Lok Sabha Question No. 1917 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-14
Subject: Restructuring of ICAR
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: MAUSAM NOOR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1917

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 14/03/2017

## RESTRUCTURING OF ICAR

## 1917. SHRIMATI MAUSAM NOOR:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f"k ,oa fdlku dY;k.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has held any consultations to restructure the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to make the organization stronger in the domain of agricultural  research,  considering  its  contribution  to  national  economy; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof?

## A N S W E R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f'k ,oa fdlku dY;k.k ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h

(SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT)

(a) & (b): The Competent Authority under DARE/ ICAR vide Office Order No. Fin/20/2012-CDN  (A&A)  dated  13 th   Feb  2017  has  constituted  a  High  Power Committee  under  the  chairmanship  of  Dr.  T.  Ramaswami,  Former  Secretary Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India to review the functioning of the ICAR, an autonomous body, as part of the clause V of Rule 208 of GFR, which provides  for  a  system  of  Peer  Review  of  Autonomous  Organisations.    The committee has been mandated to review the structure and the function of the ICAR system and the Institutes under it and make recommendations for further strengthening the Organisation.

ICAR serves the technology and information needs of over half of the Indian population that lives in rural areas and predominantly cultivates small and marginal farms. With 102 ICAR research institutes, 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research  Institutes  (ATARIs)  and  73  agricultural  universities  spread  across  the country,  National  Agricultural  Research  System  (NARS)  is  the  largest  national

agricultural research and educational systems in the world. ICAR together with her partner institutions in National Agricultural Research System (NARS) has developed a number of technologies in various fields of Agriculture including, crop production, horticulture, dairying, poultry and fisheries sciences as a result of which the country experienced, green revolution, white revolution, yellow revolution and the pink revolution. India is now the second largest producer of wheat and rice in the world and is amongst the top exporters of rice. India is first in the world to develop hybrid cultivars of grain pearl millet, pigeon pea, castor and safflower, and second to develop hybrid cultivars of rice  and  sorghum. Incorporation  of  resistance  to  pests and tolerance to abiotic stresses in high yielding background have enabled insulation of crop plants against these stresses and thus provided stability in food production and food security.  Development of short duration varieties of rice, sorghum, cotton, pigeon  pea,  chickpea,  green  gram,  black  gram  etc.  has  opened  up  avenues  for multiple cropping systems and enhanced cropping intensity.  Improved varieties of sugarcane, wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, groundnut, mustard etc. developed, under NARS have been used for commercial cultivation in many other countries.

The  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  has  been  alive  towards the need to adapt to the changing Agricultural Research requirements of the country. Keeping  this  in  view,  committees  under  the  Chairmanships  of  eminent  scientists have been constituted during past decades also towards further strengthening of the organisation. Gajendra Gadkar committee (1972) recommended strengthening of the linkage between ICAR and Ministry of Agriculture, and consequently the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) was established. On the  recommendations  of  G  V  K  Rao  committee  (1988)  on  strengthening  inter institutional linkages, all ICAR institutions were put under the control of 8 Subject Matter  Divisions  headed  by  the  respective  Deputy  Director  General  assisted  by Assistant Director Generals. Based on the recommendations of the Johl Committee (1995) a number of reforms were introduced to provide functional autonomy to the scientists on all research related matters. A number of new research programmes in the strategic  areas  were initiated.  Based on  the  recommendation of the Mashelkar committee  (2005)  initiatives  were  taken  to  improve  the  research  base,  ICAR Industry  interface  and  Scientist-Entrepreneur  tie-up.  The  National  Agricultural Innovation  Project  and  the  National  Fund  for  Basic  &  Strategic  Research  were initiated apart from creating the Agrinnovate India Ltd. to improve ICAR- Industry linkages.  ICAR has also developed technical collaborations with various national and  international  research  institutions  to  address  the  present  and  future  research requirements of the country.

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