New Delhi: The Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the 91stFoundation Day ceremony of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research in New Delhi today. Congratulating the Farmers, Scientists and Agri-entrepreneurs for their achievements, Shri Tomar said that when we think about Progress, Economy, Social Science & Culture it is incomplete without thinking about Agriculture, Farmers & Agricultural Science & Technology.
The Union Agriculture Minister said that the target set by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024 is a big leap and a big dream and the Farmers across the nation will be key to fulfilling this dream as a large population of country is still dependent on agriculture.
Shri. Tomar lauded the efforts of agriculture scientists across the nation and especially at the ICAR for working tirelessly towards the betterment of Indian agriculture. He said that their efforts are paying off and it is only due to these efforts that India is self sufficient in agriculture.
Enumerating the major challenges in the sector such as managing of scarce water resources, providing market connectivity and promoting agricultural exports, Shri Tomar said that amongst these the biggest challenge is management of water resources. The Minister said that Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi has worked towards improving efficiency in management of water resources by formation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti and focusing on the goal of ‘more crop per drop’. The Prime Minister recently exhorted all the citizens of the nation to contribute towards water conservation and all Ministries & Departments of Government of India are working in tandem for this initiative.
Another big challenge the Minister highlighted was making agriculture profitable and viable since agriculture is one of the largest employers and India continues to be an agriculture based economy. Therefore, to prepare for the future the Government has envisaged ‘Smart Farm and Smart Farmer’ on the line of Smart cities. For this, Science and Technology will be the key.
The Agriculture Minister further said that the Prime Minister has given primacy to the progress of ‘Gaon, Garib, Kisan’ across the nation and the 140% increase in budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare in 2019-20 shows Prime Minister’s dedication towards achieving this progress. Shri Tomar also added that all the schemes are dedicated towards ensuring the goal of getting farmers their due respect and making farming economically viable. The Minister highlighted ‘it is for the first time since independence that an amount to the tune of Rs. 87000 crore is been distributed directly into the bank accounts of the farmers’.
The Agriculture Minister also released 10 publications on agriculture and launched Kisaan (Krishi Integrated Solution for Agri Apps Navigation) – an Integrated Mobile App during the ceremony. The Ministers of State, Shri. Parshottam Rupala & Shri Kailash Chaudhary along with senior officials of the Ministry, scientists, farmers and awardees were present during the occasion.
