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Project to improve dairy industry

Most children love milk and milk products and enjoy consuming more and more of them. Now, a programme has been launched by the Agriculture, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development Ministry to expand fresh milk production within the Mahaweli system.

The government has allocated Rs 90 million for the purpose of carrying out this programme within this

year. The Ministry intends to provide a livelihood to 1,000 dairy farmers in Mahaweli System C within this year. A thousand persons who are willing to raise cows for milk will be selected for the programme and 1000 cows will be distributed among them. Steps will also be taken to distribute another 100 cattle among dairy farmers already engaged in cattle breeding.

The main objectives of the programme are to increase local dairy production and raise the income levels of dairy farmers. Providing a solution to the unemployment problem and raising the nutritional level of farmers in Mahaweli areas are other targets. The farmers who receive the cows and cattle will be provided with theoretical and practical training on the dairy industry by the Ministry.

Other requirements of these farmers such as high quality grass and the veterinary requirements of the cows will also be provided. The Ministry plans to implement this project in other Mahaweli systems as well.

 


Programme to conserve tigers

US tiger conservationists are trying a more business-like approach to saving the species: focusing on performance standards, not fund-raising. Biologists at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York

want to increase the number of tigers at the society's research sites in Asia by 50 per cent during the next decade.

WCS Director of Science, Alan Rabinowitz says the plan - called 'Tigers Forever' - will differ from previous conservation attempts because the WCS has set targets by which its success can be judged.

"This is not a fund-raising exercise", said Rabinowitz, but the experiment seems to be attracting donors. Michael Cline, a New York businessman and WCS board member, has contributed to the $10 million already pledged. "More organisations should set goals like this," he says.

 


Improving IT education

The Ministry of Education has taken vast strides towards promoting IT education in Sri Lanka. "We should be happy with what we have achieved during the past year as a developing country, and need to accelerate our programmes to increase the computer literacy rate," Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said at a recent ceremony.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of the Preliminary Census Report on Computer Literacy of Teachers of Schools, Approved Private Schools, Pirivenas and ICT-related Facilities Available in Schools.

The census was jointly conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics and the Education Ministry. The census had revealed that the self-reported computer literacy of teachers or the ability to use a computer and work on their own is 32 per cent. This shows that programmes launched by the Ministry to train teachers in IT had borne fruit.

The Minister added that a national policy on ICT will be introduced soon to get the maximum benefits of the rapid developments in ICT for both the teaching and learning processes in the classroom.

The Ministry, with its Education for All project, expects to upgrade the literacy rate, which is currently at 92 per cent to 100 per cent within the next 10 years.

The Ministry is working hard to bring IT education to villages. One step in this direction is to set up computer centres in schools which don't have electricity facilities, he said.

Under this project, computer centres have already been set up at schools in Mahaoya, Unuwatura Bubula, Padiyathalawa and Pollabedda. Each centre is equipped with 10 solar-powered computers and other hardware and software tools.


US Christmas stamp for 2006

The year 2006 Christmas stamp from America depicted Madonna and Child.It has been in circulation since October 17, 2006. It shows an old painting from Denver Art Museum and is a creation of Peruvian painter, Ignacio Chacon. The art work is something out of the ordinary as the Child Jesus is shown holding a bird.

According to the United States Postal Service (U.S.P.S.) technical specifications, the stamp bears a

microprinted "U.S.P.S." somewhere in the design. Microprinting is a security feature designed to deter (discourage) counterfeiters (forgers). The bird in the hand of the Child Jesus is not readily visible here.

The normal letter rate of 39 cents is shown along with the word CHRISTMAS on top of the stamp while the name of the artist and that of the museum are found at the bottom. It has been the practice in the United States to depict the Madonna and Child from celebrated old paintings preserved in leading museums in its Christmas stamps.

Over seven hundred million of these stamps have been printed for circulation nationwide. The Madonna and Child painting is a symbol of divinity.


Reed as an alternative for polythene

All of you would have read about the moves being made by the government to reduce the use of polythene.

As an alternative to bags made of polythene, the Ministry of Environment has come up with bags made of reeds.

The Indigenous Medicine Ministry has also pledged its assistance to the Environment Ministry in this regard as an encouragement to the efforts made by the latter.

The Indigenous Medicine Ministry maintains good relations with people in rural areas and it will be easy for the Ministry to find villagers who are already engaged in the reed business and develop their skills to produce new products to replace environmentally-harmful polythene products.

The Ministry will help villagers to develop products made out of reed and to bring them to the market.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Handicraft Board is also planning to supply eco-friendly bags to the market through three projects.

The projects to manufacture eco-friendly packaging material using paper, rush and reed, jute, palmyra leaf, cane, rattan, hemp and coconut leaves have been set up in Kobeigane, Kumbukweva, Koongasyawelagama and Rasnayakapura in Kurunegala.


Harvest festival of Thai Pongal

Thai Pongal, which falls tomorrow, is one of the most significant and colourful ceremonies celebrated by Tamil Hindus of Sri Lanka and India. The harvest festival is a feast of thanksgiving where the Hindus offer their thanks to the Sun God who had been instrumental in giving them a bountiful harvest.

The Junior Observer wishes all its Hindu readers a happy Thai Pongal!

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