Indore: A push to agri processing, research and development ecosystem and upscaling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) will help Madhya Pradesh attract investments and industries in the state, said B Thiagarajan, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Western Region.

 

As Madhya Pradesh is preparing a new industrial and EV policy likely to be announced in April, Thiagarajan talking to TOI on the side lines of its MP annual session said, 'The conventional way of attracting investments by giving land won’t work much for MP. The state should boost agri processing and position itself as a research, development and innovation destination.'

 

A push to agri processing, research and development ecosystem and upscaling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) will help Madhya Pradesh attract investments and industries in the state, said B Thiagarajan, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Western Region.

 

As Madhya Pradesh is preparing a new industrial and EV policy likely to be announced in April, Thiagarajan talking to TOI on the side lines of its MP annual session said, 'The conventional way of attracting investments by giving land won’t work much for MP. The state should boost agri processing and position itself as a research, development and innovation destination.'

 

CII’s western region chairman stressed on the need to generate a talent pool in the state given the rapid pace of manufacturing across the country to fill the skill gap.

 

'There is going to be a talent shortage in quite a few areas like in manufacturing looking at the way it is expanding in India. Madhya Pradesh has a good quality of living and many good engineering and management colleges should work on creating talent,' said Thiagarajan.

 

Talking on the impact of the Ukraine war, CII’s western region chairman said the war will disrupt the supply chain hitting exports from India but may divert world orders to India and accelerate the pace of electric vehicles to reduce dependency on oil.

 

'Many export houses will not be able to export, business decisions will get delayed and containers may get stuck due to the war. But I am of the view that this will be temporary because it will end and may shift world demand to India as countries may reduce dependency on China and Russia,' said Thiagarajan.

 

He said like pandemic expedited health/medicine infrastructure and gave a push to digitalisation, the war will accelerate the pace of EV to reduce dependency on oil and shift to renewable sources of energy.

In the annual meeting of the western region, Animesh Jain and Shreyaskar Chaudhary were elected as the chairman and vice-chairman respectively for CII’s Madhya Pradesh State Council for the year 2022-23.

India’s exports of agricultural items and processed foods rose 23% year on year to $19,709 million during April-January 2021-22, indicating continued robustness of the segment in the country’s exports basket.

 

According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), rice exports during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year rose 12% to $7696 million compared to previous year. Rice contributes nearly 40% of India’s agri-export basket.

 

The value of the shipment of wheat, on the other hand, witnessed a surge by more than 387% to $1,742 million during the April-January 2021-22 period compared to the previous year. Volume-wise wheat exports rose to a record 6 MT from 1.3 MT of shipment in April-January 2020-21. Though India is not among the top 10 wheat exporters in the global trade, the growth rate of the country’s exports of this item is higher than that of Russia, Ukraine, and the US. Increased demand for wheat from South Asian countries, particularly Banglagesh, and its bumper domestic output led to the jump.

 

The exports target for products under the APEDA basket is set at $ 23,713 million for 2021-22. In 2020-21, exports of agricultural and processed food products were valued at $ 20,673 million.

 

India is likely to continue holding a major share of global rice trade in the current fiscal year, with an estimated shipment of 21 million tonne (MT), an increase of more than 24% from the previous financial year. The country’s rice exports in the current financial year is likely more than the combined exports of the next three largest exporters — Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan

 

Meat, dairy and poultry products exports rose by more than 13% to $ 3,408 million in April-January 2021-22 compared to $ 3,005 million in the corresponding 10-month period of 2020-21.

 

Fruits and vegetables exports were up 16% to $ 1,207 million during April-January 2021-22 compared to the same period previous year.

 

The processed fruits and vegetables exports were up 11% to reach $ 1,269 million during the first 10 months of 2021-22 against $ 1,143 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

 

“Our thrust has been on promoting exports of Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged products and products sourced from hilly states, while we continue to scout for new markets for exports,” M Angamuthu, chairman, APEDA, told FE. He said spike in exports has been achieved notwithstanding logistical challenges caused by the pandemic.

 

APEDA basket of products exclude marine products, tobacco, coffee and spices. It has taken several initiatives to promote GI-registered agricultural and processed food products in India by organising virtual buyer-seller meets with the major importing countries across the world. In order to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, the export promotion body has recognised 220 labs across India to provide services of testing a wide range of products and exporters.

 

Angamuthu said APEDA has initiated registration of pack-houses for horticulture products to meet the quality requirements of the international market. Registration of export units for peanut shelling and grading and processing units, for instance, is to ensure quality adherence for the European Union and non-EU countries.

