Annual General Body Meeting 29-12-2012

All India Agricultural Students Association

A/G-4, National Societies Block,

National Agriculture Science Centre complex,

Pusa, New Delhi

Minutes of the Annual General Body Meeting of All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA) held on 29^th December, 2012 at New Delhi

The Annual General Body Meeting of AIASA(AGM) was held on 29.12.2012 at 4:30 PM, IARI campus, New Delhi under the chairmanship of shri. Biswajit Mondal, National President, AIASA. Since  the Coram  could not be met, therefore, meeting was adjourned for half an hour and reassemble at 5:00 PM.  The list of participants is annexed.

The National President welcomed the members, associate members and advisors for taking keen interest for carrying out the activities of AIASA for welfare of agriculturists/agriculture in different parts of the country. The following issues were discussed and decision taken:

1. Budget & Account matters: The Treasurer of AIASA presented the details of expenditure incurred/likely to be incurred and sought approval for the budget for the year 2013. The Treasurer presented the details of expenses of Rs.50,000/- incurred during the year 2012 and sought the approval of AGM of about Rs.75,000/- budget for 2013. It was mentioned that the Association got printed 128 receipt books for registration of students in different Universities. The payments will be made after receipt of bills. It was informed that final tally of expenditure will be made by end of March, 2013.
2. Handing over and taking over charge by Executive Committee: The National President informed the house that AIASA has been registered under societies Registration Act, 1860 vide registration No.S/RS/SW/0522/2011 on 1.12.2011. The Association has got Permanent account Number(PAN). It was informed that the present Executive Committee has taken over charge from previous Executive Committee on 1.3.2012. The new Executive Committee will take finance and account charge after completion of account in April, 2013 or thereafter. The General body passed the resolution as under:“Resolves that new Executive committee will take charge from the Existing Executive Committee after April, 2013 and will continue to function till 31^stDecember,2013 in accordance with bye-laws of the Society and further resolves that an intimation will be given to SBI, Beej Bhawan alongwith specimen signature of the authorized officer for operating the account of the Association. The decision taken by existing Executive committee will be valid till completion of the account.”
3. Membership Drive: It was decided to enroll  all the students pursuing their degree/diploma in agriculture and allied sciences (Agriculture, Veterinary, Fishery, Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering, Forestry, Agri-Business Management etc.) in the country as members of the Society and agricultural professional as associate members of the society. University coordinator of each Agricultural University/ Deemed University/Central Agricultural University/Autonomous or Recognized Agricultural Colleges/Institutions under the networking of Vice-president and Joint-secretary of their respective zones (East, West, North, South, Central and North East Zones) in coordination with Chief coordinator and Senior Vice President, General Secretary of the association, will initiate  membership drive. The General body has fixed the target to enroll 100,000 students as members by end of December, 2013.
4. Election of Executive committee: The Association appointed Dr.Mahesh Yadav, Principal Scientist, NBPGR(ICAR) as Returning Officer on 7.12.2012 as per clause 9(i) of the constitution of AIASA, for conducting election for various office bearers of Governing Body of the Association(AIASA), for the year 2013. Based on the nominations received and consensus reached among the members of Association, the following persons were declared  elected unopposed in the Annual General Meeting of AIASA held on 29.12.2012 at IARI, New Delhi:

The AGM authorized National President to fill up Vacant posts in consultations Chief Coordinator and concerned Vice Chancellors/members of the Association in Agricultural Universities/colleges.

