AGRICULTURAL CHANNEL TO BE LAUNCHED
An agricultural
channel will be launched before the 2nd of October
this year. This was announced by the Agriculture Minister, Shri
Rajnath Singh while giving away ICAR Awards for the year 2002
here yesterday evening. Shri Rajnath Singh expressed the hope
that the proposed channel would play a significant role in providing
information about the latest scientific achievements to farmers.
The Minister called for better co-operation between agricultural
scientists and farmers to take the results of agricultural research
to the field. Stressing the need to improve the economic condition
of farmers, he pointed out that farmers constitute the biggest
group of producers and consumers in the country. Improvement in
their condition is essential to bring about all round development.
In the context of WTO, the Agriculture Minister called for making
agricultural products internationally competitive from the point
of view of quality as well as prices.
This year, 33 scientists
and their 9 associates, 4 extension workers, 2 innovative farmers,
2 journalists and 3 institutions were awarded for their outstanding
performance. Among the 44 awards, 25 went to ICAR institutes,
12 to the State Agricultural Universities and 7 to other institutions
and individuals. About 25 per cent of the awards went to women
scientists.
