UGC Report on Inter University Center on Rural - Ministry of Rural ...

Chapter5
APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF THE IUC
“Knowledge economy is a critical element of India’s reform agenda, and
this requires cross sectoral coordination and partnerships among
government, private sector and civil society.”
The ‘agrindus’ vision and its implications
-(Workshop on- India and the knowledge economy: Leveraging
strengths and opportunities- November 9, 2004, New Delhi)
The sustainability of the fast growth with inclusiveness of a sovereign democracy like
India is not possible without recognizing agriculture as its base. The National Commission
on Farmers advocates for a knowledge supported agriculture (including e-agriculture) so that
- we could embark on precision cultivation and through it globally competitive
productivity
- we could add value to agricultural produce with state of the art, techniques for
preservation, packaging etc.
- we could commercially exploit the bio-diversity of the country along with its
potential in sunrise areas like
Green Food (neutraceuticals)
Green Health aids
Green Textile etc.
- we could protect our national wealth under IPR regime.
The agrindus dream brings along with it the necessity for cooperation between
agriculture, industries and commerce as part of the Nation’s agenda for ushering knowledge
economy. This in turn means a massive collaboration between the academic institutions with
the other sectors and agencies.
5.2 The need for a regional base
The agricultural and entrepreneurial drive so far have been anchored in safer domains
– for example in agriculturally richer regions and in urban environs. The present objective of
taking the annual agricultural growth to 4% and annual industrial growth to around 10%
implies that we have to rope in new category of players, new category of regions and new
category of agricultural/industrial commodities. In the case of agriculture the National
Commission on Farmers calls it ‘greening the grey areas’. Their concern for addressing
specific agro-climatic areas (while carrying on the original activities) is clear from the
following statement:
“Rain-fed and other less favoured areas have the highest concentration of
poor and malnourished people; these highly risk prone areas are
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