The Himmotthan project run by the Tata Trust should also focus on processing of agriculture products and providing low cost power tillers to the farmers in order to meet the target of doubling the income of farmers as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh said this while chairing the 12thstate level steering committee meeting of the project at the secretariat here on Thursday.

Appreciating the programmes run under Himmotthan project, Singh sought suggestions to make these programmes more effective. He emphasised on awareness campaign for encouraging farmers to sow commercial crops. In order to double the income of farmers, the officers of agriculture, horticulture, potable water and other departmental officials concerned with employment generation projects should work in close coordination with Tata Trust officials.    

The chief of Himmotthan project, Vibha Puri Das said that under the project, a target has been fixed to raise the living standards of one lakh families in one thousand villages by 2020.

She said that to achieve this goal, Himmotthan project in cooperation with state government’s integrated livelihood project, JICA and Uttarakhand State Rural Livelihood Project has been working for farmers in the spheres of agriculture, horticulture, livelihood, skill development, education, potable water and cleanliness. She gave a detailed presentation on the works being done by the Himmotthan project.

Himmotthan project director Yashpal Singh Bisht gave a detailed presentation about the implementation and monitoring of the project.

During the presentation, Bisht said that the programmes organised under the project are monitored and evaluated by the committee constituted at the district level once a year. He explained in detail about the various programmes - livestock development, agriculture, horticulture, education and livelihood rehabilitation programme being run under the project. Bisht said that co-operatives of different districts have formed Trishulii Producer Company for value addition of local products, branding and marketing in various markets of the state, through which, the livelihood project is operated.

Additional chief secretary Radha Raturi, additional secretary Ravneet Cheema, project member STS Lepcha, Tata Trust deputy director Malavika Chauhan and other officials were also present in the meeting.