Arya project aims to technically empower rural youth of selected districts: Dr. US Gautam
New Delhi : A two-day national workshop is being organized under the Arya Project run by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, which was inaugurated on Thursday, February 22, in which senior officials of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, Directors and senior scientists from 100 Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country participated. Dr. US Gautam, Deputy Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi was present as the chief guest on the inaugural occasion of the national workshop.
Dr. US Gautam said in his address, "The Arya Project was launched by the Government of India in the financial year 2015-16 with 25 Krishi Vigyan Kendras with a budget of Rs 100 crore. It is currently running in 100 Krishi Vigyan Kendras. The objective of the Arya project is to technically empower the rural youth of the selected districts so that they are attracted to agriculture and get gainful employment and sustainable income. In addition, it aims to develop linkages with various organizations for the opportunities available under various schemes and programmes and to increase the interest and confidence of the youth towards agriculture."
He encouraged all the Krishi Vigyan Kendras for the successful implementation of the project. Dr. Gautam also gave a detailed account of the efforts being made at the Council level for the empowerment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras. He also encouraged Krishi Vigyan Kendras to conduct social science research along with the frontline extension system.
Former Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) Dr. KD Kokate emphasized on linking the participants of Arya project with government schemes and also stressed the need to formulate strategies on how to promote them at national and international level and to focus on creating agri-tech startups associated with agriculture.
During the program, Dr. MM Adhikari, former Vice Chancellor of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Nadia, while sharing his views, said that the progressive farmers have been doing better work even in the past years, but through this project, the number and income of such farmer entrepreneurs has seen all-round development.
Dr. RR Barman, Assistant Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, while giving detailed information about the project, said that the Council laid the foundation of the project in the year 2015-16 seeing the migration of rural youth in the field of agriculture. Through Krishi Vigyan Kendras, the interest of youth was seen in 10 major agriculture related enterprises, and it was also found that there is a lot of interest and income of youth in small businesses like goat rearing, poultry farming, nursery production, bee keeping, mushroom production etc.
Dr. Anjani Kumar, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Patna, while inaugurating the program, cordially welcomed all the distinguished guests and participants to the holy land of Gaya. He also highlighted the outline of Arya project and the importance and objectives of the national workshop. During the program, 12 progressive entrepreneurs from Bihar and Jharkhand were also awarded with Krishak Protsahan Puraskar. The annual report of Arya project and the newsletter of Krishi Vigyan Kendras were also released.
The program was moderated by Principal Scientist and Nodal Officer Dr. Amrendra Kumar and the vote of thanks was proposed by Principal Scientist Dr. Keshav of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi (Headquarters). On this occasion, various ATARI Directors Dr. Shantanu Dubey (Kanpur), Dr. Parminder Sheoran (Ludhiana), Dr. JP Mishra (Jodhpur), Dr. Sheikh Meera (Hyderabad), Dr. Pradeep Dey (Kolkata) also participated. On this occasion, Principal Scientist Dr. Dharamveer Singh, Dr. Md. Monobrullah, Dr. Pragya Bhadauria of ICAR ATARI, Patna and Chief Scientist Dr. SB Singh, KVK, Aamas, Gaya also made their valuable contribution.