India's sugar exports are estimated to increase 15.38 per cent year-on-year to 7.5 million tonnes (MT) in the current marketing year 2021-22, on likely rise in demand for the Indian sweetener amid the possibility of a global deficit, industry body ISMA said on Friday. The country has physically exported 4.2 MT of sugar till February of the current marketing year, against the export contracts already undertaken for shipment of six million tonne, it said.

 

Sugar marketing year runs from October to September. India is the world's second-largest sugar producer after Brazil.

 

According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), "India will export 7.5 million tonne sugar in the current season, as against six million tonne estimated earlier."

 

Higher exports from India are possible as the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) in its report has indicated a global deficit of around 1.93 MT for the marketing year 2021-22 (October-September) and interest of exporters to buy more Indian sugar, it said.

 

Indian exporters are likely to ship another 1.2-1.3 MT in March, taking the total physical exports to 5.4-5.5 MT by then, it added.

 

Sharing the latest sugar production figures, ISMA said total production has reached 25.28 million tonne during the October-February period of the ongoing 2021-22 marketing year, up by 7.68 per cent from 23.48 million tonne of sugar in the year-ago period.

 

Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh, the country's top sugar-producing state, remained lower at 6.86 million tonnes during the October-February period of this marketing year, as against 7.42 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

 

However, sugar production in Maharashtra, the country's second-largest producing state, rose to 9.71 million tonnes from 8.48 million tonnes; while that in Karnataka, the country's third-largest producing state, rose to 5.08 million tonnes from 4.08 million tonnes in the said period.

 

Sugar production reached 7,93,000 tonnes in Gujarat and 4,53,000 tonnes in Tamil Nadu till February of the ongoing marketing year. The remaining states collectively produced 2.37 million tonnes in the said period, ISMA said in a statement.

 

ISMA said sugarcane availability in Maharashtra and Karnataka is higher than what was expected earlier. As a result, the production estimate for Maharashtra and Karnataka has been revised upward for this year, while not much change is expected in other states including Uttar Pradesh.

 

Consequently, the country's total sugar production estimate has been revised higher at 33.3 million tonnes for 2021-22 marketing year, considering diversion of 3.4 million tonnes of sugar equivalent to ethanol, it added.

 

The country is estimated to have a closing stock of 6.8 million tonnes at the end of September this year.

Karnataka government which is working all out to accelerate the growth of agriculture and allied sectors  has allocated  Rs 33,700 crore in 2022-23 fiscal in its Budget 22-23. The total Budget outlay is Rs.2,65,720 crore.

 

The state  government has now given a major fillip to the agriculture sector with the strengthening of the agriculture education infrastructure with setting up of agriculture college at Hagari at Ballari district and Athani, Belagavi district. Also, Dharwad Agri University to have a chair on farmers' welfare.

 

In his maiden Budget speech, Karnataka Chief Minister S R Bommai who holds the finance portfolio said that  the Krishi Yantradhaare scheme will be extended to all hoblis of the state. Mini food parks in all districts under PPP model will be soon coming up.

 

The government has set aside a Rs 500 crore fund given to Raitha Shakthi Yojana to help marginal farmers in terms of fuel cost for mechanised machines harvest crops. This will bring in farm efficiency and faster access to the markets.

 

Giving considerable attention  on agriculture and irrigation,  Bommai  said  an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for Mekadatu project is sanctioned. In addition, Rs 500 crore have been allocated for farmer empowerment through energy project and purchasing of machinery for procurement of energy .

 

Three lakh farmers to get Rs 24,000 crore  as farm loans. Three lakh new farmers to benefit. Government will increase gau-shalas from 51 to 100 in the state.

 

And Rs 50 crore will be allotted for increasing the gau-shalas to preserve local varieties of cattle. The government said that  2,000 cattle to be distributed to farmers. Gau Mata Sahakari Sangha to also be set up in the state.

The agriculture sector employs directly or indirectly half of the total workforce but it contributes only 19.9% to the national GDP, while the services sector which includes only 20% of the workforce contributes 66.1% to the GDP (Economic Survey 2019-20). The soaring growth of agriculture due to Green Revolution has now given way to the growth in the industrial and services sectors. The contribution of agriculture sector has decreased from more than 50% of the GDP in the 1950s to 15.4% in 2015-2016 (Economic Survey).

