To strengthen the future of agriculture in India, it is important to attract and encourage youngsters towards agriculture sector. Young generation must be given training about agricultural education in India. And this may require massive awareness programmes among the youth focusing on various facets of agriculture and related subjects.
Keeping this in view, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has decided to celebrate 3rd December as Agricultural Education Day, which is the Birthday of the first President of Independent India and the first Union Minister of Agriculture of India in 1946, Bharat Ratna, Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
About Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was one of the famous leaders of the Indian Nationalist Movement next to Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Vallabhbhai Patel. He gave up a lucrative profession in order to pursue a greater goal of attaining freedom for the country. He was one of the chief architects in shaping the Republic of India.
Dr. Prasad entered into politics in a quiet and light-footed manner. He attended the 1906 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress as a volunteer and officially joined the party in 1911. Later he was elected to the AICC.
He was also appointed as the Food and Agriculture Minister in the Interim Government headed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1946. As a strong believer in the maximization of agricultural production, he made a slogan ‘Grow More Food.’
Presently, efforts are being made to introduce several topics, courses, and programs on different aspects of agriculture for students in schools as well colleges.
The main objective of Agricultural education day is to expose students to various aspects of agriculture and its significance in the country's growth and development. On this day, an attempt is made to inspire and motivate students towards farming so that they could develop some interest in this field.
The Government of India has also started implementing many courses and programs to fortify Agricultural Education, Research, and Extension for enduring and sustainable development in agriculture.
Today we have numerous agricultural universities and colleges in India. Some of the best agriculture colleges are -
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Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi
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National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal
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Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore
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G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUA&T), Uttarakhand
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Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, etc.
If you are interested in farming then you can join any of these institutions. For more details you can check my article on Top 10 agricultural colleges in India
