NS Tomar regards Krishi Megh as step forward towards digital agriculture of New India

Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare said that 2-3 ICAR Institutes should be made research centres of international repute. He also stressed on providing real-time data to the researchers.

Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today virtually launched the Krishi Megh (National Agricultural Research & Education System -Cloud Infrastructure and Services) along with the KVC ALUNET (Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Chhatr Alumni Network) and Online Accreditation System for Higher Agricultural Educational Institutions (HEI).

The Union Minister emphasized that the Government of India-World Bank-funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project is designed for strengthening the national agricultural education system in the country with the overall objective to provide more relevant and high-quality education to the agricultural university students that are in tune with the New Education Policy - 2020.

Shri Tomar accentuated the need to save and preserve the important research-based data in a prompt digitized form to enable its access anywhere in any corner of the country and the world. He also stressed on enabling private investments in agriculture. The Minister regarded the Krishi Megh as a step forward towards digital agriculture of New India as has been envisaged by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare said that 2-3 ICAR Institutes should be made research centres of international repute. He also stressed on providing real-time data to the researchers.

Shri Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare complimented ICAR for establishing the Krishi Megh that integrates the ICAR-Data Centre at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi with the Disaster Recovery Centre at the ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. The Minister regarded the initiative as a revolution in agriculture.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) underlined about 58 Universities which have been supported in various categories under the ICAR National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP). The Director-General highlighted about 377 students (UG, PG and PhD) who have received international training/internships along with the training provided to around 120 faculty members in the various International Universities. He also stressed on maximizing the use of internet technology/digitalization.

Dr Mohapatra highlighted the main features of the Krishi Megh that are equipped with the latest AI / Deep learning software/tools kits for building and deploying of deep learning-based applications through image analysis, disease identification in livestock, etc. He stressed that the Krishi Megh is a new chapter in digital India enabling the farmers, researchers, students and policymakers more equipped with the updated and latest information regarding agriculture, research, education and extension in the digital form generated by ICAR institutes and State Agriculture Universities.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR briefed about the main objective of the programme. He highlighted the development of the KVC ALUNET that has been a result of an idea of social networking for the alumnus of the Agricultural Universities. He stressed that this shall enable the alumni of all the 74 Agricultural Universities in connecting with each other and making it possible to assist the students in internship, placements and to provide support to their alma maters.

Mr Edward William Bresnyan, Task Team Leader, World Bank regarded the ICAR’s initiative as a game-changer that will bring a major transformation in the agricultural education system. The senior officials of ICAR and its institutes also virtually participated in the programme.

(With Inputs from PIB)