20 February2023, New Delhi: The fourth convocation ceremony of the Post Graduate Diploma in Agri-Business Management of the Chaudhary Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (CCS-NIAM), Jaipur, and the Agri Innovation and Incubation Center was inaugurated yesterday by the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar. Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. Kailash Choudhary was the special guest.
On this occasion, Mr. Tomar said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, 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. Mr. Tomar also announced to add 60 seats in NIAM and abolishing the provision of compulsory stay in the hostel.
Union Minister Mr. Tomar said that the Agriculture sector is important, in which everyone’s interest should increase, and youth should also be attracted to 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 products are being dealt with in a planned manner.
Mr. 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 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 food grains from India, which we are fulfilling and will continue to do so in the future. Jobs are necessary for livelihood, but at the same time it is also necessary to improve the Agriculture sector because 56 percent of the country’s population is dependent on it.
The minister said that the future of the country in 2047 should be such that India becomes the torchlight of the world. In this direction, programs and schemes are continuously evolving under the leadership of Prime Minister Mr. Modi. The Union Minister said that it is futile to wait for tomorrow, we should do the work now that can be done today. Appreciating the Agri Startups, Mr. Tomar said that very good experiments have been done in the country. In the year 2014, when we came to power, there were 32 Startups in all sectors taken together. Startups in the country have been continuously encouraged by Prime Minister Mr. Modi, due to which the number of Agri Startups alone has now increased to 2,000, whereas, including other sectors, more than 10,000 Startups are working. On their strength, India will become a world guru in the future.
During the convocation, Mr. Tomar gave away diplomas to the students of Post Graduate Diploma-Agri Business Management and medals to the meritorious students. Mr. Tomar also launched the products of Startups, trained and funded by NIAM, and distributed cheques for grants. A startup exhibition and product display was also organized, in which startups trained and funded by NIAM participated.
On the occasion, awards were distributed to NIAM’s partner institutions based on their performance in startup training and funding, including Platinum Award to Mr. Karan Narendra Agricultural University, Jobner, Diamond Award to National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack (Odisha) and Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour was honored with the Gold Award. Mr. Tomar also launched the website of Agri Innovation and Incubation Center, 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.
