Minutes of Video Conference Meeting with State Government Officials on the status of Soil Health Card - 14.03.2017.

Discussions were held with the State Governments over Video under the Chairpersonship of JS (INM) to review the status of progress of Soil Health Card Scheme as on 14.03.2017.

The general feedback obtained from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Puducherry. Representative from NIC, Delhi also participated.

At the outset, it was brought to notice to all the states that progress of soil sample collection is satisfactory in almost all states; soil testing is also good except in some states there is need to step up soil testing. But main concern is low progress in printing of SHCs in most of the states.

The state-wise other points discussed are given below:

Sl. No. / State / UT / Points discussed
I. SOUTH ZONE
1. / Andhra Pradesh / State representative informed that testing of samples will be completed by March, 2017. Printing will be completed by April end.
2. / Karnataka / State official informed that testing of samples will be completed by March, 2017 end. In response to fund release, the UC for Rs 39.07 lakh is pending. The funds will be released after receiving the UC. The state official has been informed on phone.
3. / Kerala / JS (INM) expressed that soil testing progress is slow and told that it should be stepped to complete before March end.
4. / Tamil Nadu / State official informed that testing of samples will be completed by March, 2017 end. JS told that printing should be completed before March end and distribution may be done in next month.
5. / Telangana / The state official informed that testing of samples will be completed by end of March, 2017. Printing and distribution of cards has been outsourced and likely to be completed by end of April, 2017.
II. WEST ZONE
6. / Gujarat / The state official informed that testing of soil samples to be completed by the end of April 2017 and printing & distribution of cards will be done by CSC after creating separate portal in next week.
7. / Madhya Pradesh / It was informed by state that soil sample collection & testing will be completed up to end of March. Efforts will be done to completed printing in April 2017..
8. / Maharashtra / It was informed by state that testing of soil samples will be completed in 1st week of March, 2017 and printing & distribution by end of March or 1st week of April, 2017. In response to fund release, the funds will be released after receiving the physical and financial progress. The state official has been informed on phone.
9. / Rajasthan / JS (INM) expressed that progress of SHC scheme is slow in the state and there is need to step up soil testing and printing of SHCs. The state official explained that the main reason for slow testing is due to problems by some outsourcing STLs. The delayed acquiring of AAS also is one of reason for slow testing.
10. / Chhattisgarh / It was informed by state official that testing of soil health cards has been completed and printing & distribution of cards to be completed by 10th March 2017.
11. / Goa / -
III. NORTH ZONE
12. / Haryana / -
13. / Punjab / -
14. / Uttarakhand / The state official informed that testing of samples and printing & distribution of cards to be completed by May, 2017. The file for release of funds has been processed on 6th March 2017. The state official has been informed accordingly on phone.
15. / Uttar Pradesh / JS (INM) conveyed that progress in soil testing and printing is not satisfactory. It was told that state should step up soil testing and printing of SHCs. The state informed that one new computer is being added in each STL at district level to increase the number of computers to 3 for speeding up printing.
16. / Himachal Pradesh / Targets achieved.
17. / Jammu & Kashmir / Officers from Jammu Division participated in VC and it was told that 83% sample collection was completed and 60% testing is completed. Heavy duty printers are being acquired to speed up the printing.
IV. EAST ZONE
18. / Bihar / -
19. / Jharkhand / -
20. / West Bengal / -
21. / Odisha / Testing of samples to be completed by 20th March, 2017. The problem with CSC will be resolved so that printing & distribution of cards is completed by end of April, 2017. Some problem is encountered in uploading of data for which NIC was requested to resolve the issue. JS advised to explore other sources also to speed up the printing of SHCs. In response to fund release, the UC for Rs 148.44 lakh is pending. The funds will be released after receiving the UC. The state official has been informed on phone.
V. NORTH EAST ZONE
22. / Assam / -
23. / Mizoram / -
24. / Nagaland / -
25. / Tripura / -
26. / Puducherry / In response to availability of funds for SHC scheme, it was informed that funds from Home affairs may be utilized.

JS (INM) informed to all the states & UTs that new software has been updated and made operational to include more than six crops along with GFR for respective crop so that the farmers may have alternate choice for growing new crop and fertilizers recommendation as per SHC portal. The states should open the new link of Bhuvan portal uploaded on NIC portal and inform their feedback in this regard. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states were advised to open print command and send their feedback to NIC and JS (INM).

JS (INM) also brought to the notice of states that Bhuvan Portal is ready for TN, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh & Assam states. These states are requested to test this portal. West Bengal state also tried its open source portal by which the data can be opened and hosted in NIC cloud thus the additional expenditure on license of new portal can be cut down. It was advised by JS that states should have their separate ICT unit for managing their own portals in NIC cloud. It was also told that at block level the SHC information is generated along with fertility maps which will help to identify deficient areas in micro or macronutrients. JS desired that such information of SHC should be generated at all blocks levels and upload on Portal by end of this month.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to all the participants.