4th Foundation Day

The Fourth Foundation Day of GSFRED was celebrated at its Research and Education Centre, Karnal on 13^th March, 2022.  Padma Shri awardee, Dr. M. L. Madan, Former Deputy Director General, ICAR and Former Vice Chancellor delivered the Foundation Day Lecture. Dr. Gurbachan Singh, Chairman GSFRED and Former Chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board chaired the session. Dr. Madan highly appreciated the efforts of Dr. Gurbachan Singh for establishing the centre after his retirement to link farmers with agriculture technologies/innovations and also to retain youth in agriculture. Dr. Madan also lauded GSFRED efforts for demonstrating the way forward for doubling farmer’s income through integrated farming system model. Honourable Sant Kashmir Singh Ji, Gurudwara Nanaksar, Sector 6, Karnal and Baba Jaswinder Singh Ji, Nirmal Kutia, Zarifa also graced the celebration.

Dr. Samar Singh, Vice Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Horticulture and Technology, Karnal; Dr. P. C. Sharma, Director, CSSRI, Karnal; Dr. G. P. Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal; Dr. Rajbir Singh, Director, ATARI, PAU, Ludhiana and Dr. Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agiriculture, Karnal graced the occasion as guests of honour and addressed the gathering.

About 400 participants attended the function which included scientists, farmers, representatives of public and private organizations and civil society. Shri Vijay Setia, former Chairman Rice Exports Association; Shri Ravi Beri, Beri Udyog; Dr. Radhey Shyam Sharma, Former Vice Chancellor; Shri Bambha, President, Haryana Beopar Mandal, Dr. B. S. Parkash, Dr. Satyabir Singh, Dr. G. D. Sharma, Dr. Ravish Chatrath and Dr. S. K. Kamra also graced the occasion. Fourth newsletter of the Foundation was released on this occasion.

The participants were exposed to various experiments and demonstrations established at the research centre such as Integrated farming system model; Crop diversification options for rice-wheat system, Strategies for in-situ management of paddy straw, Seed production of promising rice and wheat varieties, Climate smart agricultural crops and practices: organic and natural farming agro-techniques, Fruit trees based agro-forestry, farm fresh natural food outlet and nursery of fruits, vegetables, flowers and aromatic/medicinal plants etc.

In his concluding remarks Dr. Gurbachan Singh thanked all participants and emphasized the need of forming a stake holders group to promote sustainable eco –friendly agriculture to conserve water, soil, biodiversity and air quality. He also shared that GS Foundation Research and Education Centre will be open as Agro-Eco-tourism site for students and civil society members shortly.  Dr. Harinder Singh presented the vote of thanks.