CSIR Technologies for Rural Development launched

On October 1, 2020, the Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan launched CSIR Technologies for rural development. CSIR is Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Highlights

It is a joint initiative of CSIR, IIT-Delhi, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA). The initiative was launched during the celebrations of 40^th foundation day of CSIR-NISTADS. NISTADS is National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies.

Technologies launched

The Minister launched the following technologies

• Improved Beehive quality and hygiene extraction of honey. It was developed by CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology
• Manufacturing Ginger paste. It was developed by the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore.
• Dehumified drier for food and agri products and agricultural waste based biodegradable plates, cutleries and cups. The agricultural waste includes fruit peels, sugarcane bagasse, wheat bran. This was developed by National Institute for Inter disciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvanathapuram.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

It is a flagship programme of Ministry of Education. The programme aims to link the higher education institutions in the country with at least five villages. By this, these villages can contribute to social and economic betterment of these village communities. The main objective of the programme is to engage students and faculties of higher education institutions to identify issues in rural area and find sustainable solutions for the same.

Also, the programme allows the higher education institutions to contribute towards devising government programmes. Currently, GoI is ipmplementing Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0. The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 1.0 was launched in 2018.

The Programme now constitutes 45 regional coordinating institutions and 2,614 participating institutions. Till date, around 13,760 villages have been adopted under the programme.

The technological interventions under the programme cover areas of sustainable agriculture, artisans, water resource management, basic amenities such as infrastructure and services, industries and livelihood and rural energy system.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2020