• Constitution of Advisory Board of AIASA: Shri.J.P.Singh, Secretary General, AIFAA and Advisor, AIASA has proposed that there should be time to time dialogue among the Senior Officers, MPs, representatives of Students, farmers, Industry and other stake holders    for reaching consensus on the important issues faced by agriculture community and for taking it up with higher authorities with recommendations for possible solution. It was unanimously decided to constitute Advisory Board of 100-150 members comprising Senior Government Officers, Vice Chancellors, Directors of Central/State Depts of Agriculture/Horticulture/Veterinary Sciences and representatives of Industry, scientists, students, farmers/NGOs and other stake holders. National President will approach Chairman, ASRB or any other senior officer(s) for seeking consent of holding the post of Honorary Chairman, Advisory Board and he will also make communications to Vice Chancellors, directors and representatives of Farmers, Scientists, Students, Industry and other stake holders for memberships of the Board.
• Website of AIASA: Decision was also taken to resolve the technical problems of the website of association (www.aiasa.co.in) after having a meeting with the representatives of AIASA with its web engineer. It was decided to pay balance amount of Rs.25000/- to web engineer for settlement of website issues. The registration renewal charges of the website app Rs.5000/- will also be paid by society. It was decided to continue our website at www.aiasa.in till the time the matter is resolved with web designer.
• Appointment of College/Local coordinators: It was also decided that the University Coordinators can nominate a few numbers of college coordinators/ local coordinators at different colleges to have more accessibility to the members. Facilitators will be duly appreciated but they will not be the part of National executive committee because of limitation of maximum number of executives as 75.
• Appointment of Coordinators at AIASA HQ: It was decided to appoint 40-45 Coordinators/Senior Coordinators at AIASA HQ for effective monitoring and functioning of the Association. Mr.Manjit Mahadev Lad, Chief Coordinator presented the list of 45 coordinators/Senior Coordinators for consideration of their appointment in the AGM. The AGM approved the proposal and it was decided to authorize National President to appoint such Coordinators/Senior coordinators in consultations with Chief coordinator as per requirement of the work.
• Maintaining transparency in the agriculture sector: Mr.Manjit Mahadev Lad, Chief Coordinator has mentioned that it is one of the objective of the Association to make all efforts for maintaining transparency and eradication of  corruption in the agriculture sector.To work in that line the Chief Coordinator proposed to constitute Anti Corruption Cell(ACC) at AIASA. The Chief Coordinator presented the composition of 15 members ACC headed by Mr.Jitendra Singh Shekhawat and Mr.Ravi Kure as Member Secretary and also its terms of appointment. The proposal was unanimously approved by the AGM. The draft notification was approved in the AGM after discussion. Mr. J.P.Singh, Secretary General raised the issue of harassment of Dr.Sahadeva Singh, President, Technical Officers Association by corrupt bureaucrats in Krishi Bhawan and requested the august gathering to raise the issues with appropriate authority and also proposed  to identify the most corrupt officers in the Agriculture Sector. After detailed discussion in the AGM, the consensus was made to declare Mr.P.K.Basu as most corrupt officer of the decade in the agriculture sector. It was also decided to take legal action including PIL for eradication of corruption in the agriculture sector. Shri.Jitendra Singh Shekhawat, Chairman, ACC has been authorized to take up the matter with appropriate authority including Court (s).The meeting ended with the vote of thanks to the chair.

Dated:29.12.2012

Heena Rasool Mir

Treasurer, AIASA

No 4-2/AIASA/2011

Dated:25.1.2013

Subject: Minutes of the Annual General Body Meeting of All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA) held on 29^th December, 2012 at New Delhi

Kindly find enclosed herewith the minutes of the meeting of the Annual General Body of AIASA held on 29.12.2012 at IARI Campus, New Delhi under the chairmanship of Mr.Biswajit Mondal,  National President, AIASA. This is for kind information and further necessary action.

Harish Kumar

Chief coordinator, AIASA

Distribution:

1. All the Members of AIASA
2. Patrons, AIASA
3. All the former/newly elected Executive Members(Cabinet Members), AIASA
4. Chairman, AIFAA,All India Federation of Agricultural Associations, A/G-4, National Societies Block, National Agriculture Science Centre complex, Pusa, New Delhi
5. All the Advisors, AIAFA
6. AIASA website(www.aiasa.in)/ Notice Board/AIASA Face book group

Meeting Date:Saturday, December 29, 2012
Meeting Venue:New Delhi

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Annual General Body Meeting-21-02-2012

Convention on Agriculture Administration-10-05-2011

Minutes of the meeting of “All India Convention on Agriculture Administrative Reforms” held on 10^th, May, 2011 at Malavankar Hall, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

The All India Convention on Agriculture Administrative Reforms was held on 10^th May, 2011 at Mavlankar Hall, Rafi Marg, New Delhi, to discuss the various issues related to creation of organized cadre of All India Agriculture Service, Restructuring of agriculture policy framework, Creation of job opportunities for agriculture graduates & Delivery mechanism of quality inputs & agriculture produce and market linkages through PPP mode.

