When a bureaucrat is a number-cruncher, the warp and weft of digits throw up solutions to problems that would pass others by. Subrata Gupta, who has a PhD in electronics and telecommunication from IIT Kharagpur, is additional chief secretary in the government of West Bengal in charge of the food processing industries and the horticulture department. He tweaked a Union government scheme to help horticulture farmers in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong multiply their produce.
The key intervention was erecting over 2,500 polyhouses-using the concept of greenhouse farming, the practice involves fully or partially covering crop fields—in the steep terrain in the past 15 months. Functioning within the ambit of the central polyhouse subsidy scheme, this was achieved without the farmers having to pay the mandatory half the total cost. Before Gupta shone the light, farmers had to work as domestic helps or labourers for nine months of the year since the farming season lasted for only three months. In the past 15 months, with the polyhouses insulating them from inclement/ cold weather, around 2,500 farmer families have been able to farm for nine months.
This story is from the January 29, 2024 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 29, 2024 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Mamata Pushback
The West Bengal Chief Minister Faces A BJP Onslaught On Issues Like Corruption And Women's Safety. Unwilling To Yield An Inch, The TMC Is Building A Narrative That The Saffron Party Is 'Anti-Bengali'
Who Will Win The Mahayuddh?
In Maharashtra's Most Complex Political War Ever, Shifting Alliances Fuel A Gripping Saga Of Power Struggles And Betrayals In The Pursuit Of Votes
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE