10.

National agricultural setup in India

ICAR

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous organization

under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Formerly known as Imperial Council
of Agricultural Research, it was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under
the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of the Royal Commission on
Agriculture. The ICAR has its headquarters at New Delhi. With 101 ICAR institutes and 63
agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of the largest national
agricultural systems in the world.

The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequent
developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development that
has enabled the country to increase the production of food grains by 5 times,
horticultural crops by 9.5 times, fish by 12.5 times , milk 7.8 times and eggs 39 times
since 1951 to 2014, thus making a visible impact on the national food and nutritional
security.

As of June 2017 ICAR has following institutions

 Four Deemed Universities

 64 ICAR Institutions
 Six National Bureaux
 13 Project Directorates
 15 National Research Centres
 138 Substations of ICAR Institutes
 59 AICRPs (All India Coordinated Research Projects)
 10 Other Projects
 19 Network Projects
 Eight Zonal Project Directorates
 665 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) (660 as of 2017)

Milestones

 Initiation of the first All-India Co-ordinated Research Project on Maize in 1957

 Status of Deemed University accorded to IARI in 1958
  Establishment of the first State Agricultural University on land grant pattern at
Pantnagar in 1960
 Placement of different agricultural research institutes under the purview of ICAR in
1966
 Creation of Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) in the
Ministry of Agriculture in 1973
 Opening of first Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Puducherry (Pondicherry) in 1974
 Establishment of Agricultural Research Service and Agricultural Scientists'
Recruitment Board in 1975
 Launching of Lab-to-Land Programme and the National Agricultural Research Project
(NARP) in 1979
 Initiation of Institution-Village Linkage Programme (IVLP) in 1995
 Establishment of National Gene Bank at New Delhi in 1996
 The ICAR was bestowed with the King Baudouin Award in 1989 for its valuable
contribution in ushering in the Green Revolution. Again awarded King Baudouin
Award in 2004 for research and development efforts made under partnership in Rice
Wheat Consortium.
 Launching of National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) in 1998 and National
Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) in 2005
 As of July, 2006 it has developed a vaccine against bird flu. The vaccine was
developed at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal, the only facility
in the country to conduct tests for the H5N1 variant of bird flu. It was entrusted with
the task of developing a vaccine by the ICAR after the Avian Influenza outbreak in
February. The ICAR was provided Rs. 8 crore for the purpose.
 2009: In December 2009, it announced that it was considering a policy to provide
open access to its research.
 2010: In March 2010, ICAR made its two flagship journals (Indian Journal of
Agricultural Sciences and Indian Journal of Animal Sciences) as Open Access
Journals.
 2013: On 13 September 2013, it announced the Open Access Policy and committed
for making all the public funded scholarly research outputs openly available via open
access repositories.
 ICAR scientists were the first in the world to sequence the pigeon pea genome. it was
a purely indigenous effort by 31 scientists led by Nagendra Kumar Singh of NRCPB.

Mandate

 Plan, Undertake, Coordinate and Promote Research and Technology Development for
Sustainable Agriculture.
 Aid, Impart and Coordinate Agricultural Education to enable Quality Human
Resource Development.
 Frontline Extension for technology application, adoption, knowledge management
and capacity development for agri-based rural development.
  Policy, Cooperation and Consultancy in Agricultural Research, Education &
Extension.

Organization

 Union Minister of Agriculture is the ex-officio President of the ICAR Society

 Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of
Agriculture, Government of India and Director General, ICAR is the Principal
Executive Officer of the Council
 Governing Body is the policy-making authority
 Agricultural Scientists' Recruitment Board
 Deputy Directors-General (8)
 Additional Secretary (DARE) and Secretary (ICAR)
 Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor
 Assistant Directors-General (24)
 National Director, National Agricultural Innovation Project
 Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture

ICAR Awards 2016

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi announces the following ICAR
Awards:
1. ICAR Challenge Award

To find a solution for any immediate or long-standing problem, or limitation

in agriculture, which is coming in the way of agricultural development and/ or
enhancing productivity in any major agricultural, horticultural or animal/fish product,
ICAR has instituted a Challenge Award.

2. Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award

In order to recognize outstanding performance by the ICAR institutes, DUs of

ICAR, CAU and State Agricultural Universities

3. Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding All India Coordinated Research Project

Award

In order to recognize outstanding performance of the AICRP and its

cooperating centers and to provide incentive for outstanding performance in terms of
linkages and research output and its impact.
4. Jawaharlal Nehru Award for P.G. Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in
Agricultural and Allied Sciences

In order to promote high quality doctoral thesis research in priority/frontier

areas of agriculture and allied sciences, ICAR has instituted 18 awards of Rs. 50,000/-
in cash plus a citation and silver medal (gold polished) each to be awarded annually
for the outstanding original research work in agriculture and allied sciences.

5. Panjabrao Deshmukh Outstanding Woman Scientist Award

All women scientists engaged in research in agricultural and allied subjects /extension
in a recognized institutions are eligible for this award.

6. Vasantrao Naik Award for Outstanding Research Application in Dry Land

Farming Systems

In order to promote outstanding research and application in priority aspects of

dry land farming systems & water conservation.

7. Jagjivan Ram Abhinav Kisan Puruskar /Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer

Award (National/Zonal)

In order to recognize the outstanding contributions of innovative farmers for

initiatives in development adoption, modification and dissemination of improved
technology and practices for increased income with sustainability, following national
and zonal awards are announced: (i) National: One annual national award (ii)Zonal:
Eight annual awards

8. N.G. Ranga Farmer Award for Diversified Agriculture

In order to recognize outstanding contribution of innovative farmers for

diversified agriculture, one annual award of Rs 1.00 lakh in any of the areas of
Diversified Agriculture is given by ICAR.

9. Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Puruskar (National & Zonal)

In order to recognize the contributions of marginal, small and landless

farmers for developing sustainable integrated models of farming, the ICAR has
instituted Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Puruskar (National &
Zonal) annually.

10. Haldhar Organic Farmer Award

In order to recognize outstanding contribution of organic farmers ICAR has

instituted an award titled Haldhar Organic Farmer Award
11. Chaudhary Charan Singh Award for Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural
Research and Development

Journalists for Print Media [Hindi Journalism/ English Journalism/ Journalism

in Regional languages (four awards)] and Electronic media (two awards).

12. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award for Outstanding Research in Tribal Farming
Systems

The award is primarily meant for any person or team (with two or three
associates, if any) engaged in applied research and its applications in tribal areas of
the country aimed at improving the biological resources and livelihoods or in original
work directly applicable to tribal farming system.

13. Bharat Ratna Dr C. Subramaniam Award for Outstanding Teachers 2016

In order to provide recognition to outstanding teachers and to promote quality

teaching in the field of Agriculture, four outstanding teacher awards are given
annually.

14. Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Krishi Vigyan Protshahan Puraskar ( National &
Zonal) 2017

These awards promote healthy competition among Krishi Vigyan Kendras

(KVKs) at Zonal and National Level for application of science and technology in
agriculture.

15. Dr Rajendra Prasad Puruskar for technical books in Hindi in Agricultural and
Allied Sciences 2016

These awards recognize to authors of original Hindi Technical books in

agriculture and allied sciences & incentivize Indian writers to write original standard
works in agricultural and allied sciences in Hindi. The award is meant for individuals
as well as teams of authors.

16. Lal Bahadur Shastri Outstanding Young Scientist Award 2016

In order to recognize the talented young scientists who have shown

extraordinary originality and dedication in their research programmes, four individual
awards are to be given annually.
17. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Sciences
2016

In order to recognize outstanding research in agricultural and allied sciences &

provide incentives for excellence in agricultural research, this award is to be given to
agricultural scientists for outstanding contribution in specified areas. A total of four
awards are provided under the award.

18. Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Outstanding Extension Scientist Award 2016

The award is exclusively meant for individual extension scientist/teacher for

excellence in agricultural extension methodology and education work. Two
individual awards have been provided.

19. NASI-ICAR Award For Innovation and Research on Farm Implements -2016

In order to reduce drudgery of farm women by development of farm

implements and to encourage researchers and innovators to develop farm implements
for farm women, ICAR and NASI have instituted the NASI-ICAR Award For
Innovation and Research on Farm Implements.

