Management and Monitoring Mechanism

The project involves 36 different institutions and more than one hundred researchers, who would be involved with different classes of organisms. Success of this project would greatly depend on good overview and management of the research with regular monitoring.Keeping this need in view the following management and monitoring mechanism is proposed.

A two-way matrix has been drawn taking traits in the column and species in rows (Table 1). Based on traits there will be four groups, namely,

i) Moisture stress,

ii) Salinity/Sodicity & acidity,

iii) Heat & cold and

iv) Submergence/anoxia

with Drs. S. K. Sen (IIT, Kharagpur), A. Pattanayak (ICAR Res. Complex for NEHR, Barapani), R. C. Upadhyay (NDRI, Karnal) and N. K. Maiti (CIFA, Bhubaneswar) as the proposed Trait Group Leaders (TGL), respectively. At the same time, there will be four species based groups namely, Plants, Microbes, Animals and Fishes which will be led by Drs. J. P. Khurana (DUSC, South Campus), A. K. Saxena (NBAIM, Mau), R. K. Vijh (NBAGR, Karnal) and M. S. Shekhar (CIBA, Chennai), respectively, who will be nown as Species Group Leaders (SGL). The Statistical and Computaional Genomics programme will remain in the Plant (Moisture Stress) Group.

Table 1. Two-way matrix indicating Species and Trait based groupings

Species		Trait				Species Group Leader
		Moisture Stress	Salinity/ Sodicity & acidity	Heat & cold	Submergence/anoxia
Plants	Rice	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Dr.J.P. Khurana DUSC
	Maize	Yes	-	-	Yes
	Sorghum	Yes	-	-	-
	Cucumis	Yes	-	-	-
	Lathyrus	Yes	-	-	-
	Vigna	-	-	Yes	-
	Ziziphus	Yes	-	-	-
Microbes	Bacteria/ Fungi/ Algae/ Planktons	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Dr. A.K. Saxena, NABIM
Animals	Camel	-	-	Yes	-	Dr.R.K. Vijh, NBAGR
	Goat	-	-	Yes	-
Fishes	Shrimp/ Prawn	-	Yes	-	-	Dr.M.S. Shekhar, CIBA
	Catfish	-	-	-	Yes
	Trout Fish	-	-	Yes	-
Trait Group Leader (TGL)		Dr. S.K. Sen, IIT-K	Dr.A. Pattanayak, NEHR	Dr,R.C. Upadhyay, NDRI	Dr.N.K.Maiti, CIFA

Both the Trait and Species based roups will meet on quarterly basis at a common location and date. The Species Groups will meet first, which will be followed by Trait Group Meet. Each group meeting will consist of the Group Leaders, CCPIs, one representative of the relevant subject matter division of the Council, and a subject matter expert from the CAC will chair the Group meeting. The CPI will attend a group meeting whenever needed.

At the governance level, the CAC and CIC structure will be followed within the following modifications:

Consortium Advisory Committee (CAC)

↓

Consortium Implementation Committee (CIC)

↓

Trait and Species Group Leaders (TGLs and SGsL)

Rest of the management and monitoring structure will be as set for the Component 4 of the NAIP.

Constitution of CAC

The CAC will have four experts instead of usual three to guide the project taking care of the diversity of organisms and issues. These experts have been chosen based on their vast experience in microbial, plant, animal and fish research. CAC will meet once in six months.

The composition of CAC will be as follows:

i) Chairman – an eminent agricultural scientist

ii) Expert members (total four) to represent different specialisation

iii) National Coordinator, Component 4, NAIP

iv) A representative of each of the four Divisions, namely, Crop Science, Horticulture, Animal Sciences and Fisheries

v) Consortium PI – Member Secretary

v) Group Leaders

Constitution of CIC

In addition to the annual CAC meeting, there will be CIC meetings of the groups at least once in four months. This coordination meeting of the groups will help monitor the progress in each group and suggest mid-course corrections if any so that the project objectives are met within the stipulated time.

The composition of CIC will be as follows:

i) Director of the Consortium Lead Institute – Chairman

ii) Group leaders (eight) – Members

iii) CPI – Member Secretary

iv) Administrative Officer of the Lead Institution

v) Finance Officer of the Lead Institution

Group Coordination Meetings

In the Group Meetings, in addition to the respective CCPIs and Group Leaders, CPI may participate in the meeting whenever required. One concerned subject matter expert from the CAC for each group may be invited for getting his guidance and advice. Besides, the subject matter division of the ICAR may depute one from the respective divisions to guide the project. The representation from the subject matter division will be as follows:

i) Microbes – One representative from one of the subject matter divisions (Crop/Horticulture/Fisheries)

ii) Plants - One representative from one of the Crop Science and Horticulture divisions

iii) Animal Sciences – One representative from the Animal Science Division

iv) Fisheries - One representative from the Fishery Science Division

The group coordinating unit will integrate the activities within group across the participating institutions and harmonise the activities. Each group will meet once in every three months.