The second day of Destination North East 2017 was devoted on the Roadmap for Technology Intervention in North East India, Medicinal & Aromatic Plants of North East India and Handloom, Apparel and Handicrafts of North East India. 

During the technical session on Roadmap for Technology Intervention in North East India, Shri Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of DoNER said that today we have choice of technologies available, but need to see how to carry these technology to the last person. He said that Ministry of DoNER is trying to take technology to the last person by adopting one technology in each village. 

Dr. Swati Basu, Scientific Secretary with the Government of India appreciated the Ministry of DoNER for making use of appropriate technologies in all sectors of development for North Eastern Region. She reiterated that the knowledge and technology available, should reach the last person. The representatives from IIT Guwahati, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee, IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur gave presentations on the various technologies available and how it can change the lives of the people of North East. 

Participating in the technical session on Medicinal & Aromatic Plants of North East India, Smt Padmapriya Balakrishan, Deputy CEO, National Medicinal Plants Board, Department of AYUSH said that 75% of medicinal plants in North East comes under subsidized products and there is a need to focus on transportation, as the fright charges to transport products from North East to other parts of the country are huge. 

Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director CSIR-IHBT, Palampur said that the Himalayan region in India is rich in medicinal & aromatic plants and a proper technology should be developed for sustainable utilization of resources in this region. He said that North Eastern Region (NER) can play a major role in supplying raw materials for industrial purpose. 

Shri Arun Kumar Pradhan, Farmer Representative from Sikkim discussed about the medicinal plants cultivation in that region and farmers perspective. He said, the Government has to intervene and provide marketing facilities with buy back policy for medicinal plants. He said that there is a requirement for certification of medicinal plants & also value addition trainings for the farmers. 

One of the speakers, Shri Avinash Desamangalam discussed about Farmer Producer Company (FPC) and how FPC can be a game changer. He said that FPCs improves bargaining power of the farmers and access to markets, inputs and technology by leveraging the power of collectivization. 

In the technical session on Handloom, Apparel and Handicrafts of North East India, it was discussed on how to tap the huge potential of Handloom and Handicrafts in North East. The initiatives for loom technology were also discussed. 

Huge crowds gathered at the venue of Destination North East-2017 on the second day, enjoying the cuisines of North East, cultural events and exhibition stalls. 

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RS/PS/KM/DSN 

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