinic is a comprehensive project with six phases that ensures treatment for type-1 diabetic children up to the age of 18 years. The minister said that the government has earmarked Rs 3.8 crore in 2021-22 for the conduct of the project. Till now, as many as 1,085 children have been the beneficiaries of the project.

Even as the stature rises in the realm of superfoods, Goasagriculture departmentis all set to reclaim the states forgotten millets finger tail (nachni) and foxtail (vari). While cultivation of these millets was around 100 hectares three decades ago, its now just around 20 hectares.

While the millet was never widely grown in Goa, the tiny grain gradually lost ground to paddy, as the support price and comparatively bigger yields madefarmerschoose the latter.

In 2022, a survey by the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department found just around 250 farmers grow the two types of millets. This cultivation takes place in the hilly areas of five talukas Canancona, Pernem, Quepem, Sanguem andValpoi. Paddy, on the other hand, is grown across 33,677 hectares across Goa.

Most farmers have a small area 500-1,000 sqm under millet cultivation in Goa. While the agriculture department wants to enhance this area, farmers will be encouraged to take up millet cultivation in smaller portions, said the agriculture director.

A scheme is being drafted to improve the quality of produce by having better quality of millet seeds at a subsidised rate. He said that trials have also been done.

Kerala Digital Universityis set to offer a uniqueMTechprogramme under which every student who clears the course successfully would have a commercially viable electronic product to their credit. The programme, restricted to weekends, would be ideal for working professions, said university authorities.

The idea is to develop an ecosystem where academic activities and their commercial application would get equal thrust, said university authorities. The course, MTech in electronic products design, would thus work in close coordination withMaker Village, a startup ecosystem run by theDigital Universityin association with theUnion ministry of electronicsand information technology.

During the course period, students are expected to design, develop and commercialize electronic products under the close monitoring and guidance of the players and academicians.

The government has ignored most of the questions raised by the opposition as well as ruling party members in the assembly on the actual position of the state finances.

Not even one third of unstarred questions (written questions and answers) to finance minister K N Balagopal in the recently-concluded seventh session of the assembly has been answered.

Out of the 321 questions asked to the FM, only 105 (32.7%) questions have been answered, shows the data from the assembly. This is in violation of assembly rules and despite the fact that the finance department itself had issued a circular on December 3, two days before the beginning of the assembly session, asking all the officials to ensure that the assembly questions are answered on the same day, without delay.

The state governments latest initiative in the tourism sector –KeravanKerala – has evoked positive response from the entrepreneurs. In a month after opening the registrations, the tourism department has receivedproposalsfor as many as213caravans and 66 caravan parks.
As many as 109 entrepreneurs have submitted proposals for 213 caravans, while 49 entrepreneurs have registered for 66 caravan parks with the tourism department. The policy has evoked fair response among the various stakeholders in the sector. We have received proposals for launching close to 300 caravans and caravan parks across the state. These are expected to be operational from January next year, tourism director V R Krishna Teja said.
While the caravans are specially- built vehicles for travel, leisure and stay, caravan parks are designated places to park the vehicles and enable the visitors to spend a night or a day or station for an extended period to explore the destination.

In its caravan policy, the government has incorporated all such norms to ensure that the concept does not have any flaws, and is Environment-friendly. For example, one of the norms set for the vehicles being used as caravans is that they should comply with the BS-VI norms of emission. Also, unlike in many other states where the policy is already operational, the caravan policy framed by the state insists that there should be a sewage treatment plant (STP) or has connection to a proper sewage system along with constant power and water supply.

As the famed International Film Festival ofKerala(IFFK) returns with a bang after the Covid pandemic, its 27th edition will be held here from December 9 to 16, and this time, Serbia will be the Country in Focus.
Six Serbian films are slated to be screened in this category including Milos Pusic’s ‘Working Class Heroes’ which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival this year.