Indian Council of Agricultural Research Vision-2050

Indian Council of Agricultural Research Vision-2050

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is constantly upgrading its research agenda to meet the future challenges and prepared a 'Vision-2050'. The details on ICAR Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles and Focus Area of Research in this Vision Document are given in Annexure-I. The document is available on ICAR website (http://www.icar.org.in).

             

The steps taken for providing new technologies to the farmers across the country include setting up of 642 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and 652 Agricultural Technology Management Agencies (ATMAs) at district level. In addition the farmers are provided information through Focused Publicity Campaigns, Kisan Call Centres (KCCs), Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres (ACABC) of entrepreneurs,  Agri Fairs and exhibitions, Kisan  SMS Portal , DD Kisan TV Channel and Community Radio Stations.

       

Besides, assistance to State Governments is provided for boosting the agriculture production under various schemes of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation viz. National Mission of Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET), Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC), Agriculture Technology Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).

   

In addition to generation of new technologies, the large network of ICAR Institutes and Agricultural Universities across the country also provides information to farmers regarding techniques and best practices for getting higher production through various outreach and extension education programmes.

The project-wise details are as follows:

·         Farmers FIRST: The objectives of the 'Farmer FIRST' initiative is to move beyond the production and productivity and to privilege the complex, diverse & risk prone realities of the farmers through enhancing farmers-scientists contact with multi stakeholders participation for technology development and application. The project has been conceptualized with focus on Enriching Farmers –Scientist interface; Technology Assemblage, Application and feedback; Partnership and Institutional Building and Content Mobilization.

·         ARYA: The ICAR has initiated a program on “Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) in selected districts through KVKs with an objective for entrepreneurial development of Youth in Rural Areas to take up various Agriculture, allied and service sector enterprises for sustainable income and gainful employment. The identified youth are trained on entrepreneurship development skills by providing a basket of options to start agriculture ventures for self employment.

·         Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav:   The “Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav” has been conceptualized in which scientists of ICAR and Agricultural Universities will identify villages in the vicinity of the Institutions for providing advisories and consultations to farmers for increasing farm productivity and production.  

Annexure-I

[Part (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha USQ No.3663 for 11-08-2015]

Details on ICAR Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles and Focus Area of Research of ICAR Vision- 2050 

ICAR Vision: Lead India to attaining sustainable food, nutritional, environmental and livelihoods security through agricultural research and education.

ICAR Mission: Harness the power of science and innovation for food security, food safety, farmer prosperity and enhance natural resources base to promote inclusive growth and sustainable development 

Guiding Principles: The guiding principles for Future Research and Education that will provide direction to ICAR for determining its future research and education investment priorities and strategic framework are :

·         Provide leadership in ensuring national food and nutritional security, farmers’ prosperity, consumer health and enhancing the natural resource base of agriculture for future generations.

·         Ensure strategic competitive advantage of Indian agriculture to enable access to the existing and emerging markets, and address the emerging challenges.

·         Leverage the advances in other sciences, engineering and social science to enhance agricultural research.

·         Nurture scientific excellence and promote interdisciplinary, systems-based, knowledge-intensive, problem-solving research.

·         Promote economic opportunities for the rural community and society.

·         Promote complementary partnerships for value addition in agriculture and accelerate innovation.

·         Respond proactively to farmers, consumers, partners and policy makers.

·         Promote ethical conduct, scientific integrity and accountability of performance and decisions.

·         Promote organizational transformation to an efficient, effective, and responsive innovation system.

·         Support higher education and create educational environments that foster continuous learning.

Focus Areas of Research

·         Genetic potential enhancement of agricultural commodities.

·         Agricultural productivity, efficiency and profitability improvement.

·         Resilience to climate change and abiotic and biotic stresses.

·         Improve Nutritional food, and health security.

·         Risk management against climate change and market stressors.

·         Agricultural value chains.

·         Sustainability of natural resources base of agriculture.

·         Valuation of ecosystem services.

·         Agricultural markets, policies, and institutions.

·         Bio-security, especially emerging from gene piracy and cross-border vector borne diseases.

·         New products and uses(e.g, bio-energy, new crops, synthetic foods, special foods)

Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium

Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) have mandated Small Farmers’ Agri Business Consortium (SFAC), which is a registered society of DAC, to act as the Lead promoter of National Agriculture Market (NAM).  SFAC will select a Strategic Partner through open tender to develop, operate and maintain the NAM e-platform. SFAC will implement the NAM with budgetary grant support from DAC and technical support by the Strategic Partner.

         NAM is envisaged as a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to primarily network 585 Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) market yards to create a   national e-market for agricultural commodities. In addition, big private markets will also be allowed access to the software to enable better price discovery.  DAC will provide the software free of cost to the States for setting up of NAM and for its customization to State specific requirements.   In addition,  a one time grant of upto Rs.30 lakhs per mandi towards fixed costs of equipment/infrastructure will also be provided. 

         

         The functions of the consortium as mentioned in   Bye-Laws of SFAC are given below.

