Port Blair, Aug. 19: For the first time in the islands, modern Low cost sanitary Napkin Units will be set up in South Andaman for the benefit of rural girls under NABARD’s Rural Innovation Fund Scheme. Addressing the Inter Media Publicity Coordination Meeting(IMPCC) held at NABARD centre at Port Blair on Friday, the General Manager, Athirshtavel informed that the project is first of its kind in the islands and implemented through the self Help Groups(SHG) supported by the NGO Surabi. He revealed that the NGO Surabi worked out a cost effective project for manufacturing sanitary napkins without compromising the hygiene standards and the project was sanctioned by the NABARD. He added that the Napkins will be made available to the rural women at very low price of Rs. 13 per packet of eight napkins, and thereby improving the hygiene practices among them. Initially, the sanitary napkin units will be set up in the villages of Steeward Gunj and Caddle Gunj, involving the women members of Self Help Groups as the work force.
While giving a presentation on NABARD’s interventions for the all round development of rural areas, G Anantha Krishnan, Deputy General Manager informed that NABARD is taking initiatives to meet the requirements of the fresh milk in the islands. He said the dairy units will be set up in different remote villages by the SHGs trained by the NGO, Yuvashakti and the units will collect the fresh milk from the villagers and sell it to the consumers without the involvement of any middle man. He stated that the NABARD’s intervention in the milk production will reduce the price of milk considerably through direct marketing.
He also revealed that NABARD has recently sanctioned the project from CARI for the production of high value Dahi Nariyal, a soft embryo type coconut, rarely available in the country. He added that the project is aimed at identifying such high value coconuts and popularizing the same among the farmers by supply of seedlings developed through embryo culture techniques. He hoped that the project will enable the farmers to earn very attractive income, as the demand for such coconuts is very high in the market.
As part of its tribal development programme, NABARD has supplied copra dryers to the Great Andamanese in Strait Island to facilitate the production of high standard copras and also supplied 6 deep freezers to the fisher folk at Campbell bay to preserve their fish catch for longer duration.
In his address, the Chairman of IMPCC, R Mohan lauded the initiatives taken by the NABARD for the upliftment of rural poor. He also informed that the Doordarshan will plan for producing a special documentary on the Innovative NABARD funded Dahi Nariyal Project In the islands.
Briefing on the activities of the media Units, the Asst Director of Press Information Bureau(PIB), A Dhanasekaran informed that the PIB provided exclusive coverage for the first ever Fruits and Vegetables Mission launched by the islands Lt Governor in Car Nicobar recently. He said the Independence day celebration at Port Blair was covered live by All India Radio, besides coverage through national news bulletins. He also informed that the official media units will plan for extensive coverage of the events to be held next month to mark Nutrition week, International Literacy day, Hindi fortnight and World Tourism day.
During the deliberations of the meet, the Joint Director of Agriculture, Pandey thanked the IMPCC for arranging media coverage to the first ever Fruits and vegetable mission launched by the islands Lt Governor in Car Nicobar recently. He informed that the mission is aimed at changing the dietary habit of the tribals and thereby ensuring the balanced nutritional diet to them.
Dr Ragunathan from Zoological Survey of India informed that the shooting for the film on Islands eco system will be started very soon and the local doordarshan will produce the film in coordination with the concerned departments. Dr Murugan from Botanical Survey of India focused on the current surveys on rare plant varieties of these islands. The Divisional Forest Officer, B P Yadav briefed on the mass tree plantation drive and awareness programmes conducted by the forest department during the month long Vanmahotsav. Highlighting the activities of CARI, Dr Zamir Ahmed informed that the much awaited Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) will be inaugurated soon in Nimbudera to impart training on modern farm practices to the farmers in North and Middle Andaman.
The officers from different Central Media Units, departments and member organizations participated in the meeting. The next meeting of the IMPCC has been tentatively fixed on 21st September.