From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Jul 7: Karnataka is among the 10 States chosen for the newly instituted "Krishi Karman" Awards by the Centre for best performance in raising production of foodgrains and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be conferring the awards in Delhi on July 16.

Karnataka has been selected for the award for its achievement in coarse cereals production in the category of individual crops and crop group.

The award for rice production goes to Chhattisgarh while that for wheat goes to Haryana and for pulses production to Maharashtra and Rajasthan, according to Karnataka’s Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa along with Katti and senior officials would go to Delhi to receive the award from the Prime Minister, he said.

The Minister said the State was able to produce 75.01 lakh tones of coarse cereals and and 14.97 lakh tones of oilseeds in 2010-11 following normal monsoon during the kharif and good climatic condition during the rabi season.

Krishi Karman awards are the first-ever awards being given to states for their effort and contribution towards raising the country’s food grain production.

Each award winning state gets a trophy, a citation and cash award.

The cash award is Rs 2 crore for total food grain production and Rs 1 crore for each of the four crops included in food grains.

Agriculture, Watershed Depts Merged

The State Government has merged the Watershed Department with the Agriculture Department at the hobli, taluk and district levels for better coordination among officials and to provide work for officials through out the year, Katti said.

The Minister said the agriculture department officials at the hobli, taluk and district levels have work only for six months – during the kharif and rabi sowing seasons (June to November) at present and did not have much work from December to May.

However, the post of the Director of the Watershed Department would remain at the State level following the merger of the two departments, he said.

The surplus staff both departments have been posted to Raitha Samparka Kendras (RSKs) consequent to the merger of the two departments, he said pointing out that there were 745 RSKs in the State.