             The Government’s decision to appoint SFAC as the Lead promoter of NAM is based on its experience in similar activity of setting up of a Kisan Mandi at Alipore, Delhi.  The decision was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

             As per the States’ Agricultural Produce Market  (Regulation) Acts/Rules, market fee is not levied on farmers  but  levied  normally on buyers in terms of percentage of the value of the produce transacted.

Extract from the Bye-Laws of the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC)

Functions & Activities

            In furtherance of the Aims & Objects of the Society indicated in the Memorandum of Association, the SFAC may undertake itself and/or cause to be undertaken by the concerned Departments/Agencies/Units one or more of the following task or activities in addition to any other tasks or activities as may be considered to be appropriate and necessary:

(i)        Organise, assist and help initiatives for improving the production; and productivity levels of identified agricultural produce.

(ii)       Organise, assist and help establishment of appropriate link/integral arrangements between production and marketing.

(iii)      Facilitate development of a sound marketing infrastructure covering inter-alia establishment of processing units, quality control arrangement, market intelligence and information, transportation and storage and such other arrangements as may be necessary.

(iv)      Arrange/promote market studies and/or specific commodity surveys at the field levels, both at home and abroad, with a view to identify the agricultural products which have potential for exports and export development, quality standards and specifications, competitive price levels, trading channels, delivery schedules, promotional measure etc.

(v)       Arrange/facilitate the formulation of integrated commercial development programmes or projects preferably firm or unit-wise, setting out, inter alia, products for export targets, the import needs of raw materials, etc., processing arrangements between the producers and exporters, marketing etc.

(vi)      Assist/organize mounting of Export Promotion Programmes including the sponsoring of marketing teams, participation in specialized fairs and exhibitions, holding of Department Stores promotions, exclusive India Show.

(vii)    Facilitate identification and establishment of arrangements for undertaking production for exports and help in meeting the import needs, ensuring quality stands, reaching suitable marketing tie-ups.

(viii)   Facilitate/monitor transport arrangement, under the specific programmes and projects that may be formulated.

(ix)      Facilitate/monitor storage arrangement under the specific programmes and projects that may be formulated.

(x)       Facilitate/monitor the conclusion of contractual arrangements according to established commercial practices and norms.

Ministry of Urban Development launches three schemes for urban areas

Ministry of Urban Development launches three schemes for urban areas

The Ministry of Urban Development launched three new schemes on June 25, 2015.21 The schemes are Smart Cities, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Housing for All in urban areas. As per the new guidelines, states and UTs will now appraise and approve individual projects.  Selection criteria: Potential smart cities and AMRUT cities will be selected based on an objective and equitable criteria with equal weightage to urban population and number of statutory cities in each state/UT. The housing scheme will be implemented in all the 4,041 statutory towns.  Financial assistance: Each smart city will be provided central assistance of Rs.100 crore per year. Under AMRUT, allocation of funds will be as per urban population and number of towns in each state/UT. Under Housing for All, assistance will be based on the number of urban poor and slum dwellers.  Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies will be involved in the formulation and monitoring of projects. Key guidelines of the schemes include:  Smart Cities: Central assistance will be used only for infrastructure projects which have larger public benefit.  Special Purpose Vehicles will be set up for the implementation of smart city plans with the equity share being 50:50 between states and urban local bodies.  AMRUT: A set of 11 reforms will be implemented in four years including: (i) promoting e-governance, (ii) improving collection of various taxes, fees and user charges, (iii) devolution of funds and functionaries to urban local bodies, (iv) setting up financial intermediaries for pooling and disbursement of resources, and (v) credit rating of urban local bodies.  Housing for All: Central grants of one lakh rupees per house, on an average, will be available under the slum rehabilitation programme. State governments will have the flexibility to use these grants for any slum rehabilitation project as deemed fit.  Ownership of houses will be in the name of the woman or jointly with her husband. 

Ministry launches National Skill Development Mission and Policy

Ministry launches National Skill Development Mission and Policy

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched the National Mission for Skill Development and the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on July 15, 2015.51 The Policy aims to provide an umbrella framework to all skilling activities being carried out in the country:52 Key features of the Mission and Policy include:  Objectives of the Policy and Mission include: (i) Make available quality vocational training to benefit the youth as well as employers, (ii) focus on an outcomebased approach to improve livelihoods, (iii) increase capacity and quality of training infrastructure and trainers, (iv) establish an IT based information system to match demand with supply of skilled workforce, (v) ensure that the skilling needs of the socially and geographically and marginalised groups, as well as women, are taken care of, and (vi) encourage entrepreneurship as a career option, etc.  Implementation: The objectives of the policy will be achieved through advocacy, a quality assurance framework, strengthening of existing sector skills councils, a demanddriven curriculum framework, enhancing employability skills, placements, improving access to finance and through the usage of information and communication technology. The National Mission for skill development will be the vehicle for implementing the policy in mission mode. The National Skill Development Agency will be the nodal agency for implementation. States will also have state skill development missions. A Policy Implementation Unit will be responsible for monitoring and evaluation.  Financing: The National Skill Development Fund will be used for funding skilling activities. 

