23-Sep-2020: ‘Kritagya’ Hackathon by National Agricultural Higher Education Project of ICAR
In order to promote potential technology solutions for enhancing farm mechanization with special emphasis on women friendly equipments, a hackathon named “KRITAGYA” has been planned by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP). Students, faculties and innovators/entrepreneurs from any university / technical institution across the country can apply and participate in the event in the form of a group.
Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General, ICAR told that in one group maximum 4 participants can compete, with not more than one faculty and / or more than one innovator or entrepreneur. Participating students can collaborate with local start-ups, students from technology institutes, and can win Rs. 5 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakh as first, second and third prize. The registration for event has already been started from 15th September 2020.
Dr. Mohapatra said that the development and promotion of women friendly equipments through innovative technology solutions and right collaborations with stakeholders would play an important role in enhancing the farm productivity and profitability, which has also been emphasized by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on several occasions. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has also stressed upon the need of enhancing the innovation in farm mechanization in several meeting and provided the overall guidance in organizing this event.
Dr. R. C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General, ICAR and National Director, NAHEP told that this event will give an opportunity to the students, faculties, entrepreneurs, innovators and other stakeholders to showcase their innovative approaches and technology solutions to promote farm mechanization in India. The initiative undertaken by NAHEP along with Agricultural Engineering Division of ICAR will also help in enhancing the learning capabilities, innovations and disruptive solutions, employability and entrepreneurial drive in Farm Mechanization sector. Besides, the event will also help in taking forward the vision of high-quality higher education with equity and inclusion as envisaged in NEP-2020.
He also told that in view of increasing women participation in the field operations mainly due to migration of men for better prospects in non-farm opportunities, the ICAR has felt it necessary to organise this event with the overall aim to enhance automation and mechanization to increase the farm productivity and profitability and also to reduce the drudgery.
The ICAR commenced NAHEP, a Government of India and World Bank project, in November 2017 with the overall objective to support the National Agricultural Research and Education System in providing more relevant and better quality education to the students.
For more details regarding registration and participation, please visit: https://nahep.icar.gov.in/Kritagya.aspx
Taking forward the vision of our Hon’ble PM, ICAR has been playing a leadership role in making agricultural higher education more relevant for the future. In this regard, ICAR is organizing KRITAGYA- Ag-Tech Hackathon to promote innovation in farm mechanization- A joint initiative by NAHEP and Agricultural Engineering Division.
28-Jan-2019: ICAR launches National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country
Skilled human resources in agriculture must become the basis of agricultural advancement and in view of this, the Modi government has given special emphasis on the upliftment of agricultural education.
In order to make agriculture education useful, the recommendations of the 5th Dean Committee have been implemented in all the Agricultural Universities under which amendment of agricultural degree courses has been done to include biotechnology, information technology, bio-informatics, remote sensing, organic farming, agriculture business management etc. Emphasis has been given on experiential learning, skill and entrepreneurship development. Along with this, four new programs, B.Tech (Biotechnology), B.Sc. Community Science, B.Sc. Food Nutrition and Dietetics and B.Sc. Sericulture have also been included.
Shri Radha Mohan Singh informed that the ICAR has recently launched Rs 1100 crore ambitious National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country. This project will be funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis. In addition, a four year degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and Forestry has been declared a professional degree.
He said that Rajendra Agriculture University has been upgraded as Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University to strengthen the government’s effort to bring green revolution in Eastern India including North East. At the same time, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has been set up in Barhi, Jharkhand on the lines of IARI, Pusa New Delhi, and another IARI is being set up in Assam.
In order to promote the participation of students in agricultural business, Student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) scheme is being run, under which practical experience of agriculture and entrepreneurship is provided to undergraduate students.
An MoU has been signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to promote skill development in the field of agriculture. Under this, skill development training programs are being organized regularly in KVKs across the country. These training programs are based on agriculture and related topics.