Context

• The Tea Board of India is planning to launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven multilingual mobile app — pilot-named as ‘Chai Sahay’.
• The proposed app will be used to deliver and disseminate relevant information pertaining to the industry and its stakeholders, especially less-organised small tea growers (STG).

About

• The mobile app Chai Sahay will help monitor and inspect all tea-based projects, regulatory activities, subsidies, workshops, awareness programmes and advisories in an “easily navigable manner”.
• It will also multicast weather data (rainfall, sunshine, humidity, temperature) as part of its notification services and suggest suitable time for fertilizer applications on a real-time basis.
• The government-run tea watchdog - Tea Board of India - has started the process for hunting a technology outfit that can design, develop, host and maintain an Android-based mobile app in as many as six languages — Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil.
• The app will incorporate existing database of STGs and introduce the registration process of new STGs via a backend validation process.
• The small growers would be able to post queries with photographs for obtaining advisory on pest and diseases on the app.
• The app maker will also be suggested to capture the journey undertaken by a Board officer daily through a GPS based system. All solutions will be given within 24 to 48 hours, either by auto-generated AI-based analytics or by the Board experts.
• The Minimum Benchmark Price (MBP) and green leaf price will also be uploaded in the app every month.
  
    

  Tea Board of India Tea is one of the industries, which by an Act of Parliament comes under the control of the Union Govt. The genesis of the Tea Board India dates back to 1903 when the Indian Tea Cess Bill was passed. The Bill provided for levying a cess on tea exports - the proceeds of which were to be used for the promotion of Indian tea both within and outside India. The Tea Board is set up under the Tea Act 1953. It has succeeded the Central Tea Board and the Indian Tea Licencing Committee which functioned respectively under the Central Tea Board Act, 1949 and the Indian Tea Control Act, 1938 which were repealed. The Tea Board is functioning as a statutory body of the Central Government under the Ministry of Commerce. The Board is constituted of 31 members (including Chairman) drawn from Members of Parliament, tea producers, tea traders, tea brokers, consumers, and representatives of Governments from the principal tea producing states, and trade unions. The Board is reconstituted every three years.  Functions The Tea Board India is responsible for the assignment of certification numbers to exports of certain tea merchants. This certification is intended to ensure the teas’ origin, which in turn would reduce the amount of fraudulent labelling on rare teas. The Tea Board India’s tasks include endorsement of the diverse production and productivity of tea, financial support of research organisations and the monitoring of advances in tea packaging as it relates to health beneficial aspects. It coordinates with the research institutes, the tea trade and government bodies, ensuring the technical support of the tea trade in the global industry.

  
  

Significance

• According to the officials, the app will help spread information and contact details on various activities and training sessions carried out by field officers in a faster and better manner.
• The initiative will ultimately turn a small tea grower a smart farmer. Coffee growers have already benefited from such apps.
• The Coffee Board of India has unveiled as many as two similar AI analytics and Blockchain-driven mobile apps under ‘Coffee Connect’ initiative to provide rich infor on plants’ health and solutions on farming issues such as rainfall, pests and diseases.
• Like the coffee apps, Chai Sahay too, will be launched by the Union commerce and industries minister.