The Convention was organized by All India Federation of Agricultural Associations (AIFAA) jointly with Technical Officers’ Association of Ministry of Agriculture, Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA), Central Herbal Agro-Marketing Federation of India (CHAMF) and Bhartiya Kisaan Union (BKU).

The Convention was attended by about 400 Agriculture officers, Scientists and Technocrats from Central and State Department of Agriculture, Central and State Agriculture Universities, Govt. Undertakings, ICAR, Research Institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), students from ICAR institutions & various agricultural universities and representatives of farmers and Industries.

The Convention was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Harish Rawat and Shri Jagdambika Pal, Hon’ble Member of Parliament & former Chief Minister of UP has delivered a speech as Guest of Honour. Key Note Address was delivered by Dr. C.D. Mayee, Chairman, Agriculture Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), ICAR. The Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture has launched the website of All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA). Dr. Suraj Bhan, Chairman AIFAA has delivered the welcome address and Shri J.P. Singh, Secretary General has given about the details of background of the convention.

Shri Jagdambika Pal in his Address underlined and emphasized the need for creation of All India Organized Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service on the pattern of Indian Forest Service & other organized service cadres. He mentioned that inspite of recommendations made by Nalagarh Committee (1958), National Commission on Agriculture (1976), Sarkaria Commission on Central & State Relations (1988) and 5^th & 6^th Pay Commission, no action has been taken for creation of Indian Agriculture Service. The Rajya Sabha had also passed resolution by 2/3 majority in 1965 & 1971 for creation of All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service, but no further actions have been taken by the Government. The National Farmers’ Commission had recommended that Department of Agriculture in the Centre & State should be reorganized for the welfare of farmers but none of the recommendations implemented by the Government.  Sh. Jagadambika Pal also assured that he will take up the matter with the Government and also will raise the issue in the Parliament for creation of Indian Agriculture Service. He stated that due to ignoring of agriculture scientists and technocrats in decisions or policies making position, the developmental programmes of agriculture are not showing the desired results and money flowed for these developmental programme is not being utilized properly rather going waste.  He complemented the efforts of All India Federation of Agricultural Associations (AIFAA) and other associated organizations by organizing this All India Convention on Agriculture Administrative Reforms today. He hoped that the Agriculture Administrative Reforms would be possible to take place with our efforts and the support of Shri Harish Rawat, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture. He further advised the delegates to come out with some fruitful recommendations for pursuing with the Govt.

Shri Harish Rawat, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture in his presidential address complimented the initiative taken by All India Federation of Agricultural Associations (AIFAA) and other associated organizations by organizing this All India Convention on Agriculture Administrative Reforms and stated that there is need to create All India Organized Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service. Shri Harish Rawat assured the participants that the long pending demand of Agriculture Scientist and Technocrats for Creation of All India Organized Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service and other issues will be examined by the Government in positive prospective and hoped that the deliberations in today’s seminar will come out with some conclusions and recommendations and invited the delegations of representative of AIFAA and other organizations to come for discussion on the recommendation of Convention which may be pursued for consideration of Government.

Dr. C D Mayee, Chairman, ASRB, has delivered a key note address and mentioned that thousands of posts are vacant in agriculture departments and agricultural universities, which needs to be filled up for improving the agriculture production and betterment of agricultural education. He mentioned that ASRB has capability to make recruitment of all vacant posts in Government Departments and State Agriculture Universities, if responsibilities are given by the Government. He mentioned that in absence of regular recruitment more than 50% technical posts have become vacant in development departments, which are affecting the proper implementation of agricultural developmental programmes adversely. He also pointed out that a number of technical senior level posts in the central and state departments of agriculture have been usurped and occupied by the officers from IAS and other cadre services and very recently the post of Plant Protection Adviser to the Govt. of India has been occupied by the officer of IAS cadre denying the claim of next junior level officer eligible for promotion.

Dr. Suraj Bhan, Chairman, AIFAA, in his welcome address welcomed the Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Harish Rawat ji, Hon’ble, Shri Jagdambika Pal, Hon’ble Member of Parliament & former Chief Minister of UP, Hon’ble Dr. C.D. Mayee, Chairman, Agriculture Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), ICAR, distinguished persons from organizer organizations on the dais, distinguished delegates present in the house, press media and organizing team of the convention. He briefly narrated the efforts made by AIFAA in pursuing the matters related to creation of Indian Agriculture Service and the background reasons for forming the AIFAA, a common platform for agriculture scientists, technocrats, farmers and scholars in the country.

Shri J.P. Singh, Secretary General, AIFAA, while presenting the background paper on the convention stated that sixty per cent of the working population of India is engaged in agriculture. Farmers are under debt and committing suicides, the situation assessment survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (5^th round) revealed that 27 percent of farmers found agriculture a non-profitable activity and as many as 40 per cent farmers opined that given an alternative, they would like to quite farming as a profession.

He further mentioned that for making policies, planning and implementation of developmental program of agriculture, the role of agriculture scientists and technocrats in decision making position becomes important. But in the prevailing working system of Central and State Departments of Agriculture, the Agricultural Scientists and Technocrats have no or limited say in decision making in govt. The top decision making posts in Agriculture Departments in Centre, States and even the posts of Agriculture Attaché in foreign countries are occupied by non-agriculturalists due to which the agriculture extension system in centre and states is collapsed and foreign trade is also adversely affected. Pay scales and career progression opportunities of agricultural personnel are not uniform and are much less than the administrative and other cadre services. The middle / junior level technical posts are not filled timely which later attracts abolition.

He also pointed out that there is no agriculture education policy and the infrastructure facilities for study and employment opportunities/remunerations packages of agriculture professionals are not at par with the medical engineering, management and other professionals. This has resulting to compel agriculture professionals to seek job opportunities in other fields. Agriculture Officers / Scientists Associations, Farmer’s Unions / Associations and NGOs / Societies working in the field of agriculture are not consulted in decisions of govt. for Agricultural Community Welfare Programs, budget allocation etc. Secretary General further pointed out that the recommendations of the various govt. appointed committees / commissions for creation of organized All India Cadre of Agriculture Service and other Administrative Reforms in agriculture have not been implemented by the government and there is no proper coordination between research and development organizations, KVKs and state governments.

In view of the above, Secretary General placed the following demands on behalf of AIFAA for consideration of the Union Government:-

Creation of All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service:

The strength of the agriculture professionals to create organized Cadre of Agriculture Service is much higher than the required number as per guidelines of the govt. The total number of group A & B Technical and scientific posts in the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Allied Sector is 1600, in States Departments of Agriculture and Allied Sector is 10, 000, in Krishi Vigyan Kendra is 10,000, in ICAR. Societies and its Research Institutions is 6,500 and in Central / State Agriculture Universities is 30,000 making a total of about 60,000.

The nexus of bureaucrats in the Central and State Departments of Agriculture has paralyzed the functioning of Agricultural system in the country. By ignoring of Technical and Scientific officers and filling up of technical posts by the officers from other cadre services who have no background of agriculture, it is imperative that the mission of food security will not only be difficult, rather it will be impossible. In spite of huge investment in Agriculture Development Programmes during Xth & XIth Plan, the agriculture growth has declined from 5% to less than 2%.

The recommendation of 5^th & 6^th Pay Commission with regard to the creation of Central Agricultural Service have not been implemented so far, inspite of the fact that 38 members of parliament including former Prime Minister of India Hon’ble Shri H.D. Devgowda, Hon’ble Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Shri Sharad Yadav and other prominent members of Parliament had recommended for creation of Central Agricultural Service to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and Hon’ble Union Minister of Agriculture. But, Shri P.K. Basu, Secretary (A&C) and Shri K. Sanjayan, Under Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture could manipulate not to agree to the recommendation of 5^thand 6^th Pay Commission and also of members of parliament.