20. Hari Om Ashram Trust Award for the biennium 2014-2015

In order to recognize the outstanding research on long term problem in

agricultural and allied sciences, four individual awards have been instituted.
State Agricultural Universities
Agricultural Universities or 'AUs' are mostly public universities in India that are
engaged in teaching, research and extension in agriculture and related disciplines. In India,
agricultural education has evolved into a large and distinct domain, often separately from
other areas of higher education. Many of these universities are member of a registered
society, the Indian Agricultural Universities Association. Indian Council of Agricultural
Research is the main regulatory authority of agricultural education in India, while the
disciplines of veterinary medicine and forestry are regulated by the Veterinary Council of
India and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education respectively. A SAU is usually
a university established by an act of state legislature with a dedicated mandate of teaching,
research and extension in agriculture and related disciplines.

Deemed universities
Deemed universities are not established by an act of independent legislation, but
declared to function as universities by Government of India under Section 3 of the University
Grants Commission Act 1956. As per this section, "The Central Government may, on the
advice of the Commission, declare by notification in the Official Gazette, that any institution
for higher education, other than a University, shall be deemed to be a University for the
purposes of this Act, and on such a declaration being made, all the provisions of this Act shall
apply to such institution as if it were a University within the meaning of clause (f) of section
2". Thus, the provision of deemed universities enables the central government to incorporate
an agricultural university without the need of Parliamentary legislation, thus circumventing
the complexities of federal division for legislative powers, which has put agriculture in the
state list.

Central agricultural universities

There are currently 3 central agriculture university in India, and they are

 Central Agricultural University Imphal

 Rani Laxmibai Central Agricultural University Jhansi
 Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Samasthipur Bihar

Upcoming or proposed central agricultural university

 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

 Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
 The Central Agricultural University was established by an act of Parliament, the Central
Agricultural University Act 1992 (No.40 of 1992). The Act came into effect on 26 January
1993 with the issue of necessary notification by the Department of Agricultural Research and
Education (DARE), Government of India. The university became functional with the joining
of the first vice-chancellor on 13 September 1993.

Other universities involved in agricultural education

Central universities

Central universities, including Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Visva-
Bharati University, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Nagaland University
and Sikkim University have distinct faculties in agriculture. A few central universities also
have affiliated agricultural colleges.

State universities

Bundelkhand University, Lucknow University, Kanpur University, Gorakhpur University,

Meerut University, Calcutta University and many other state universities have distinct
agriculture faculties. Most of these have a number of affiliated agriculture colleges.

Institute of national importance

IIT Kharagpur has a very strong programme in agricultural engineering, while IIM A and IIM
Lucknow have leading programmes in agribusiness. Central Food Technological Research
Institute under AcSIR is the premier institute in food technology.

Private universities

Amity University has a programme in organic farming

Annamalai University offers Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Diploma courses through

Faculty of Agriculture

Rai Technology University offers [Link] and [Link] programs in Ag riculture through its School
of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (formerly Ministry of Agriculture),

a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of
the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The 3 broad areas of scope
for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is
headed by Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh. S S Ahluwalia, Sudarshan Bhagat &
Parshottam Rupalai are the Ministers of State. The combined efforts of Central Government,
State Governments and the farming community have succeeded in achieving record
production of 244.78 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11.

Origins

Department of Revenue and Agriculture and Commerce was set up in June 1871 to
deal with all the agricultural matters in India. Until this ministry was established, matters
related to agriculture were within the portfolio of the Home Department. In 1881,
Department of Revenue & Agriculture was set up to deal with combined portfolios of
education, health, agriculture, revenue. However, In 1947, Department of Agriculture was
redesignated as Ministry of Agriculture.

Structure & Departments

The Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare consists of the following three
Departments.

 Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare.

 Department of Agriculture Research and Education.
 Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

A leading program of the Ministry is the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, which was launched
in 2007 on the recommendations of the National Development Council of India. This
program sought to improve the overall state of agriculture in India by providing stronger
planning, better co-ordination and greater funding to improve productivity and overall output.
The total budget for this program in 2009-10 was just over INR 38,000 crore.