NIC and Spices Board Sign MoU for AI-Based Cardamom Disease Study in Sikkim

Tags: State News

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Spices Board of India signed an MoU to study cardamom diseases in Sikkim using AI.

An Overview of the News

• The project is titled "Development and Deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Aided Tools for Detection and Classification of Large Cardamom Diseases."

• MoU signed on July 3, 2024.

Signatories and Participants:

• An MOU was signed by Sanhita Bhattacharjee, Scientist F and Additional State Informatics Officer of West Bengal, and Dr. A.B. Remashree, Director (Research & Finance) from the Spices Board.

• The signing took place in the presence of Dr. L.P. Sharma, State Informatics Officer (Sikkim).

• Dr. Sharma was accompanied by his team from NIC Sikkim.

• Many other officers from the Spices Board, ICRI, and NIC participated virtually.

NIC's Role:

• NIC, under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India.

• Created the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CoE-AI) at NIC Kolkata.

• Developed a proof of concept for detecting various cardamom leaf diseases using AI models.

Spices Board's Role:

• Spices Board, under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

• Provides images of disease-free and diseased cardamom leaves to NIC.

AI Tools Development:

• Images processed in NIC’s AI lab in Kolkata.

• AI tools trained to identify diseased cardamom leaves using the extracted information.

Project Patronage and Discussions:

• Initiated under the patronage of  Shermishta Sengupta, Deputy Director General of NIC.

• Discussions between NIC Sikkim, Spices Board, and NIC Kolkata for the last three months finalized the MoU.

About Sikkim 

• It is a state in northeast India.

• Bordered by Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal.

• Part of the Himalayas with a dramatic landscape.

• Home to India’s highest mountain, 8,586m Kangchenjunga.

• Features glaciers, alpine meadows, and thousands of wildflower varieties.

• Steep paths lead to hilltop Buddhist monasteries like Pemayangtse, dating to the early 1700s.

  • Founded - 16 May 1975

  • Capital - Gangtok

  • Governor - Lakshman Acharya

  • Chief minister - Prem Singh Tamang (SKM)