To facilitate more students from rural areas to get into courses in universities of agriculture and horticulture, the Chief Minister had been requested to increase the rural quota to 50%, Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil has said. He added that in-principle approval had been secured for this.
Addressing the 33rd annual convocation of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS-D) on Saturday, Mr. Patil said that the reservation of 40% for the students from rural areas would be increased to 50% from the current academic year.
The Minister said that under the ‘Lab to Land’ pilot project launched in Koppal district under the District Mineral Fund (DMF), 20 mobile laboratory units had been pressed into service. “These mobile units will visit every field and test the soil. The farmers will be given information on the soil condition and solutions for pest attack. Such mobile units will be launched in every district,” he said.
Mr. Patil said that the government had also launched the programme to issue ‘Swabhiman Cards’ to all farmers. The cards, which contained details of land survey number, residential address, mobile phones, and Aadhar number, would help the farmers in getting bank loans, crop insurance claim, and title deeds, he said adding that till date 1.5 lakh cards had been issued.
Regarding utilising the services of employees of agricultural universities, Mr. Patil said that a new policy had been brought into force to depute one associate professor to the Agriculture Department in every district, and an assistant professor to each Raitha Samparka Kendra (RSK) to assist the farmers and agri officials in addressing farm issues.
The Minister also said that to promote startups in the farm sector, a committee, headed by former director of ICAR Aiyappan, had been formed. Based on the recommendations of the committee, assistance would be extended to agri startups. The Union government had given ₹450 crore towards promoting start agri startups in the State, he said.