Hence, it is desirable that effective steps should be taken to create Indian Agriculture Service at par with other cadre services. Meanwhile, Government of India should implement the recommendation of 5^th & 6^th Pay Commission for creation of Central Agricultural Service.

• Establishment of Regulatory Mechanism of Agriculture Research in the country:

There are 52 Central, State and Deemed Agricultural Universities and four Central Universities with Agriculture faculty, which are doing research and education. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is only research body in the field of agriculture in India at national level. There is no Regulatory body under the act to regulate the agriculture research in the country. The ICAR should be given the status of DRDO / Atomic Energy Commission for conducting, monitoring and regulating agriculture research in the country.

• Inclusion of Agriculture Education in the proposed Indian Education Service and Parity of Higher Education in Agriculture with other professional subjects:

Ministry of Human Resources Development has proposed to create an Indian Education Service in the country. Agriculture Education should form a part of the proposed Indian Education Service for improving the Agriculture Education System in the country. There should be parity of higher education in agriculture with other professional subjects. There is no Agriculture Education Academy in the country for regular upgradation of skills of teachers in Agricultural Universities.

Today, Indian Agricultural Research Institute is the only premier institute in higher education of agriculture which is not able to cater the need of entire country. The government should establish more number of IARI / NDRI / IVRI in each zone of the country with more autonomy and power on par with IITs / AIIMS and other professional courses.

•  Reorganization of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation on the pattern of USDA:

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is the nodal authority for agriculture development and monitoring and supplements the efforts of state departments of agriculture and coordinate the entire agriculture development programmes and international cooperation in agriculture trade. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation should be reorganized on the pattern of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) by having specialized wings including Foreign Agriculture Service.

• Strengthening Agriculture Extension System in the country:

Agriculture extension system is totally collapsed in our country. In the absence of effective agriculture extension system, the technologies developed by ICAR and Agricultural Universities / Institutions do not reach to the farmers. All KVKs should be placed under the administrative control of one regulatory body for strengthening our agriculture extension system and the scientists of KVK may form part of unified cadre of Indian Agriculture Service.

• Appointment of Agriculture Personnel as Agriculture Attaché in our Embassies on the pattern of developed country:

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Presently, the officers of organized cadre without agriculture background are appointed on the posts of agriculture attaché in Embassies and International Organizations. While there is need that the Agriculture Personnel from the existing department of agriculture and in future from proposed Indian Agriculture Service should be appointed against these posts.

• Introduction of a transparent system by eradicating bureaucratic interference in implementation of agriculture development programmes:

All the Agriculture Development programmes at district level should be implemented by a body headed by senior most officer of agriculture department instead of District Magistrate or Chief Development Officer from IAS / PCS Cadre to avoid uncalled forbureaucratic interference.

• Engagement of Agriculture Graduates for implementation of MG National Rural Employment Guarantee act:

Department of Rural Development has proposed to engage ten lakh personnel particularly junior engineers and computer operators rather than agriculture graduates at the village level for implementation of MG National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. For effective implementation, the government should employee agriculture graduates as extension officers under MGNREGA and thereby creating employment opportunities for agriculture graduates.

• Effective regulatory mechanism for supply of quality agricultural inputs and marketing linkage of agriculture produce to farmers:

The regulatory mechanism for supply of quality agricultural inputs to farmers like pesticides, seeds, fertilizer/nutrients etc. is not effective at enforcement level and there are loopholes in the legal mechanism. The entire mechanism needs to be reviewed for improvement and effective enforcement. There should be mandatory requirement of B.Sc. Agriculture qualification for input dealers of seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and organic inputs on the pattern of pharmacy. The small units for production of organic agriculture inputs including bio-agents may be set up at village level to meet local requirement.

For providing backward and forward marketing linkages for agricultural produce, the small scale processing units may be set up at village level by self help groups of farmers with marketing linkage directly with consumers through farmers Basket Delivery Systems and opening of KISAAN KIOSKS in city markets.