 

Despite being the highest producer of various crops, Indian agriculture has lower yield potential, that is, the quantity of crop produced per unit of land as compared to the world’s top crop producing countries like China, Brazil, and USA. Even though India is the world’s second largest producer of rice but its yield potential/productivity is lower than of Brazil, China and USA. The same pattern is found in pulses of which India is the second highest producer in the world. Agricultural growth in India has been reasonably unstable over the past few decades, ranging from 5.8% in 2005-06 to 0.4% in 2009-10, 0.2% in 2014-2015 and 3.5% in March 2022 (Economic Survey 2019-20).

History of Agriculture in India

 

The British during the colonial period promoted more cash crops instead of food crops for their own profits. The decades of neglect of agriculture sector under colonial rule made it a major challenge for India after independence. To address the immediate food security issue, India imported food grains from US under PL-480 scheme 1956. Three million tonnes of grains were imported and ten million tonnes in 1966. Amidst US arm twisting and successive droughts, the then Indian PM Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri adopted food self sufficiency as his top policy priority. He gave the slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” and launched the Green Revolution under the supervision of Indian geneticist MS Swaminathan which revolutionised Indian agriculture. Under the Green Revolution high yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds were introduced in India for the first time. These HYV seeds were drought and pest resistant and required proper irrigation. Green revolution was first launched in Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu because these regions had adequate irrigation facilities for crops like rice and wheat. Cash crops like cotton, oilseeds and jute were not included. This revolution focused on inland productivity. In order to increase farm production, the revolution also focused on developing the irrigation system and other productivity factors such as fertilisers, insecticides and weedicides and on promoting commercial farming modern machinery like tractors, harvesters and drillers.

 

The Green Revolution substantially increased the agricultural productivity of wheat and rice in India and from a food-deficient country India became a food-surplus country. Many farmers moved from subsistence farming to commercial farming.

 

Challenges in Indian agriculture

 

Despite record production of certain major agricultural produce and rise in export, Indian farm sector faces some challenges, such as, low crop yield/productivity, small land holdings, monsoon dependency, low share of exports in global market, lag in farm mechanisation, burden of loans, farmer suicide, inadequate storage facilities, absence of supply chain management, etc. All this puts a load on the already struggling industry, limiting its growth.

 

Dependence on monsoon

 

The growth of India’s agriculture has been dependent on monsoon and as a result it has been volatile. There is only 36% of irrigated land of the total agricultural land (World Bank data). Reliance on seasonal rainfall lowers productivity. Moreover, change in climatic conditions and erratic weather pattern such as cyclones and droughts can impact yields of agricultural crops.

Marginal land holdings

 

In India nearly 85% of agriculture land holding are small and marginal (<2 hectares). Raising farm productivity is critical for long term increase in farmers’ income in India, as land fragmentation means that many Indian farmers are having farming plots of such a small sizes that even doubling their incomes would leave them with meagre earnings.

 

Slower agricultural growth rate

 

The Ashok Dalwai Committee report on doubling farmers’ income estimated that it will require an agricultural growth rate of 10-11% per annum until 2022-2023. However, agricultural growth rate and farmers’ income growth rate has been stagnating and well below the required rate of growth.

Lack of mechanisation

 

In India majority of farming is done by conventional agricultural tools. According to the Census 2018-19, 76.5% of farmers have less than 2 ha of land (avg land holding 1.15 ha). This is another obstacle in the use of modern tools in agriculture.

 

Scarcity of capital

 

Due to absence of any well operated institutional mechanism, farmers are bound to take capital from money lenders, and because of the overwhelming dominance of money lenders they charge exorbitant rates of interest. This has socio-economic implications for farmers and they are bound to sell their land and fall in the debt trap.

 

Poor penetration of forward and backward linkages in agriculture

 

Food processing units need to have strong backward linkages with farmers, farmers’ producer organisations, self help groups, etc. Further, to be able to sell processed food, strong forward linkages are needed with the wholesalers, retailers, and exporters.

 

Inadequate storage facilities and transport connectivity

 

India has poor rural roads, which affect the timely supply of inputs and timely transfer of outputs from the farm. In other areas, regional floods, poor quality and inefficient farming practices, lack of cold storage, harvest spoilage causes 30% loss to the farmers’ produce. Because of absence of godowns and warehouses, farmers are forced to sell their produce at very low cost. According to the Parsee committee, lack of adequate storage facilities leads to 6.6% of food wastage. Absence of cold storage leads to 20% wastage of fruits and vegetables.

