PM to dedicate crop varieties with special traits to nation

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated28/09/2021

Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation 35 crop varieties with special traits in a nation-wide programme today.
Meant to create mass awareness for adoption of climate resilient technologies, the pan-India event will be held at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).
PM will also distribute the Green Campus Award to the Agricultural Universities.

The crop varieties with special traits have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition.
Thirty-five such crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient content have been developed in the year 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.
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.
Examples of such varieties include Pusa Double Zero Mustard 33, first Canola quality hybrid RCH 1 with <2% erucic acid and <30 ppm glucosinolates.
Other varieties with special traits have been developed in soybean, sorghum, and baby corn, among others.

The Green Campus Awards has been initiated to motivate the State and Central Agricultural Universities to develop or adopt such practices that will render their campuses more green and clean.
It will also motivate students to get involved in ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, ‘Waste to Wealth Mission’ and community connect as per the National Education Policy-2020.

It was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
It is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.
It is located at New Delhi.
With 102 ICAR institutes and 71 agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of the largest national agricultural organisation in the world.