Sachin Pilot emphasis on need of Technology in Agriculture

Sachin Pilot emphasis on need of IT, Communication and Technology in Agriculture. There is a need to leverage agriculture by ensuring that our premier agricultural institutions take full advantage of advances in Information and Communication Technologies. This was stated by the Minister of State for Communication and IT, Shri Sachin Pilot, while inaugurating the toll-free helpline launched by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (Pusa Institute) today. Although agricultural sector is the largest employer in India, with two-third of India’s population directly dependent upon agriculture, its contribution to GDP has steadily fallen over the years, he added.

Shri Pilot also underlined the need to boost farm incomes by maximizing farm productivity in an environment friendly manner. He also announced that the useful information compiled for farmers by IARI would be uploaded to approximately 70,000 Common Service Centres. He said that these Centres are already operational in the country under the Department of Information Technology as part of the National e-Governance Programme in different Indian languages to ensure that this information is available to the farming community across India.