The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh said that all courses upto Agricultural Graduate are being linked with employment and are being made profession oriented. This will be a big help for the students in earning their livelihood. Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that from last year, 5th Dean Report has been implemented in all the Agricultural Universities of the country and will be enforced from the academic session of 2016-17. Agriculture Minister gave this statement today in the Annual Vice Chancellors and Directors Meeting being organised in New Delhi. On this occasion, State Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Shri Parshottam Rupala, Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research and Education & DG ICAR, Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra and all Vice Chancellors of the Agricultural Universities were present.Shri Singh said that youth are the strength of this nation and it is imperative for the overall development of agriculture that these youth are attracted towards this sector. Therefore, Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes play a very important role. ICAR has launched "Student Ready" scheme in this direction.
In this scheme, from the year 2016-17, scholarship to the students has been increased from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 3000. Beside this, another scheme "ARYA" is also being implemented successfully. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Unnat Krishi Shiksha Scheme was launched in the year 2016 to promote agricultural education under which 100 centres are being opened with a fund of Rs.5.35 crore.Shri Singh also informed that with the opening of new Universities and Colleges, many initiatives are being taken to promote agriculture education such as Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar has been upgraded to Rajendra Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar and 4 new colleges have been opened under this University. One National Research Centre has been established on Integrated Agricultural System in Motihari, six new colleges have been opened in CAU, Imphal and with this, the number of colleges has been increased to 13. Four new colleges have been opened in Rani Laxmibai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Bundelkhand, out of which 2 are in Uttar Pradesh and 2 Colleges are in Madhya Pradesh.Shri Singh said that IARI-Jharkhand has been established and students of the state are studying in various courses. To promote agriculture education in the north-east states of the country, land for IARI has been identified in Assam. An amount of Rs. 122.5 cr. each has been released for Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University in Andhra Pradesh & SKTLSHU in Telengana.
Agriculture Minister said that in the arena of International Co-operation, our relations with foreign Govts., foreign Universities, and International Bodies have been strengthened. A MoU has been signed for Establishing a BRICS Agriculture Platform (a Virtual Network). Agriculture Ministry of Afghanistan is providing assistance for establishing of Afghan National Science and Technology University (ANASTU) in Afghanistan. It is also providing assistance to establish Advance Centre for Agriculture Research and Education in Mayanmar. Similar cooperation is also being provided in the African Continent.Shri Singh was very hopeful that with this Conference, PSP, viz. productivity, sustainability and profitability will be improved. Shri Radha Mohan Singh also said that it is necessary to take forward "Lab to Land Programme" and for this KVKs have a major role to play. Shri Singh said that to achieve the Govt’s target of doubling the income of farmers, all the institutes of ICAR should emphasise on developing economically feasible models. It is necessary for the Institutes to work pro-actively in the area of digitization. In the end, Agriculture Minister appealed to all the representatives present in the Conference to work in synergy for research and education and contribute fully in building a viable nation.