Standing Committee submits report on ewaste and e-radiation

Standing Committee submits report on ewaste and e-radiation
The Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests submitted its report to Parliament on e-waste and eradiation on July 21, 2015.42 E-waste means wastes from electrical and electronic equipment, or rejects from their manufacturing and repair processes, which are intended to be discarded (like TVs, mobiles). Ewaste contains toxic substances such as lead, mercury and cadmium which may have adverse effects on human health or the environment. E-radiation refers to the electromagnetic radiation which emanates from natural sources (like the sun) and man-made sources (like fixed and mobile radio communication). Currently the Department of Telecommunications is conducting studies to assess the long term effect of e-radiation on human health, flora and fauna. However, precautionary exposure limits have been prescribed by the Department.42 In light of the above, the Standing Committee recommended the following:  Current infrastructure to deal with e-waste is inadequate, and must be increased. Presently, there are 126 e-waste recyclers and dismantlers to deal with about 8 lakh tonnes of e-waste across the country.  Extended producer‟s responsibility should cover more producers of e-waste, and should be enforced. Extended producer‟s responsibility means the producers are responsible for the equipment they produce after the end of its life.  Comprehensive scientific studies should be undertaken to establish level of risks of eradiation from mobile towers. Regulations should be established regarding location and inspection of mobile towers.




Standing Committee submits two reports on disasters (and other environmental issues) in J&K and Uttarakhand
The Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests submitted two reports on July 23, 2015, on: (i) floods and environmental issues in parts of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), and (ii) the earthquake in Uttarakhand.43,44 Key recommendations of the Standing Committee include:  Dredging or de-silting of water bodies must be conducted, and the drainage system of Srinagar must be replaced to prevent floods;  Some environmental issues must be addressed in Leh including solid waste management (for example, through setting up a landfill), air and water pollution (by setting up monitoring stations); and  In light of the earthquake early warning system in Uttarakhand (which can communicate a warning to Delhi within a minute of an earthquake in the Himalayas), government ministries should (i) coordinate to make the information public in real time, and (ii) educate people about steps to be taken before/ during/ after an earthquake

Central sector scheme for promotion of National Agricultural Market approved

Central sector scheme for promotion of National Agricultural Market approved
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a central sector scheme for the promotion of a National Agricultural Market through the Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund on July 2, 2015.25 The scheme will be set up through the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium by creating a common electronic platform for farmers. The scheme, among other things aims to: (i) promote reform in the agriculture marketing sector, (ii) promote the free-flow of agricultural commodities across the country, (iii) improve access to market related information and better price discovery through a more efficient and competitive marketing platform, and (iv) increase access to markets through warehouse based sales. The scheme has been allocated Rs 200 crore for the period 2015-16 to 2017-18. It aims to cover 585 regulated markets across the country in this period. In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation will give a onetime grant of Rs 30 lakh per mandi for the purpose of setting up equipment and infrastructure under the scheme. Big private mandis will also be allowed to participate in the scheme, but will not be supported by such grants. States and union territories are mandated to undertake the following reforms in order to be eligible to receive funds for the scheme: (i) create a single license which will be valid across the state, (ii) a single point levy of market fee, and (iii) provide for electronic auctions to enable price discovery

Ministries of Rural Development and Finance jointly release the SECC data

Ministries of Rural Development and Finance jointly release the SECC data
 the Ministries of Rural Development and Finance jointly released the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data- 2011.22 It involved enumeration of data from 640 districts in the country and is intended to be used for programmes related to MGNREGS, National Food Security Act, Housing for All, etc. with regard to targeting of households.

Key findings of the data include: There are 179 million rural households and 65 million urban households in the country. This implies that 73% of all the households are rural.
 Source of Income: Manual casual labour is the main source of income for 51% of the rural households across the country except the UTs. It is the highest in East India where 62% of the households are engaged in this profession. Cultivation is the second highest contributor to household income, with 30% of the households drawing their main income from it.
 Income: 10% of rural households have a member with a salaried job. 5% of households pay income or professional tax. In 74% of the rural households across the country, the highest earning member of the household has a monthly income of less than Rs. 5,000 per month. 17% households have a member who earns between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 and 8% have a member who earns more than Rs 10,000 a month.  Landholdings: In the country, 56% of the rural households are landless. 65% of the households in the Eastern and Southern states have no land holdings. In comparison, about 50% of the households in the Northern, Central and Western states have no land holdings.
 Education: 36% of the total rural population is illiterate. Less than 10% of the population has studied up to the higher secondary level or a higher level.
 In the country, 18% of the rural households belong to the Scheduled Castes and 11% to the Scheduled Tribes. The share of SC households is highest in the Northern region at 26% while 29% of the households in the North East are STs