K'taka govt to allow private sector in agriculture education

Bangalore, June 23 (UNI) In a bid to open up education in the agriculture sector to private institutions, the Karnataka government has planned to amend the Universities of Agriculture Sciences act, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy informed today.

Addressing newspersons after visiting the country's first state-of-the-art online trading market for Fruits and Vegetables set up by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on the city outskirts, he said the cabinet had decided to amend the act to allow private sector to impart education in agriculture also. He revealed that some private institutions had already evinced interest to open agriculture sciences colleges and the proposed amendment to the UAS Act would enable them to start such colleges.

He said the government had also decided to amend the present Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) act to help the farmers to get better prices for their produces.

He said a Bill to amend the act would be placed before the legislature in the coming session, beginning on July five.

He also visited the online trading market for fruits and vegetables, set up with an investment of over Rs 160 crore and hoped that the farmers would make use of it. The market, set up in an area of over 60 acres, had outdoor and indoor trading space for optimal functioning and offered services like electronic auctions, tele-communications, cold storage and warehousing facilities.

UNI