 

Issues related to subsidies

 

Agricultural subsidies were introduced to incentivise farmers to take up loans. Green Revolution subsidies also intended to reduce the cost of production for farmers and to check food price inflation and to protect consumers. However, today it has become apparent that subsidies are inflicting significant damage on different aspects of economy, e.g, subsidised urea has led to the massive overuse of nitrogenous fertilisers, leading to damaged soils and pollution of local water bodies. Similarly, power subsidies have not only led to an alarming overuse of ground water but also severely damaged the health of power distribution companies. Credit subsidies like loan waivers have weakened the Indian banking system (due to NPAs) having negative spillover effect on the economy. Output price subsidy in the form of minimum support price (MSP) basically applied only to a handful of crops, especially wheat and rice, that are produced by the government in a handful of states, resulting in excessive production of wheat and rice which has caused depletion of the groundwater table and soil quality deterioration.

 

Consumer oriented policies

 

Whenever there is a price rise in any agricultural commodity the government imposes restrictions on exports to protect Indian consumers. This creates hindrances for farmers in taking advantage of high prices in foreign markets. This coupled with the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) has meant lower private investment in export infrastructure such as warehouses and cold storage system. This lack of storage infrastructure has compelled farmers to go for distress sale.

Flawed agricultural marketing policies

 

Due to the restrictions imposed by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Acts (APMCA) passed by various states, Indian farmers today can only sell their produce at the farm or local markets (haats) to village aggregators APMC mandis and to the government at MSP.

Government policies

 

Soil health card scheme: It was launched in 2015 to help farmers in deciding amount of fertilisers to be used.

 

To increase the area under irrigation, PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana) was launched with an objective of “Har Khet Ko Pani” and to promote local rain harvest management.

The e-NAM programme was launched with the objective of One Nation One Market to provide pan-India access for farmers, rather than a dedicated local APMC market.

 

Crop diversification and better prices: PM AASHA (Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aaysanrak Shan Abhiyan) Yojana was launched to realise better prices in crop diversification. Oil seeds and copra was also included.

Agriculture export policy: Was launched in 2018 with a target of achieving 60 billion dollar worth of agricultural exports by 2022.

 

However, due to unawareness about the schemes and lack of supporting measures, most of the agricultural schemes are not implemented properly.

 

Action to be taken

 

Food processing sector: India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world but hardly 2% of total produce is being processed. The development of food processing sector can increase shelf life of fruits and reduce wastage.

 

Export orientation: India’s agricultural export supply chain is poor as compared to other countries. According to the WTO trade statistics 2017, China holds 4.1% of world agri food exports, while India shares only 2.27% of it. Better transportation, storage facilities and branding will promote our crops.

Non-farming income: If any natural disaster happens, allied sectors such as dairy, cattle rearing, fisheries, etc, can provide alternative source of income to farmers.

 

Higher productivity: In order to increase productivity, technological intervention is a must. Precision farming or drip irrigation, drones and sensors can help to reduce the input costs of farming. Now it is high time to go for climatic-specific agriculture and collective farming which can boost agriculture production in the country.

 

Research and development: China spends 60% of agricultural GDP on R&D while India spends only 30% which is less than even Bangladesh’s 38%. That is why we have not seen any notable innovation in Indian agriculture after the Green Revolution. By agricultural research we can provide better inputs and increase farm production.

 

Crop diversification: In order to curb excessive dependence on a few crops, we have to go for crop diversification. We need to incentivise our farmers to grow coarse grains like millets. It helps the farmers against pest attacks and provides security also against weather aberrations. Farmers can adopt crops that require less water instead of water intensive crops.

 

Innovative agricultural practices

 

Aquaponics: Farmers must be encouraged to adopt innovative measures like aquaponics, which is a collective activity of aquaculture and agriculture that reduces the need of chemical fertilisers and hence saves the environment and also removes dependence on one crop.

 

Urban farming: Innovative measures such as plant scrappers can also be adopted which will promote urban agriculture, reducing the pressure on traditional farming and dependence on villages.

 

Biofuel: It is a renewable energy source that is derived from microbial plant and animal material. Ethanol, green diesel and bio diesel are biofuels that have a positive impact on farm income.

 

These techniques and practices are costly and demand expertise, so the government will have to play a major role in promoting these activities by incentivising people to adopt such practices.

Finally, agriculture being a state subject needs a collective approach of both central and state governments for its development.

The commerce ministry's arm APEDA on Friday said it is in the process of formulating a strategy to promote export of natural farming products, which holds huge potential in the global markets.

