Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh has said that the technologies developed by the ICAR have significantly contributed to an increase in foodgrain, horticultural crops, milk, fish and eggs production. Addressing In-Session Meeting of Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare “ on Agri-entrepreneurship and Start-ups for enhancing farmer’s income” today, he said that besides aiming to double farmers’ income, Hon'ble Prime Minister has also given priority to Start-up India Mission. The ICAR has added this dimension in the field of agriculture which will provide employment opportunities to the youth along with income enhancement of the farmers. In this direction, several steps have been taken at different levels including providing training to the farmers at Krishi Vigyan Kendras on various subjects related to agriculture under the Entrepreneurship Development Programs (EDPs) and support with technical resources.The Minister informed that in order to make agriculture more attractive to rural educated youth, the Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) scheme is proving to be very effective. The Student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) programme has also been initiated to reorient graduates of agriculture and allied subjects for ensuring and assuring employability and developing entrepreneurs.
The ICAR has also setup a network of 25 Agri-business Incubation (ABI) Centers, keeping in view the spectrum of technologies, available infrastructure and the core competency of the institutes. The efforts of these centers are resulting in new startups which are coming in the market. Encouraged by all these efforts, entrepreneurs/start-ups have demonstrated their achievements at state and national levels.The Minister concluded by requesting the members present to provide their suggestions and support to the programmes & activities; and hoped for cooperation for their successful implementation.Vishnu, resident of 'Prabh Aasra, Village Padiala’, which is taking care of destitute and the unclaimed people, situated in the city limits of Kurali, has been selected for World Games to participate in game Futsal to be held in Abu Dhabi. Talking about this, Bibi Rajinder Kaur Padiala, Chief Manager of the organization informed that in selection process many children participated in campus of Futsal organized in Orissa in September 2018. Out of whole lot Punjab's only player, Ms Vishnu has been selected for the International Special Olympics Futsal to be held in Abu Dhabi in March, 2019. She told that after selection of Vishnu for international event she had to face lot of difficulties for acquiring her guardianship certificate and Passport. It was further revealed that Ms Vishnu had already won gold and silver medals while participating in Cultural, Sports and various other competitions, and has won gold medal in the Floor Hockey of National championship held in Kerala in first week of December 2018. Continuous efforts are being made for rehabilitation of all the children living in Prabh Aasra organizations by way of sports, education and vocational training. Bibi Rajinder Kaur, Padiala said that such occasions boost morale of the children, helps in their mental and physical development.