THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)
(a) & (b): India and US have established several bilateral
mechanisms for increasing cooperation in different sectors,
including manufacturing and education. Some of these are
listed below:
# India-US Trade Policy Forum
# Joint Working Group in the field of Information and
Communications Technology
# High Technology Cooperation Group
# India US CEOs Forum
# India–US Education Dialogue
These Groups have made suggestions to both countries for
enhancing cooperation in the different sectors
(c): Yes, Madam.
(d): An Indo-Israel Agriculture Work Plan was signed during
the visit of Agriculture Minister to Israel in May 2006 and
an Action Plan (2008-2010) was agreed upon in January 2008.
The action plan 2008-10 was implemented in the states of
Haryana and Maharashtra. Funds for the following projects
were sanctioned under the National Horticulture Mission
(NHM) and technical inputs from Israel.
Haryana : An amount of Rs.15.70crore was sanctioned under
National Horticulture Mission (NHM) for implementation of
following projects under Indo-Israel Action Plan (2008 - 10)
in the State of Haryana:
Centre of Excellence for fruits at Sirsa - Rs.9.70 Crore.
Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Karnal - Rs.6.00 Crore.
Maharashtra: An amount of Rs.15.48crore was sanctioned under
National Horticulture Mission (NHM) for implementation of
following projects under Indo-Israel Action Plan (2008-10)
in the State of Maharashtra:
Centre of Excellence for Mango at Ratnagiri - Rs. 6.36 crore
Centre of Excellence for Citrus at Akola - Rs. 4.54 crore.
Centre of Excellence for Pomegranate at Rahuri - Rs. 4.58 crore
Good progress was achieved during the implementation of
Action Plan from January 2008 to December 2010. A number
of technologies in the field of horticulture mechanization,
protected cultivation, orchard and canopy management,
nursery management, micro-irrigation and PHM were achieved
through visit of Israeli Experts in the States of Haryana
and Maharashtra. During this phase, elite planting material
/varieties of fruits and machinery was also imported from
Israel. The experts from Israel trained the officers and
farmers from these States on above mentioned fields during
the Ist phase of implementation. A number of officers from
States (57 nos.) were trained in Israel during this period.
(e): Government of Israel has extended full co-operation
during this period in the implementation of Indo – Israel
Agriculture Action Plan and has also agreed for second phase
of action plan for further strengthening and widening the
scope of bilateral cooperation in agriculture between the
two countries by another three years.
