TED NewDesk, New Delhi: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ grounded Agri-Business Incubation Centre (ABIC) at IIT Kharagpur. Besides, he officially inaugurated Agri-Food Techathon to recognise inventive ideas to support startups in the respective area. On the other hand, the Incubation Centre would focus on groundbreaking ideas in the food and agriculture sector for producing ‘Agri-preneures’.
The event aims at using technical talks to solve agricultural issues. As per an IIT official, the event will spread awareness besides motivating young farmers and academics to focus on the agriculture domain.
IIT Kharagpur and NABARD conducted the national-level online technical event at IIT Kharagpur for two months. More than 750 Indian college/university students, rural youth, entrepreneurs between 20-25 years of age and diverse academic records will participate in the fest.
Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ at the launch said, “I am happy that agri-food Techathon is associated with Shastri’s ideal of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. Shastri started the Green Revolution to make India self-reliant. He believed in the powers of farmers to bring a revolution in India’s agricultural ecosystem. He believed in the strong relationship between farmers – food grains and life. ”
The Minister held West Bengal accountable for the agricultural reform in the country, during the launch of Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Bahri.
” In order to meet the food requirements of 135 crore people, we require innovation. IIT-Kharagpur has trained over 11,000 farmers in the last 10 years on various kinds of irrigation water, drip irrigation and many other ideas from this department,” said the Director of IIT Kharagpur.
The IIT plans to establish 125 units in the coming five years through ABIC. It will conduct action-based research to develop climate-resilient agriculture in exploited districts, agricultural value chains, promote farmers’ collectives, value addition, market-linkage and risk management. The IIT also informed about its plans to assist, policy advocacy with the establishment of human capital in rural areas.
Source: Indian Express
(https://indianexpress.com/article/education/edu-minister-flags-off-agri-food-techathon-lays-foundation-for-agri-business-incubation-centre-at-iit-kharagpur-7161201/)