News Analysis India

Tag: ICAR

  • FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal emphasises on development of environment-friendly packaging

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry organised a one-day academia meet on the topic, ‘Future roadmap for safe, secure and sustainable food packaging’ on Wednesday. 

    The event was held at the Eros Hotel in Nehru Place which was attended by entrepreneurs and professionals of the industry.  Arun Singhal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was the chief guest while SN Jha, DDG, Agricultural Engineering of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was the guest of honour.

    Singhal emphasised on development and use of environment-friendly packaging. Jha spoke about the how there is less awarness about the latest developments and technologies in the field of packaging. He suggested to conduct more seminars to discuss such developments. There were technical sessions followed with a ‘research conclave’ wherein knowledge related to the subject was discussed by prominent personalities of the industry. 

    Others who were present during the event were Sunil Jain, vice chairman, IIP, Subodh Gupta, former chairman, IIP,  Tanweer Alam, director, IIP and Madhab Chakraborty, joint director IIP. Alam, while giving the welcome address highlighted the importance of packaging and how the process  adds brand and value to the product.

  • PM Narendra Modi launches 35 crop varieties with traits to address climate change, malnutrition

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched 35 crop varieties with special traits — developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) — to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition.

    The new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation through a video conference organised at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vighyan Kendra. According to the PMO, 35 crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient-content have been developed in 2021.

    These include a drought tolerant variety of chickpea, wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeonpea, early maturing variety of soybean, disease resistant varieties of rice and biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean and faba bean.

    These special traits crop varieties also include those that address the anti-nutritional factors found in some crops that adversely affect human and animal health.

    Speaking on the occasion, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said 86 per cent of farmers in the country are small farmers and the PM’s focus has been on enhancing the income of these farmers. The PM believes that farmers should not be dependent on compassion of others, but should rise on their own strength.

    For this, several schemes like PM-KISAN and transport facilities through Kisan rails have been launched to empower them, he said. “From seed to market, facilities are being provided to ensure their income doubles and contribute in making India self-reliant in the farm sector,” he added.

    Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel thanked the PM for inauguration of the newly constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Tolerance, Raipur. He said that this institute will promote agriculture in the state.

    “Climate change is a cause of concern across the world. We are seeing its impact in our area. There are two reasons — one is natural and the other one is reduction in carbon in soil,” he said, and stressed on conducting an extensive study to ascertain the impact of climate change in the country.

    Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Poultry Parshottam Rupala, Ministers of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje, and former-CM of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh were present in the event.