ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack Celebrates Platinum Jubilee Foundation Day
ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack celebrated the ‘Platinum Jubilee Foundation Day’ on 23rd April 2021 (through virtual platform) to mark the 75 years of its glorious journey in service to the nation. Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Kailash Choudhary was the Chief Guest of the event. Honourable Minister inaugurated Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Platinum Jubilee Auditorium and a ‘Platinum Jubilee National Seminar’ on ‘Way Forward for Rice Research & Development in India’ in the presence of Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR, New Delhi and Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh, Special Secretary, DARE and Secretary, ICAR, New Delhi. On this occasion, a ‘Platinum Jubilee Postal Cover’ and around forty publications of the Institute were released and 32 innovative farmers and farm-women from Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh were felicited by the chief guest and other dignitaries. The chief guest emphasized in his address that the institute should aim to strengthen dissemination of eco-friendly technologies to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability of rice cultivation in the climate change scenarios and meet the demand for rice in the global and national markets without deteriorating natural resources. Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR, New Delhi narrated the glorious past and contribution of the Institute in Green Revolution in the country. Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh, Special Secretary, DARE and Secretary, ICAR, New Delhi lauded the Institute’s glorious journey and current activities during this pandemic period. Dr. D. Maiti, Director, ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack welcomed the guests and briefed on 75 years’ journey of ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack and Dr. Y.P. Singh, ADG (FFC), ICAR, New Delhi proposed vote of thanks for the inaugural session.
A key note speech on ‘Analysis of rice gene function during development’ delivered by Dr. Akhilesh K. Tyagi, Former Director, National Institute of Plant Genome Research during the first technical session, which was chaired by Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR, New Delhi. The second technical session comprised lectures by Dr. H. Pathak, Director, ICAR-NIASM, Baramati and Dr. P. Chandrasekhara, Director General, MANAGE, Hyderabad who deliberated on natural resource management and agri-preneurship.
To mark the occasion, year-long celebration was held through lecture series by eminent personalities and various academic competitions involving school students, kids of staff members, project staff and employees of the Institute. On 22nd April, 2021, a lecture on ‘Weather forecasting for Agriculture’ was delivered by Dr. Mrityunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, Indian Meteorological Department, New Delhi and later a farmer-scientists’ interaction meet was held linking about 50 farmers. A sand-art festival was also organized at Puri sea-beach in which past glory of NRRI, Cuttack was depicted by Padmashri Sudarshan Patnaik in the presence of NRRI Officials.
A cultural evening ‘Madhuram’ was organized virtually on the Foundation Day involving staff, scholars, students and children.
Around 250 staff members of the Institute and other invited guests participated in the platinum jubilee celebration through virtual platform. At the end, Dr. S.K.Mishra, Organizing Secretary of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Committee proposed vote of thanks.
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