Annual Conference of Vice-Chancellors of Agricultural Universities and Directors of ICAR-Institutes Inaugurated

26th February 2024, New Delhi

Two-day Annual Conference of Vice-Chancellors of Agricultural Universities and Directors of ICAR-Institutes started at Bharat Ratna Dr. C. Subramaniam Auditorium, NASC Complex, New Delhi today with the main focus on enhancing the quality of higher agricultural education in the country. Several issues related to mutual benefits of Agricultural Universities and ICAR shall be discussed and develop a road map for successful implementation of National Education Policy-2020 in Agricultural Universities. The programme was chaired by Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR. In his inaugural address, Dr. Pathak welcomed all the participants and told that this is an important platform to discuss common agenda items of ICAR and Agricultural Universities, and how all of us work together for research, education and extension of the technologies. Speaking about Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to transform the country into a developed nation, Dr. Pathak said that until and unless the Agriculture sector of India is transformed into a developed agriculture, the country cannot be transformed into a developed nation. He further added that agriculture has made a great success in the recent past in the production of agricultural and horticultural crops due to significant contribution of National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES). The whole nation is looking towards us to develop a road map to overcome the current agricultural challenges not only for one year but also for the years to come. 

Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Chairman, ASRB insights into the genesis of ASRB, how it has been evolved over the years and streamlined recruitment process of Research Management Positions, Scientific, Administrative and Technical staff of ICAR system.

Ms. Alka Arora, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor (DARE/ICAR) apprised the house about budget allotment to DARE, ICAR, KVKs, AICRPs, International organizations, fellowships, etc. and emphasized the need to generate budget using external resources. We should use the budget more effectively and efficiently.

Mr. Sanjay Garg, Additional Secretary, DARE & Secretary, ICAR emphasized to focus on the employee-friendly research-based administration to reduce time and cost, and how efficiently ICT tools could be used to address the administrative issues. He further emphasized to use e-HRMS portal to minimize the time taken for administrative process.

Dr. Satyendra Arya, CEO, Agriculture Skill Council of India highlighted for integration of quality vocational education, training and skilling into higher education with emphasis on practical hand-on-training, skilling as well as employability skills.

Dr. Manoj K. Trivedi, T & B Chartered Accountant spoke about the CSR funding opportunities.  He further added that health care, environment, education, livelihood promotion, rural development, women empowerment, skill development, etc. are the CSR priority areas for funding.

Dr. N.S. Kalsi, Chairperson, National Council for Vocational Education and Training, MSDE  spoke about the National Credit Framework for implementing the mandate and intent of NEP 2020.  He emphasized the need for mechanization, automation, smart agriculture with the use of latest ICT tools.

Mr. Vampad Sharma, Director (Admn) told that priority setting, appropriate delegations of power, minimize channels of processing, administrative restructuring, mental conditioning and cultural shift, development of SOPs and templates, leverages ICT tools and regular reviews of decision making process, etc. are the key strategies for fast tracking administrative decisions. Several publications on agriculture and a fish product developed by ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai were also released by the Dignitaries on the occasion.

Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Ag. Education), ICAR proposed formal vote of thanks to the Dignitaries and participants.

The conference is being attended by Dr. Rameshwar Singh, Vice-Chancellor, BASU, Patna; all Deputy Director Generals, Vice-Chancellors of Agricultural Universities, Directors of the Institutes and other Senior Officers of ICAR, DARE and other Government Departments.