Thus there are challenges before us which need to make unified efforts by all agricultural Professionals/Scientists/Officers/Students/Farmers and Agriculture Industry and impress upon the government to take effective steps for agricultural administrative reforms by taking steps suggested above and by creating all India cadre of Indian Agriculture Service covering Education, Research, Development, Extension and Foreign assignments.

Keeping in view above, this convention is organized to discuss and finalize the blue print for agricultural administrative reforms including creation of Indian Agriculture Service.

The dignitaries and other participants attending this convention were invited to contribute by giving their valuable suggestions to arrive at consensus conclusions of the convention for pursuing further with the Government.

After the inaugural session, the following technical sessions were held during the convention:

1. Creation of All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service
2. Restructuring of Agriculture Policy Framework
3. Creation of job opportunities for agriculture graduates.
4. Delivery mechanism of quality agriculture inputs & market linkages for agriculture produces through PPP mode.

The first session was chaired by Dr. V.K. Yadava, the then Additional Plant Protection Advisor and now Plant Protection Advisor to Govt. of India.  In the first session, Dr. Sahadeva Singh, President, Technical Officers’ Association, Ministry of Agriculture made a presentation on proposed cadre structure of Indian Agriculture Service which was adopted by the house unanimously with some amendments suggested by Dr. Panakj Kumar, Vice President, Students Council, NDRI, Karnal. Sh. Biswajit Mandal, President, PGSSU, IARI, New Delhi made a presentation on Indian Agriculture Service and given comparative cadre structure of developed countries including USA. Dr. Pankaj Kumar, Vice President, Students Council, NDRI, Karnal emphasized that there should be All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service and equal importance for agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries and veterinary and other allied subject should be given in the new proposed cadre structure and also in the research, development, education and extension programmes for livelihood of the rural poor people. Dr. Pankaj mentioned that there was only 11.87% allocation of fund for Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, out of total outlay for Ministry of Agriculture during 10^th Plan. This matter was also taken up by Dr. Pankaj with Sh. Harish Rawat, Union Minister of State for Agriculture at the side line of the convention. Sh. Neeraj Sharma, President, Agricultural Students Association, Horticulture University, Solan, in his speech emphasized that there should be All India cadre of Indian Agriculture Service for better opportunities of agricultural graduates and for overall development of agriculture.

The second, third and fourth sessions were chaired by Dr. M.M. Anwer, Director, NRC Seed Spices (ICAR) and co-chaired by Dr.  Raja Ram Tripathi, Chairman (CHAMF). In the second technical session, the presentations were made by Dr. Sangeet Shekhar Deb, Joint Secretary (Research), SATSA, West Bengal, Dr. Mahesh Yadav, Principal Scientist (ICAR) and Dr. Raja Ram Tripathi, Chairman (CHAMF). Dr. Deb in his presentation emphasized that all technical posts in the Agriculture Departments in Centre & States should be given to the technical personal only. The Secretary Agriculture should also be given to technical personal. This could be possible only by creation of All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service. Dr. Mahesh Yadav has strongly advocated for implementation of National Farmer Commission’s reports and mentioned that government should transfer agriculture from state list to concurrent list for formulation and implementation of policy for betterment of farming community. Dr. Raja Ram Tripathi has strongly supported the demand of AIAFA for creation of Indian Agriculture Service. He mentioned that the organized cadre service should have been created by the Government long back. It is unfortunate that our agriculture policy and programmes are implemented by non-agriculturist. Dr. Tripathi has further mentioned that it is the farming community who are the most sufferer because non-agriculturists are looking after agriculture development programmes and involved in formulating agriculture policy.

In the third session the presentations were made by Shri Santanu Dasgupta, Director (Scientific Affairs), Monsanto on careers for a revolution: grow with agriculture innovations, Dr. D N Singh, Chief Consultant, NRAA emphasized the need for creating job opportunities for agriculture graduates & Shri Amol Bhalerao, Chief Coordinator, AIASA has mentioned that all agriculture development programmes should be handled by technocrats and further mentioned that there is a need to eradicate corruption at every level in development programmes and supported the issues raised by AIAFA for overall development of agriculture and in the best interest of agriculture graduates.

