PM to address Intl Conference on Agriculture

New Delhi, May 16: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the International Conference on Agriculture, which will strive to evolve strategies to rejuvenate the sagging farming sector which sustains rural India, on May 25.

The three-day conference will deliberate on boosting agriculture output and yields to maintain healthy economic growth besides holding discussions for Food, Nutritional Security and Rural Growth in the country.

The conference is being organised by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) on the occasion of the birth centenary of Dr B P Pal, the first Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a great visionary who initiated the Green Revolution during the 1960s.

The Conference will also be attended by Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Members of Parliament Dr Karan Singh and Capt, Satish Sharma, Minister of Science and Technology and Ocean Development, Kapil Sibal Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MSSRF, Dr Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest, and Dr Idah Sithole-Niag, PBS Coordinator Southern Africa, Biochemistry Department, University of Zimbabwe among others.

The conference aims at defining the challenges ahead for Indian agriculture and to deliberate on solutions by which agricultural activity could be raised to a higher level of performance in pursuit of the objectives of sustainable development.

Over 40 eminent speakers from government, various research institutions and the corporate sector will share their experiences on the subject and approximately 350 participants including postgraduate and doctoral students, and young scientists from India and overseas are expected to deliberate on important issues related to food and nutritional security, according to a TERI release here today.

UNI