Mr Radha Mohan Singh, union minister of agriculture, and Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, minister of state for agriculture visited the National Gene Bank of NBPGR and appreciated the efforts for conservation of biodiversity for posterity.

During a visit to Nuclear Research Laboratory (NRL) and Experimental Farms, IARI dignitaries expressed satisfaction over the recent advances in the field. They were impressed by the innovative exhibits of the National Agricultural Science Museum (NASM) situated in the campus of National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC).

While visiting the library of IARI, Mr Singh and Dr Balyan also had an interaction with scientists of IARI. Dr H S Gupta, director, IARI made presentation on the contributions of IARI for Indian Agriculture on the occasion. Mr Singh took keen interest and appreciated the initiatives proposed by IARI.

Earlier, Dr Ravinder Kaur, project director, WTC informed that the plant will treat sewage water from the residential colony of IARI without using any chemicals. It has the capacity to process 2.2 million litres of waste water per day. The treated water will be used to irrigate farms in the campus. The water treatment plant is an innovative initiative of IARI that has been set up in four acres with the aim to enhance water availability at IARI farm research fields.

The Chairman, ASRB; Deputy Directors General of ICAR; and senior scientists and officials of ICAR/IARI were also present on the occasion.

(Source: Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture, ICAR)