 

 

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture to develop the standards for production along with a certification system.

 

'Given that demand for natural products is growing and consumers demand greater quantities of foods, cosmetics and medicines that contain natural ingredients, APEDA is in process to formulate a strategy for promotion of export of natural farming products,' it said.

 

The adoption of natural farming is a win-win situation for farmers as recognition of these products will support farmers with premium prices and the value addition of such goods will yield more foreign exchange in the global market, it added.

 

APEDA has also taken several initiatives to sensitise growers, exporters, different state government officials and other stakeholders for harnessing the export potential of organic products and requirements under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).

 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget Speech stated that chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers' lands in five-km-wide corridors along the River Ganga, at the first stage.

 

Natural farming is being practised in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

 

'It is anticipated that the northeastern region and hill states can also be potential states for natural farming due to its typical farming practices with negligible application of farm inputs,' it said.

 

Natural or chemical-free farming is a method of cultivation in which farmyard manure, cow and buffalo dung, urine vermi-compost and other such natural ingredients are used for cultivating crops instead of urea, diammonium phosphate and other synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a webinar on Tuesday on Budget 2022-23 with a focus on ways to accelerate the pace of growth, according to an official release.

 

To facilitate efficient and speedy implementation of budget announcements, the Government of India is holding a series of webinars across various key sectors, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

 

The objective is to brainstorm with experts from the public and the private sectors, academia and industry and identify strategies on how best to move forward towards implementation of various issues under different sectors, it said.

 

As part of this series, it said, post-budget webinar with title 'Financing for growth and aspirational economy' is being organised by the Finance Ministry on March 8.

 

'In participation at the highest level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a special address during the inaugural session. The webinar involves participation from 16 ministries, NITI Aayog, Capacity Building Commission and State Governments.

 

'It will also include participation from regulators like RBI, SEBI, IFSCA, IRDAI, NABARD, GIFT City, Industry associations and subject Matter Experts/ Investor community,' it said.

 

The webinar will have five breakaway sessions on themes of financing of infrastructure; financing sectors with high employment potential; creating enablers of infrastructure; navigating the digital opportunity for banking and finance, and climate and sustainable finance and financing for sunrise sectors.

 

'Through the webinar, the Ministry of Finance seeks to get valuable inputs on ways to accelerate the pace and achieve the agenda of the themes. By leveraging stakeholders' expertise and experience, an action plan for effective implementation of growth reforms will be catalyzed,' it said.

The Commerce Secretary level meeting between India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi on 4th March 2022. The Indian delegation was led by Commerce Secretary, Government of India, Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam and the Bangladesh delegation was led by Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh, Mr. Tapan Kanti Ghosh.

 

Both sides held extensive discussions on a variety of issues of mutual interest, including development of railway infrastructure, port infrastructure, Joint Study on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Border Haats, Regional connectivity through Multi-Modal Transportation, Harmonization of Standards, Mutual Recognition Agreement. 

 

Of the many issues discussed, progress on the following agenda items was appreciated by the delegation of both the countries: -

 

· Significant growth in the bilateral trade between the two countries in recent years -Bangladesh is the   6th largest trade partner of India.

 

· For facilitation of trade between India-Bangladesh through railways

 

a) For developing container handling facility at Sirajganj Bazar a Detailed Project Proposal (DPP)    approved.

 

b) For running freight trains between India-Bangladesh, 900 metre new siding line constructed at Benapole.

 

c) For allowing import of all commodities from India by rail via Darsana, the construction of loading and     unloading platform completed at Darshana.

 

d)  For development of Rail and Road based ICD at Ishwardi, the DPP approved.

 

SK University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu is organizing five day Mega Krishi Mela – 2022 from March 07 to March 11, 2022 here at Main Campus, Chatha.

 

Prof. J.P. Sharma, Vice -Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu and Chief Patron of the Krishi Mela, during interaction with the Media, informed that the theme of this year Krisi Mela is 'Natural and Modern technologies'.

 

Prof Sharma briefed that Krishi Mela, 2022 would focus on demonstration and exhibition of proven and improved technologies developed by the university to improve agricultural productivity, profitability and sustainability in the Jammu region. Manoj Sinha, Lt. Governor J&K Union Territory will inaugurate the Kisan Mela on March 7, 2022.

 

Prof. Sharma said that the event shall bring a large number of farmers, farm women, livestock owners, agri-preneurs, industrialists, rural youth, researchers, technocrats, extensions workers, students and policy makers on one platform, wherein they shall have direct access to latest innovative ideas available in the field of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and other allied sectors.

 

Prof. Sharma further informed that main attraction of the fair will be exhibition of latest agri-start-ups, kisan ghosties, workshop on APEDA, seed conference, pulses and oilseeds, convention on FPOs, natural farming, beekeeping and sale of quality seed and planting material, live demonstration of new varieties, field trips, flower show, vegetable show, fruit show, animal and dog show, agri-tourism, rural sports, farmers-scientist interaction, awareness programme on agriculture education for school children and presentation by National awarded innovative farmers.

 

Besides, Agri-Fest and Vet Fest covering number of events like cultural programme, rural sports activities, debate competitions, dance programmes etc will also be organised during the Krishi Mela. Farmers from nearby states viz., Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttrakhand, etc. will be visiting SKUAST-Jammu to actively participate in the Krishi Mela,2022.

 

The event will be witness over 300 stalls from put up by public, private, NGOs and progressive farmers, depicting the latest farm technologies such as hydroponics, Integrated Farming System, improved farm machinery, irrigation systems, mobile soil testing lab and exotic vegetables related to farmer welfare will also be laid by SKUAST-Jammu, Department of Agriculture and other allied departments, entrepreneurs, progressive farmers, IFFCO and other public and private companies, handicrafts, books and organic fertilizers etc.

 

The Mela will also be available live on virtual platforms and the event is expected to be attended by more than one lakh farmers/stakeholders through physical as well as virtual mode.

Besides, the sensitization of rural youths and farmer-scientist interactions will be arranged to provide a quick and effective way of exchanging innovative ideas.

 

During the fair, progressive farmers will be felicitated for their outstanding contribution in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. It is the only forum of its kind where policy makers, government officials and all stakeholders will come together to have interaction and dialogue with farmers. Prof. Sharma said that 5 days Krishi Mela will be a mega event to be organized by SKUAST-Jammu in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Floriculture, Sheep Husbandry, Sericulture, Fisheries, Command Area Development, IFFCO, Kisan Board, National Horticulture Board, JKEDI, ICCR etc.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal has called for increasing India's share in global trade to 10% and taking our share of exports in GDP to about 25%.

 

'These are ambitious targets, but I think doable,' said Shri Goyal, addressing the Closing session of the Post-Budget Webinar on ‘Make in India for the World’.

 

Shri Goyal said the Prime Minister, in his Inaugural Address to the webinar, renewed emphasis to promote Manufacturing and make India self-sufficient.

 

'Today other countries are also talking of programmes very similar to AatmaNirbhar Bharat. And I think there can be no better endorsement of the importance and the success of this vision than the fact that the world today wants to emulate the India story,' he said.

 

Shri Goyal called for taking India among the top 3 nations in Global Services Trade. He called for supporting MSMEs in foreign trade, besides creating Top 10 R&D labs/innovation centres to position ourselves as a leader in technology during the next 25 years as India embarks upon the Amrit Kaal towards India@100.

 

'Let all of us become job creators, let all of us work towards strengthening India’s Manufacturing ecosystem in a collaborative approach, let’s all of us make India AatmaNirbhar,' he said.

 

Stating that the Government is looking at a more liberal regulatory regime for the Drones sector barring the Defence systems, Shri Goyal said the Industry should aim to make India become the manufacturing hub of Drones. He called for integrating Quality in full value chain and said it should not just come into picture once the final product is made.

 

Underlining the need to develop technical skills of tomorrow for the industry, Shri Goyal called for the need to reorient academic courses to make it relevant to the 'needs of today'.

 

'Very often, demand of time is moving very fast, change in curriculum moves much slowly, Of course, there are lot of problems, you cannot change curriculum overnight, but I think more relevant, contemporary education is equally important,... so more academic courses relevant to what you require, and for that we will need to do some research for what is being taught today and how contemporary that is,' he said.

 

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the Special Address to the webinar organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Following the opening session, three consecutive sessions were held covering (i) Paradigm shift in manufacturing in India @ 100, (ii) Charting out the strategy for Realizing India’s Trillion Dollar Goal in Exports and (iii) Exploring how the MSMEs will act as the Growth Engine for Indian Economy. The closing session witnessed the Presentation of Action Plans by three senior Industry leaders, i.e, the Session Moderators, on the outcomes and the way forward. Senior officials of the Central and State Governments also participated in the deliberations.