The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India, will implement its CSIR 800 mission at Kaliabor in Nagaon district. The council, which is the largest publicly funded research and development institute in the country, in a change of role has launched CSIR 800 to give a better quality of life to 800 million people of India through scientific and technological intervention. The mission will be launched in 28 clusters of villages across the country. The North East Institute of Science and Technology, one of the research laboratories under CSIR here, will oversee the implementation of the mission in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. At least 15,000 and at most 40,000 people in each cluster should benefit from the intervention. The mission aims at enhancing incomes with value-added agriculture and waste to wealth and energy efficiency, and to improve quality of life with low-cost housing, potable water, affordable health and sustainable energy. P.G. Rao, adviser and former director of North East Institute of Science and Technology, said an office would be set up in the middle of each cluster to implement the mega project. The office will help to facilitate training in technology and provide day-to-day advice and solutions to problems regarding implementation. Staff from the research institute here will also be positioned there for at least two to three years. “In the first phase, we conducted a survey with the aid of an NGO working in the area to find out the local needs. Intervention will be in the form of technology from CSIR labs as well from outside agencies. The aim is to enhance incomes and improve the quality of life,” Rao said. The survey took into account the type of people residing in the area, education and income levels, health and whether they have electricity and potable water facilities in the area. In Kaliabor, women will be trained to grow mushrooms to supplement the income of the family. The people have also sought setting up of a dairy farm. “We plan to form co-operatives in both. Though dairy farming is not in our scheme of things, we will facilitate this by contacting various agencies. We will also set up a 5,000-litre per day water filter system, which will have cheap candles made in one of our labs in Bhubaneswar. We will make the body here by cementing together concrete rings for wells,” he said. Rao said the temporary office will set up by CSIR with the help of the state government. It will be located on land given by the village or an individual in the village. The office will have a conference room, training facility, projector and furniture. In Arunachal Pradesh, the Papum Pare area has been identified for the project.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 11:01:12 +0000
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