PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday stressed on his pet 'Swayampurna Goa' programme aimed at increasing the self-sufficiency quotient of the State's villages in his speech at the governing council meet of the Niti Aayog in Delhi.
Held after a long gap of three years, the last was held in 2019 before the pandemic, the governing council meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by Chief Ministers of several States.
Sawant also spoke of the State government's initiatives in the agriculture sector. He said, Goa was taking steps to set up agro-processing and packaging units in all the talukas and had identified jackfruit and coconut for manufacturing value-added products.
He also said that Goa is engaged in crop diversification initiatives by encouraging cultivation of pulses and oil seeds and added that horticulture and pisciculture were thrust areas.
The chief minister also spoke of several initiatives in Goa on the education front saying work had begun on a national law school, an agriculture college and a forensic science institute with the aid of the Union Home Ministry.
He also said that the State has already begun identifying institutions at the taluka level to implement the National Education Policy at the higher education level and added that the process of sensitizing teachers, students and parents on the policy is currently on.
On skill development, Sawant said the State has entered into tie-ups with all the industry associations to train local human resource with skills required by the industry.
