Port Blair, Nov 15: Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has designated3rdDecember, the birth anniversary of Dr.Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, as Agricultural Education Day. In this connection, ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair is conducting a series of programmers for school and college students from 15th November to 5th December, 2022. To begin with, a debate competition was held on 15th November for school students in which 82 students from 9 schools viz. Ummat Public School, Kamaraj English Medium School, Khalsa Public School, Don Bosco School, GSSS, Port Mout St. Mary’s School, Govt. Model Sr. Secondary School,SaraswathiShishuMandir, and Rabindra Bangla Vidyalaya participated. Two teams from each school debated in favor and against the topic “Whether agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries are promising professional careers or not?”
At the Outset, Dr. S.K. Zamir Ahmed, Principal Scientist & Nodal officer of the programme, briefed the idea behind the conduct of debate under the aegis of Agriculture Education Day and expressed gratitude to the Principals of participant schools for deputing their students. Dr.SirishaAdamala, Scientist along with Mr. Alex Praveen Barla and Mrs. Asma Bibi, Technical Assistants coordinated the event.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. E.B Chakurkar, Director ICAR-CIARIencouraged the students to participate wholeheartedly and utilize the opportunity to with the Scientists.Dr.R.Jayakumar Varadan, Scientist & Organizing Secretary summarized the deliberation of the debate indicating that agriculture, as a primary sector provides impetus to secondary and tertiary sectors,contributes significantly to GDP and employment, and observed that corporatization will increase the efficiency and eliminate the problems in agricultural value chain; and providing urban amenities in rural areas will attract youth to take up agriculture as a professional career. Mr. D.Karunakaran, Scientist & Organizing Secretary proposed vote of thanks.
In continuation, a debate competition will be held on 16th November for college students on the topic “Whether agricultural education in schools is necessary for the Islands under increasing urbanization scenario?” followed by painting and quiz competitions on 18th and 21st November, respectively. On 25th November, Dr. Lal Singh, Joint Director & Head, Botanical Survey of India, Andaman & Nicobar Regional Centre will deliver a Seminar Lecture on “floral diversity of Andaman & Nicobar Islands’ ‘. On 28th November, the Garacharma Campus of CIARI is open for the school students to visit its R&D activities. In addition, students can submit a Concept Paper on “Innovative ideas for agricultural development in the Islands” by 30th November. The highlight of this fortnightly programmer is the Scientist-Student Interaction, wherein a team of Scientists will visit the schools to create awareness among the students about the “Career opportunities in agriculture and allied sectors’ ‘and to inculcate scientific temperament.
Organizing Secretaries Mr. D. Karunakaran, @ 9433286866 and Dr. R. JayakumaraVaradan @ 8903974102 can be contacted for further details.
