Shri Ram Kripal Yadav, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Land Resources, Government of India visited the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad on February 12, 2018. During the visit, the Minister inaugurated a training programme on ‘Financing Small Enterprises for Rural Development’. The NIRD&PR, Hyderabad and Centre for International Cooperation and Training in Agricultural Banking (CICTAB), Pune have been conducting joint training programmes for several years. The CICTAB, Pune is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. The CICTAB conducts about 25 training programmes every year across South Asia.

In the current training programme which is scheduled from February 12 to 16, 2018, thirty five participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are participating. Apart from the above, 100 participants from other training programmes namely National Training Programme on Social Audit of Integrated Child Protection Scheme, Water Resources Programme Management for Sustainable Development also attended speech of the Hon’ble Minister at Vikas Auditorium, NIRD&PR.

Addressing the gathering, the Minister emphasised the need for providing Roti, Kapada, Aur Maakan to the rural masses through creation of sustainable employment opportunities through various government schemes like MGNREGA, Prime Minister Awas Yojna, Prime Minister Mudra Yojna, Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna, etc. He highlighted that the focus of the Government of India is Agriculture (doubling of farmers’ income), Rural Development (creating job opportunities to the unemployed rural youth), Education and Healthcare (providing quality infrastructure facilities) in order to realise the ‘New India’ by 2022.

In his welcome address, Dr. W.R. Reddy, IAS, Director General, NIRD&PR highlighted the need for sustainable rural development, catalytic role of micro finance in rural entrepreneurship, effective management of water resources and critical role of social audit in ensuring children’s healthcare and called for action from all the stakeholders. While Dr. M. Srikanth, Associate Professor & Head, Centre for Financial Inclusion & Entrepreneurship anchored the programme, Dr. Gyanmudra, Professor & Head, Centre for Human Resources Development translated the speech of the Hon’ble Minister from Hindi to English. Around 300 people including faculty, students and trainees participated in the programme and made it successful.

Later, the Hono’ble Minister visited Rural Technology Park located at NIRD&PR. The RTP is established by NIRD&PR to appreciate the potential of rural micro enterprises in creation of sustainable jobs to the unemployed youth. During his visit to the RTP, the Minister inaugurated the following:

1.      Modern Mini Training-cum-conference Hall

2.      Hydroponics Unit

3.      3 KW Solar PV Power Generation Unit

The Minister also interacted with the trainees of ‘Surya Mitra’ training programme and enquired about the course content. The Minister appreciated the efforts of NIRD&PR in organising training programmes and collaborations with GUTS which is the need of the hour as the solar technicians are really in short as on date.

He had also visited the technology units viz., Solar De-hydration and Cooling Technology, Mushroom Cultivation, Hand Made Paper, Ethnic Bags, Leaf Plate-making, Honey Processing, Tribal Jewellery, Home-based Products Manufacturing, Neem Oil Extraction and Cake-making, etc. The Minister also interacted with the technology unit partners in detail and appreciated the efforts being made by RTP in the demonstration and dissemination of technologies for the rural community and in promoting the rural employment.

He also visited the eco-friendly house building technologies showcased and informed that these technologies need to be propagated and transferred for meeting the goals of ‘Housing for All’ which is one of the main objectives and goals of the Govt. of India.

While wishing the centre to progress, the Minister further informed that he will discuss with the Secretary and the Union Minister, MoRD regarding the activities being carried on here for taking forward the same to the various parts of the country.

The minister was accompanied to the different units by Dr. W R Reddy, IAS, Director General, NIRDPR, Dr. Ramesh Sakthivel, Associate Professor and Head I/c, Mr Mohammad Khan, Senior Consultant and Mr. B N Mani, Project Engineer.

 

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