Jaipur, Dec 22 (PTI) Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagde on Monday expressed satisfaction over the growing participation of girls in agricultural education, saying the path to the country's prosperity passes
through agriculture.
Addressing the convocation ceremony of Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology here, Bagde said a convocation marks a new beginning in a student's life and noted that a majority of degrees and gold medals awarded this year had gone to women students.
"The increasing interest of girls in agricultural education is a matter of happiness. If given opportunities, they prove their excellence. Agriculture remains the foundation of India's progress," he said.
The governor said agriculture is central to Indian life, with over two-thirds of the population directly or indirectly dependent on it. He expressed concern over the rising use of chemicals in foodgrains, linking it to increasing health problems, and stressed the need to promote chemical-free farming.
Bagde said several farmers in Rajasthan were successfully practising natural farming without fertilisers, even as demand for foodgrains continued to rise and cultivable land had reduced.
Recalling that India had to import foodgrains until the 1980s, he said the country's current surplus reserves reflected a historic achievement in the agriculture sector.
According to an official statement, the governor also underlined the need to boost production of nutrient-rich grains to meet the demands of a growing population, noting that the use of millets had gained momentum in India and abroad following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative.
He advised students that in today's competitive environment, degrees alone were not enough. Intellectual ability, humility and civility were equally important, he added.
Bagade awarded 1,181 degrees across various faculties and presented gold medals to 44 students. Several improved agricultural varieties developed by the university were also released on the occasion. PTI AG KSS
KSS
