Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar announced to add of 60 seats in Chaudhary Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (CCS-NIAM), Jaipur and to abolish the provision of compulsory stay in the hostel.
The agriculture minister was speaking at the occasion of the fourth convocation ceremony of the Post Graduate Diploma in Agri-Business Management and the Agri Innovation and Incubation Centre of NIAM, held on Sunday.
On this occasion, Tomar said that the Government is continuously making efforts through various schemes for the betterment of the agriculture sector. To bring more benefits to the agriculture sector in the country and to make the villages more prosperous, the students and youth associated with agriculture should also contribute.
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The agriculture minister said that the agriculture sector is important, in which everyone’s interest should increase, and youth should also be attracted towards it. It is the responsibility of all of us. There is livelihood in the agriculture sector, but there is also the patriotism of the farmers, that is because everything will come to a halt without agricultural production. There are many challenges in the agriculture sector, which the Central government, by using technology, is successfully moving ahead to solve with the cooperation of the states. Many challenges like moving towards remunerative crops, crop diversification, and elimination of middlemen in the sale of produce are being dealt with in a planned manner.
Tomar said that scientists have done a lot of work in the agriculture sector, while, along with the untiring hard work of the farmers, there has been unprecedented progress in agriculture due to the farmer-friendly policies of the government. In terms of most of the agricultural produce, India is at number one or second rank in the world today, and we all together should aim to make it a leader. The world has a lot of expectations regarding foodgrains from India, which we are fulfilling and will continue to do so in the future. Agricultural research is a work of continuity, while there is no let up on the hard work of the farmers and the efforts of the government. Jobs are necessary for livelihood, but at the same time, it is also necessary to improve the agriculture sector, because 56 per cent of the country’s population is dependent on it.
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Minister of State for Agriculture, Kailash Choudhary also addressed the gathering at NIAM Jaipur. Members of Parliament, Ramcharan Bohra and Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Principal Secretary of Rajasthan, Dinesh Kumar were among the dignitaries present. Dr. Vijayalakshmi Nadendla, Joint Secretary- Marketing and Director General of Regulation, delivered the welcome address. Dr. Ramesh Mittal, Director, NIAM proposed the vote of thanks.
During the convocation, Tomar gave away diplomas to the students of Post Graduate Diploma-Agri Business Management and medals to the meritorious students. Tomar also launched the products of startups, trained and funded by NIAM and distributed cheques for grants. A startup exhibition and products display was also organised, in which startups trained and funded by NIAM participated.
On the occasion, awards were distributed to the partner institutions of NIAM Jaipur, based on their performance in startup training and funding, including Platinum Award to Karan Narendra Agricultural University, Jobner; Diamond Award to National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack (Odisha) and Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour was honoured with the Gold Award. Tomar also launched the website of Agri Innovation and Incubation Centre, besides inaugurating the Farmer Producer Organization Business School and Smart Class Room and was provided with the status report of the Indo-German project. Nine publications of NIAM were also released during the ceremony.