ICFAI University organizes conference on Digital Transformation of Rural India in association with NABARD

A National Conference on Digital Transformation for Socio-Economic Development of Rural India was held at ICFAI University, Jharkhand campus. Pradeep Kumar Hazari, Special Secretary, Agriculture, Government of Jharkhand; Bishnu Chandra Parida, Chief Operating Officer, Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society and Abhay Soren, Manager, NABARD were the guests of honor. 32 research papers were presented in 3 technical sessions, which were chaired by Bishnu Chandra Parida, Kaushal Kumar Sinha, former Chief General manager, NABARD and Dr Hari Haran, former General Manager of SAIL-MTI. A poster completion was also held, wherein students presented their ideas on the conference theme.

Welcoming the audience to the function, Prof O R S Rao, Vice-Chancellor of the University said, "Green Revolution, White Revolution, Yellow Revolution, and Golden Revolution have helped in increasing the production of food grains, milk, oil seeds, fruits and vegetables. However, they have not helped in big way to increase the farmer's income in a big way, as the basic issues continue to be in agri-management, in areas like storage infrastructure, supply-chain management, market-producer linkages etc."

"The need of the hour is Blue Revolution wherein Digital Technology can be leveraged to address the challenges and enable increase in farmer's income," added Prof Rao.

Addressing the conference, Pradeep Kumar Hazari said, "Digital Technology is a powerful tool for Rural development. However, to make it work, there is need to improve the digital infrastructure. Besides, Digitalization processes need to be customized to suit the local conditions". He also presented the case study of cashless implementation of Mukhya Mantri Krishi Ahirvad Yojana in Jharkahnd, wherein over 17 lakh farmers were benefited through direct Benefit Transfer.

Bishnu Chandra Parida explained the progress made by Jharkhand State in delivery of Government schemes for Rural Development using digital platforms in areas like Marketing, Geo-tagging of villages, Training, Direct Benefit Transfer among others.

Awards of recognition for best papers were awarded to Jyoti, PhD Scholar and Afsha Khan, student of MBA-II whereas awards for best posters were given to Sovana Samant & Debodyuti Das, Ayushi all Student of MBA-II and Aman student of DIT.