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ICAR organises Kritagya Hackathon Award Ceremony

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31 May, 2021, New Delhi: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research organized an event to “Dedicate ICAR Technologies to the Farmers & Kritagya Hackathon Award Ceremony” today.

In his address, the Chief Guest, Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare emphasized on the pivotal roles played by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and its Research Institutes, Universities, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras in disseminating the scientific practices and technologies to the farmers of the remote areas of the country. The Minister stressed on the Government of India’s agriculture-friendly Schemes, agricultural scientists’ researches and farmers’ hard work that have made the country’s agricultural sector to be self-reliant in food crops.

Applauding the Council’s achievements in the fields of diverse crops, cereals, horticulture, livestock and fisheries, etc., the Union Minister stated that the Council has set-up a record in itself by inventing more than 500 new varieties in the last one year. Honoring the Awardees of Kritagya Hackathon, Mr. Tomar urged the citizens of the country for utilizing their potential to its fullest for achieving the targets of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

The Guest of Honor, Mr. Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare emphasized on the need for effectively carrying out the work of seed planting to seed replacement at the national level. The Minister stressed on the necessity of diversification of climate-friendly crops to solve the state / regions specific problems posed by the natural disasters in the scenario of climate change. Mr. Rupala lauded the Council’s efforts in effectively dealing with the challenges of seeds replacement and timely providing the farmers with the newly released varieties.

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Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) stated that the development and promotion of women-friendly equipment and collaboration with the stakeholders will play an important role in enhancing the productivity and profitability of agriculture. Highlighting the Council’s achievements in the previous Year, the Director General asserted that the Council continuously strives for timely disseminating its latest varieties, technologies and innovations to the farmers. The need for policy principles for extending the technology and varieties to the distant farmers was also stressed by the Director General.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary (DARE) & Secretary (ICAR) outlined the main objective of the programme and highlighted about the Hackathon organized from September to November during the last Year.

The dignitaries released the New Varieties, Innovations, Technologies and Council’s Publications along with honouring the participants.

Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR proposed the vote of thanks.

The Deputy Directors General, Assistant Directors General; Vice-Chancellors of State Agricultural Universities, Directors of ICAR Institutes and Heads of Krishi Vigyan Kendras also virtually participated in the event.

The Kritagya Hackathon Programme provides the students, faculty members, entrepreneurs, innovators and other stakeholders with an opportunity to showcase their visions and technology solutions for promoting the agricultural mechanization in the country.

The initiative initiated by the Agricultural Engineering Division of ICAR along with National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) will also help in enhancing the learning capacity, innovation & problem solving, employment and entrepreneurship in the farm mechanization sector. Along with this, it will also help in taking forward the vision of quality higher education with equity and inclusion as envisaged in the New National Education Policy.

In view of the increasing women’s participation in operations of the agricultural sector, mainly due to the migration of men to seek better prospects in the non-agricultural sectors, the event organized by the Council will promote automation, development of women-friendly equipments and mechanization to enhance the agricultural productivity.

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