IIT Kharagpur Reaches out to Village Youth at the Agri Food Expo 2020 for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in Rural Technologies
with contributions from Guru Sanjeev Kumar
The Dept. of Agriculture & Food Engineering organized the Agri Food Expo 2020 during February 14-16, 2020, under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme of the Government of India. A Workshop on Technologies for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was conducted wherein 300 participants from West Bengal and neighbouring states were trained. The workshop was primarily targeted towards unemployed rural youth who at least have a college degree and a zeal to undertake livelihood projects. The participants included representatives from 34 colleges, and district officers from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha.
The areas of training involved Operation, Maintenance and Repair of Farm Machinery & Farm Implements, Green House and Drip Irrigation Technology, Soil Testing, Vermi-composting Technology & Organic Farming, Rice milling & Rice puffing Technology, Food Processing and Preservation Technology, Effective Storage techniques for Fruits and Vegetables, Solar Technology, Extrusion Technology, Bio-fertilizers and Bio-pesticide Production Technology from Organic Wastes, Water Quality Measurement, Bee Keeping (Apiculture), Mushroom Farming, Betel Leaf Technology and various other Rural Technologies.
The participants visited the research laboratories at the Institute and Experimental Farms, Rural Energy Park and Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Park for demonstrations machineries, processes and food processing technologies developed by IIT Kharagpur and various industries. Lectures and discussions were also held in these areas.
A key concern of the participants regarding challenges by the rural community in adapting to new technologies was a point of discussion.
Prof. P B S Bhadoria, coordinator of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan at IIT Kharagpur said, “in recent years introduction of technologies has led to economic empowerment and improved livelihood of rural community. This has been achieved by means of outreach initiatives through various colleges.”
The inaugural ceremony was attended by prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, Prof. B N Singh, Registrar, IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Vivek Kumar from IIT Delhi, Prof. Aditya Bandyopadhyay from IIT Kharagpur and many others.