In the fourth session the presentations were also made by Dr. D K Sharma from M/S Greaves Cotton Ltd. on the utility of agriculture equipments manufactured by M/S Greaves Cotton Ltd. for farmers, Dr. B V Venkateshwara, Dean, KVAFSU, Bidar, on creation of Indian Agriculture Service and Shri J P Singh, Secretary General, AIAFA, on Effective regulatory mechanism for supply of quality agricultural inputs and marketing linkages of agriculture produce to farmers:

Recommendations

After detailed deliberations in the different sessions, the following recommendations were made: –

• There is a need to create an All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service. A model structure of All India Cadre of Indian Agriculture Service should be submitted to the Government. The proposal may be based on the presentations made in the Convention and models of other organized cadre services. Meanwhile, the proposal to create Central Agriculture Service as recommended by 5^th & 6^th Central Pay Commission may also be pursued with the Union Ministry of Agriculture simultaneously. It was also recommended that the parity of pay scales of scientists and technocrats of Union Ministry of Agriculture at par with other Central Govt. Scientific Departments may be pursued as recommended by 5^th Central Pay Commission. For initiating the timely action on this issue it is also desirable that the officers having negative attitude such Shri P. K. Basu, Secretary (A&C) and Shri K. Sanjayan, Under Secretary should be immediately shifted from Department of Agriculture & Cooperation to some other Department(s).

• There is a need for Restructuring of Department of Agriculture on the pattern of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). A proposal of Restructuring of Department of Agriculture may be formulated based on the presentations made in the Convention for submission to the Government.

• That a regulatory mechanism for regulating agriculture research and education may be framed under the Act. The ICAR should be given the status at par with DRDO / Atomic Energy Commission for conducting, monitoring and regulating agriculture research in the country.

• That govt. should establish more number of IARI, NDRI, IVRI, CFRI in each zone of the country with more autonomy and power at par with IITs and AIIMS.
• That a Regulatory Body to strengthen the Agriculture Extension System may be created and all KVKs may be brought under the control of proposed Agriculture Development Service.

• That Agriculture personal may be appointed Agriculture Attaché in Indian Embassies in foreign countries as being followed by developed countries of the world.

• It was suggested to take up the matter with the govt. relating to filling-up of all 24,000 vacant posts in Central and State Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Universities, ICAR and other Institutions.

• It was considered to take up the matter with the govt. relating to vacating the technical posts in the central and state department of agriculture occupied by non-agriculture officers of other cadre services and filling up these posts by agriculture technocrats and scientists.

• It was agreed to take up the matter with the Government for introduction of transparent system in implementation of Agriculture Developmental Programmes by establishing commissionerate system of agriculture in the Centre & States.

• It was suggested to take up the matter with the Govt., Ministry of Rural Development, relating to engagement of Agriculture Graduates in implementation of MGNREGA.

• It was recommended that equal importance needs to be given to animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries and veterinary sciences for budget allocation, in the proposed cadre structure of Indian Agriculture Service, in establishment of educational institutions / universities and research establishment.

• It was considered to take up the matter with the Govt. to review the existing regulatory mechanism for production, manufacturing, formulating, sale and use of Agriculture Inputs to ensure delivery of Quality Agriculture Inputs. There should be mandatory requirement of B.Sc. Agriculture qualification for input dealers of seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and organic inputs on the pattern of pharmacy. The small units for production of organic agriculture inputs including bio-agents may be set up at village level to meet local requirement. For providing backward and forward marketing linkages for agricultural produce, the small scale processing units may be set up at village level by self help groups of farmers with marketing linkage directly with consumers through farmers Basket Delivery Systems and opening of KISAAN KIOSKS in city markets.

• The views of eminent scientists and technocrats on Agriculture Administrative Reforms suggested by AIFAA and its associated organizations may be obtained through organizing policy dialogues/ circulation and may be incorporated in the proposal to be submitted to the Government.

The convention ended with the votes of thanks moved by Dr. Ram Sanehi, General Secretary, Technical Officers’ Association, Ministry of Agriculture.

Meeting Date:Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Meeting Venue: Malavankar Hall, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

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Executive Committee Meeting-08-01-2011

National Seminar on Empowering Youth in Agriculture & AIASA Annual function 2014

AIASA organized National Seminar on Empowering Youth in Agriculture & AIASA Annual Function 2014 on 31.12.2014 at NAAS conference room at NASC Complex, New Delhi. Hon’ble Union Agriculture Minister shri Radha Mohan Singh was the Chief Guest of the function. The other dignataries participated in the meeting weere shri.Jagdambika Pal, Hon’ble MP & Patron AIASA, Dr. Satyapal Singh, Hon’ble MP, Dr.S.Ayyappan, Secretary DARE & DG-ICAR, Dr.Gurbachan Singh, Chairman ASRB & Honorary Chairman AIASA Advisory Board, Dr.R.P.Singh, Executive Secretary IAUA & Patron AIASA. Students from about 22 States, teachers, Hon’ble VCs,  Progressive farmers participated in the meeting. Oath of Office was admistered to New Cabinet -2015 headed by Mr.Sudhir Kumar, National President & his Central Cabinent Members, State Presidents, University Presidents and State Cabinet Members. 20 National awards presented to various dignataries for their outstanding contribution in agriculture including empowering youth in agriculture.

Harit Ratna Award 2014- 4 awards

1. Dr.Gurbachan Singh, chairman ASRB & Honorary Chairman AIASA Advisory Board
2. Dr.M.L.Choudhary, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Bihar Agricultuural University-Sabour(Bihar)
3. Dr.R.P.Singh, Executive Secretary IAUA & Patron AIASA
4. Dr.Suraj Bhan, Chairman, All India Federation of Agricultural Association, New Delhi

Best Vice chancellor Award 2014- 1 Award

Dr.K.Ramasamy, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, TNAU-coimbatore

Pragati Puraskar 2014- 1 Award(Best Farmer Award)

Dr.Rajaram Tripathi, Progressive Farmer & Chairman, Central Herbal Agro Marketing Federation of India(CHAMF)-Jagdalpur(Bastar)Chattisgarh

student of the Year Award 2014-7 Awards

1. Mr.Swaroop Kumar PhD(Entomology), CSKHPKV-Palampur
2. Mr.Ranvijay Pratap Singh, PhD(Horticulture) JNKVV-Jabalpur
3. Mr.Anshuman Jena, PhD(Ag) Extension Education, OUAT-Bhubaneshwar
4. Mr.Gulab Chand Jat, PhD(Entomology), MPUAT-Udaipur
5. Mr.Vishwanath Sharma, PhD(Seed Science), IARI, New Delhi
6. Mr.A.Kuzhandhaivel Pillai, PhD(Entomology), TNAU-Coimbatore
7. Mr.Sanjoy Tamuli, MFSc, College of fishery Science(Assam Agricultural University), Raha(Assam

AIASA Gold Medal 2014- 7 Awards

1. Mr. Rajesh Kanwar, PhD(Seed Science), DrYSPUHF, Nauni, Solan(HP)
2. Mr.Sudhir Kumar, PhD(Molecular Biology & Biotechnology), IARI-New Delhi
3. Ms. Preeti Vajpayee, Research Associate, Home Science, MPUAT-Udaipur(Rajasthan)
4. Mr. Gurraj Singh Dhillon, Agriculture Scholar, VPO-Chabnal, District: Tarn Tarn-143301( Punjab)
5. Mr.Pramod Mishra, Joint Secretary, AIASA(North Zone)
6. Mr.A.Palanisamy, PhD(Hort), TNAU-Coimbatore
7. Dr.Umesh B. Deshmukh, Assistant Professor/Scientist, College of Agriculture & Research Station( IGKVV) Korea(Chattisgarh)

Meeting Date:Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Meeting Venue:NAANew Delhi