Dr Jitendra Singh pitches for public-private partnership in agri startup space

New Delhi: Describing J&K’s Aroma Mission as a success story, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh called for investing time and efforts to harness the hitherto unexplored or under-explored areas, contending that these areas hold the key to propelling India’s economy.

Dr Jitendra Singh who spoke at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu said that the agriculture startups are fast becoming avenues of self-employment for youth of the Union Territory.

Pitching for more public-private partnership in agri startups, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the era of silos is over, hence collaboration should be fostered among the two sectors. Underlining the importance of generating awareness about cultivation of Himalayan resources like lavender, he called upon the DDC members to play their part in these endeavors so that a large number of youths in their areas can join agri start-ups and earn their livelihoods in a sustainable manner and contribute to India’s GDP.

The Minister also called upon CSIR-IIIM to conduct research and find out which new crops are feasible for cultivation based on the topography of different regions of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dr Jitendra Singh stressed that more and more people need to be engaged in the agri-startup ecosystem. The Minister informed that in the last ten years under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the number of start-ups in the country has crossed one-and-a-half lakh mark. He further informed that India’s bioeconomy is currently valued at over 140 billion from 10 billion a decade ago.

The Minister expressed happiness at India being known as a leader in preventive healthcare in the world, thanks to its much-recognized vaccine programme which helped save lakhs of lives across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic.