EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 23: A two-day long Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) meeting on Pulses for North Zone concludes at SKUAST-Jammu on a successful note. Prof JP Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu, was the chief guest at the inaugural session. In his opening remarks, Prof Sharma said that pulses are the common man options for proteins in the diet of the majority of Indian households. The phrase Dal chawal and Dal roti are the usual proverbs when we talk of food. Pulses are the staple food consumed particularly in the hills of Himalayas and are the chief means of livelihood security.
He also welcomed the QRT members present physically and online and delegates from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and UT of J&K. He further informed the gathering that SKUAST-Jammu has recently released three varieties of pulses. Prof SK Sharma, Chairman QRT and former Vice-Chancellor, CSKHPKV, Palampur, in his address, said that now the focus should be on getting geographical GIs (geographical indications) and Trademark tags to our hill specific pulse varieties, which will popularize pulses and will give the pulse products more attractive attention and remunerative price.
Dr GP Dixit, Project Coordinator (Chickpea), ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur and member secretary of QRT on pulses, presented the introductory remarks about the theme and importance of the meeting.
At the outset, Prof Jag Paul Sharma, Director Research-cum-Registrar, SKUAST-Jammu, welcomed the chief guest, Prof JP Sharma, VC SKUAST-Jammu; the Chairman QRT, Prof SK Sharma, former Vice-Chancellor, CSKHPKV, Palampur; Dr GP Dixit, Project Coordinator (Chickpea), ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur and other QRT members present physically and online, namely Dr DP Singh, Ex-Dir (R), GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Dr DK Sharma, Ex-Dir, CSSRI, Karnal, Dr DB Ahuja, Ex-Dir, NCIPM, Dr P Kumar, Ex- Head, Agril. Economics, IARI and Prof KR Koundal, ex-Director, NIPB, IARI, New Delhi.
During the two day event, centre wise presentations and threadbare discussions of All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs) of North Zone, namely PAU Ludhiana, CCS HAU Hisar, GBPUAT Pantnagar, ARS Sriganganagar, RARI Durgapura, ARS Bikaner, SKUAST-K Srinagar, SKUAST-J Samba and CSKHPKV Palampur took place. |
