VED urges Radha Mohan Singh to set up National Dairy Research Institute in Bhandara
Nagpur: Nana Patole, Member of Parliament from Bhandara, Nanabhau Yerawar and VED delegates, Rahul Upganlawar, Secretary General, met Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture and apprised him of the dairy scene in this region and pursued the proposal VED has been consistently making for the establishing of a National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Bhandara. Union Minister said he would consider this proposal.
The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) as the country’s premier Dairy Research institution has developed considerable expertise over the last five decades in different areas of dairy production, processing, management and human resource development and their services have contributed to the growth of the dairy Industry and the well-being of millions of milk producers and consumers of milk and milk products. The Institute is continuously working to develop its R&D and HRD programmes to better serve the nation in terms of food security, employment generation, poverty alleviation and economic prosperity, informed Devendra Parekh, President, Vidarbha Economic Development council (VED).
Rahul Upganlawar, Secretary General – VED, informed that VED had already apprised Nana Patole of the need of a National Dairy Research Institute Vidarbha, the best place being Bhandara district which has good dairy business. Establishing of the National Dairy Research Institute in Bhandara would train the local people in the know-how and updated technologies of dairy-farming which would encourage the local entrepreneurs to go into the dairy business thus increasing the milk output and also creating employment opportunities and help to supplement the income of the farmers.
Such an institute exists now in Karnal – the original institute – covering the north and another in Bangalore taking care of the south, and one in Kolkata to cover the east and north-east, and Anand is Gujarat also has similar institutes, but there are none to take care of entire central India. Like these NDRIs, one in Bhandara too would work in different areas of Dairy Production, Processing, Management and Human Resource Development.
Realizing the challenging need of a global Dairy Trade, the Institute would work continuously to develop its R&D and HRD programmes in terms of food security, employment generation, poverty alleviation and economic prosperity.
While the main institute is in Karnal in the north with its extensions in Kalyani, near Kolkata, in the east and Bangalore in the south, catering to central India is omitted, so the establishing of an extension in central India is necessary to cater to the people of this region.
The dairy business could be very useful per se or even as a supplementary income to the rural people in this region especially with farming being weather-dependent and proving, in recent times, to be quite disastrous. VED has in mind Bhandara for this purpose as the dairy industry is somewhat good there which will be conducive to the establishing of the entire infrastructure of such an institute.
Currently, Vidarbha has to import Rs. 1800-2900 crores worth of milk annually from neighbouring States like Chhattisgarh, MP, Telangana, parts of Gujarat and even western Maharashtra. With a good institute like NDRI, the dairy industry would start flourishing in Vidarbha. Realising this need, Nana Patole had assured to establish the NDRI in Bhandara.
The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) as the country’s premier Dairy Research institution has developed considerable expertise over the last five decades in different areas of dairy production, processing, management and human resource development and their services have contributed to the growth of the dairy Industry and the well-being of millions of milk producers and consumers of milk and milk products. The Institute is continuously working to develop its R&D and HRD programmes to better serve the nation in terms of food security, employment generation, poverty alleviation and economic prosperity.
The NDRI is a Deemed University with the first formal Dairy Technology course having started in India at NDRI in 1957. Over the past five decades, the Institute has produced more than 2,000 Dairy Diploma holders, 1,174 dairy graduates, 1,903 post-graduates at Masters level and 873 at Doctorate level in different disciplines of Dairying. Deemed University status was conferred on the Institute in 1989, for further strengthening its academic programmes. NDRI Deemed University provides high quality education in the field of dairying, which has no parallel in Asia. The programmes of NDRI Deemed University are constantly reviewed and updated to impart requisite knowledge levels to the graduates to make them academically proficient in meeting the emerging global challenges.
Supplementary to the classroom teaching, one-year in-plant training in an industrial environment providing an opportunity to the NDRI students to manage dairy processing jobs in a commercial milieu, is an outstanding feature of the B. Tech (Dairy Technology) programme. A Placement Cell of the Institute provides career guidance, training and placement services for the students. NDRI post-graduate students provide the core faculty for the State Agricultural Universities in Dairy and allied disciplines and also serve the ICAR, CSIR and other National Laboratories as scientists. Alumni of this Institute occupy responsible positions in dairy industry and in R&D institutions and universities, both in India and abroad.
The Institute offers well-structured comprehensive courses and the students are in high demand also in non-dairying Organisations such as medical institutions, pharmaceutical industry, finance sector, etc. Many of our graduates have established themselves as leading entrepreneurs, who have set up their own dairy enterprises dealing with dairy equipment design and fabrication, dairy products manufacture and IT industry. The Institute has also been recognized as Centre of Advanced Studies in the disciplines of Animal Genetics & Breeding and Dairy Technology to further strengthen its HRD activities.
The Institute continues to attract international students from a host of countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Holland, Egypt and many other countries for training and education in Dairying. Advanced training imparted to the faculty members under various collaborative programmes has immensely helped in improving the quality of research, teaching and consultancy.
NDRI with such offers in all aspects of dairy education is necessary in central India to cater to the students of this vast region. VED has been trying to promote the dairy industry wherein it held three workshops which were attended largely by people from all the districts even the far-flung ones of Vidarbha. Since then, people have taken up dairy-farming, some entrepreneurs have initiated them while others have improved their existing businesses. The response is very encouraging as people still visit VED to ask for help in the sector.
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