ICAR celebrates its 92nd Foundation Day, awards scientists

New Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) celebrated its 92nd foundation day on 17th July. On this occasion, 8 new products and 10 publications were released.

Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar appreciated the efforts of the agricultural scientists due to which ICAR has contributed immensely in the progress of agriculture in the country during the last nine decades. He said that India is surplus in foodgrain production due to the research contribution of the scientists and hard work of the farmers. He congratulated the farming community in the country for record production of crops even during the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Exhorting the scientists to ensure that in its tenth decade, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) gets upgraded from a national institute to an institute of international status, the Minister said that there is need to reduce dependence on imports, increase production of healthy foods and also increase production of pulses and oilseeds. Palm oil production needs to be increased by research and increased cultivation. Laying emphasis on developing new varieties of oilseeds, Mr Tomar said that the near self-sufficiency achieved in pulses production needs to be replicated for oilseeds production also so that import of edible oils is reduced.

Union Ministers of State for Agriculture, Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Choudhary, Director General, ICAR, Dr. Trilochan Mahapatra, a number of ICAR scientists and officials were present.

Awards distributed among achievers 

ICAR has been recognizing and rewarding the institutions, scientists, teachers, farmers and agricultural journalists every year. This year; nearly 160 awardees under 20 different categories have been selected. These comprise three Institutions, two AICRP, 14 KVKs, 94 Scientists, 31 farmers, 6 journalists and 10 staff members of various ICAR Institutes. It is heartening to note that of the 141 awarded persons 19 are women.

Among the Agricultural Universities and Deemed universities, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar has been bestowed upon the Best Agriculture University Award for the rapid strides in all spheres of teaching, research, extension and innovations, ICAR- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochi has been awarded the Best Institution Award among the large institute category whereas, the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai has been adjudged the best ICAR institution among smaller ICAR Institutes category.

All India Coordinated Research Project on Sorghum, Hyderabad and All India Coordinated Research Project on Maize, Ludhiana have been jointly conferred Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding All India Coordinated Research Project Award 2019. Deendayal Upadhyay Krishi Vigyan Protsahan Puruskar for KVKs at National Level has been jointly bagged by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Datia, Madhya Pradesh and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Venkataramannagudem, Andhra Pradesh for outstanding extension/ outreach activities having significant impact in developing agriculture and allied sectors of the district.

Six journalists comprising of 4 from Print and 2 from electronic media have been given the Chaudhary Charan Singh Award for agricultural journalism 2019.

Link of Awardees