PM addresses 87th ICAR Foundation Day Celebrations

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, today said the nation can no longer wait for the second green revolution, which must come from eastern India. He was speaking at the 87th ICAR Foundation Day Celebrations at Patna.

The Prime Minister praised Indian scientists for their work despite budgetary constraints, and emphasized the need for scientific innovations in the agriculture sector to move from "lab to land," so that farmers can benefit from them.

The Prime Minister stressed on the need for value addition in agriculture. He mentioned one of the recent episodes of the radio programme "Mann Ki Baat," where he had spoken about the need to increase production of pulses and oilseeds. He expressed happiness that based on data available so far, there appeared to be a huge increase in the sown area of pulses and oilseeds this year. He said India must aim to become totally self-sufficient in the agriculture sector.

The Prime Minister presented the ICAR Awards 2014, and launched five ICAR programmes.

The Governor of Bihar Keshri Nath Tripathi, the Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar, the Union Minister for Agriculture, Radha Mohan Singh, and Union MoS for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundariya and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, were present on the occasion.