Directorate Of Arecanut And Spices Developement, DACNET

Department of Agriculture and Co-operation NET [DACNET]

D Diirreeccttoorraattee ooff A Arreeccaannuutt aanndd S Sppiicceess D Deevveellooppm meenntt [[D DA AS SD D]],,C Caalliiccuutt,, K Keerraallaa

Synopsis of the DACNET project implementation in the DASD, Calicut

D Diirre ec ctto orra atte eo off A Arre ec ca annuutt a annd d SSp piic ce ess D De evve ello op pm me enntt [[D DA ASSD D]],,C Ca alliic cuutt,, KKe erra alla a The Directorate Government of India set up the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development on 1st April 1966 under the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture & Co-operation) with headquarters at Calicut, Kerala for paying adequate attention on all aspects of development of Spices, Arecanut, Medicinal & Aromatic Plants, and betel vine.

Mandate i.

Assessment of the developmental needs of the crops entrusted to it.

ii.

Formulation of Central Sector / Centrally Sponsored Schemes and implementation of the same either directly or through the State Governments, Agricultural Universities etc.

iii.

Monitoring the implementation of Central Sector/Centrally Sponsored Schemes and coordinating the development activities.

iv.

Rendering technical assistance to State Governments and other agencies on commodity development programmes.

v.

Collection and compilation of statistics of area, production, export, import, prices etc and dissemination of the same to the Central and State Governments and other agencies.

vi.

Keeping liaison with the research institutes and extension agencies and acting as a two way channel in the transfer of technology.

vii.

Undertaking publicity and propaganda works relating to the commodities.

viii.

Assisting the Central and State Governments on all matters relating to the development of the commodities.

Implementing Agencies In the development of the crops concerned by the Directorate major thrust area is formulation and implementation of Centrally Sponsored / Central Sector Schemes with adequate central assistance with the participation following agencies.

• • • • • • •

State Agriculture /Horticulture Departments, State Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institutes Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Institutes State Farming Corporation of India National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation Non-Government Organisations

E-Governance Programme proposed for 2003-2004 Outlay for Promotion of Information Technology & media support: The spices sector would require keeping pace with the rapid growth of information technology in terms of data generation, storage, retrieval through Internet as well as local network in the area of spice production and marketing. It is proposed to upgrade the facilities available in the Directorate by setting up a LAN in consultation with National Informatics Centre; in addition provision has also been made for media support for effective transfer of technology. An outlay of Rs.12.75 lakhs has been provided towards this programme during 2003-2004.

E-Governance Initiatives under DACNET

A. Portal A Comprehensive website on the Directorate was launched (http://dacnet.nic.in/spices/index_frame.asp). The information on the site include the details of the Development programmes, Centrally sponsored Schemes, Assistance extended to different implementing agencies like the universities, Research Labs etc. News information on spices development, Details of the schemes, guidelines for implementation and statistics of achievements made etc are posted on the site. Different downloadable forms of application and request for certification are made available on the site for the use of users and implementing agencies. The site is being updated regularly for providing the latest and refined information.

More automated applications are planned to be hosted on the website so that the transactions between the different client organizations and the DASD can be faster and more result oriented.

This would help the deliverance of assistances faster, accountable, and transparent thus facilitating the development of spices in India faster and wide-spread.

B. Training Training programmes were planned and conducted for the employees of the DASD. Almost all the employees stand beneficiaries of the training. Programmes were delivered by the C-DAC on the guidelines of the DACNET. The training programmes were aimed to empower all the employees of the DASD to effectively utilize the ICT tools for efficient e-governance. Training programmes were conducted as detailed below.

Course Title

Date

Participation

Office Productivity Tools [OPT]

25

Database Creation and Analysis [DCS]

Apr/May 2003

Decision Support System [DSS] GIS and Remote Sensing Technology [GIS]

11 3 5

C. Hardware, Software and other Infrastructure.

The procurement of computers and other IT related equipments were done and delivered to the concerned sites. Installations of the systems and the LAN were also completed. The LAN included a Windows 2000 Server and 5 windows XP client machines. Printers and Scanners also are delivered and functional.

Following is the list of Hardware, software and other Infrastructure provided to DASD under DACNET Server

PC

Scanner

Win2000

GIS

Win XP

VSAT

1

5

1

2

1

4

1

D. Internet 64 Kbps Internet access was provided to the DASD LAN through the NICNET. All the machines in the LAN is connected to the Internet through the ISA server.

E. E-mail Director, DASD was provided with and e-mail account spicedte@hub.nic.in under the DACNET project. The DASD is using this account for all its electronic communications.

F. Application s/w Application programs for DASD namely Personnel Information system, Payroll System and File Management System are being implemented under the DACNET project.