15 Mar 2022 On 15th March 2022, the first meeting of National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) was held in the hybrid mode under the Chairmanship of Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare to discuss the status of implementation and the annual work plan and budget (AWP&B) for the project year 1,2 & 3 (August 2019 to 30 March 2022) in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and the National Project Management Unit (NPMU). On behalf of the NPSC, Shri Prasanta Kumar Swain, Additional Secretary welcomed the Chair (Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Framers’ Welfare) and all NPSC members including the Operational Partners (OPs) in all the five implementing states – Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand. Additionally, he provided a brief introduction to the project. Shri Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (RFS), Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, added that as part of the project start-up activities, national level intersectoral coordinating committees namely NPSC and National Project Monitoring Committee (NPMC) have been set up. These committees were established to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration and are supported by the NPMU set up by FAO. There have been four NPMC meetings to date and had approved the Annual Work plan of Project Years 1, 2 & 3 (1 August 2019 to 30 March 2022). As requested by the Chair, Dr. Konda Reddy Chavva (Officer-in-Charge, FAO Representation in India) in his presentation he briefly introduced the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and further presented the project objectives. He appraised the panel, of the rationale behind the selection of project landscapes. He elaborated on the major threats identified in the project landscapes and the expected impacts from the project interventions. Additionally, he briefed the Chair about the project components and the institutional architecture of the project. He also presented the functions and roles of the project implementation units and the policy guidance and coordination units at various levels. After the presentation by FAO, the Chairman requested the OPs to present a brief update of the project status in their respective states. Partners in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand could not provide updates due to connectivity issues. In his concluding remarks, the Chair NPSC endorsed the NPMC approved AWP&Bs of all the OPs, NPMU, and the Risk Mitigation Strategy developed by FAO. He further stressed that NPSC must meet regularly for effective monitoring and implementation of the project.