Issues like smart city, hill agriculture and innovation were discussed by experts on Second day of toppers conclave at Raj Bhawan on Wednesday. The experts spoke on making mountainous and rural agriculture more beneficial on the occasion.
In his address the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU), PK Garg that in the concept of smart city, the role of Information and Communication Technology are important.
He added that the fast growing gap between the urban population and the demand for facilities need special efforts for planned urban development.
“In this context, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started the smart city initiative to improve the economy of cities and their human and social wealth, develop the infrastructure, improve standard of life, bring in green concepts and citizen-friendly governance,’’ he said.
Garg elaborated that cities in India can be divided in three categories; the mega cities with a population of more than 50 lakh, midsize cities with population between 10 and 50 lakh and small cities with population up to 10 lakh. He also threw light on the plan for making Dehradun a smart city.
The VC of GB Pant University, J Kumar said that the concept of one-village, one farm is needed to be adopted in Uttarakhand in the hill areas as the farming plots there are very small. He said efforts are needed on various aspects to make farming in the hills beneficial for farmers. These aspects include transportation ,marketing, storage, processing insurance of agricultural products and providing right and timely information to farmers, he elaborated.
Kumar said the agricultural policy should be in favour of marginal farmers as they have been deprived of the input intensive techniques that are expensive .Uttarakhand has 64 per cent of small and marginal farmers and input efficiency techniques should be used here, he added.
The Director General of Uttarakhand Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) , Rajendra Dobhal said that new ideas and innovations were important for giving a boost to the economy. He said innovations should benefit more and more people. Giving examples of innovations from various countries, he spoke about Dunlop and semi-conductors.
Dobhal inspired students to be innovative and also be patient if they face any criticism. He highlighted the need for patenting of innovations.
He informed that recently, 67 countries had issued an innovation index. India is at sixth place with an index of 35.5. The DG of UCOST said it is a matter of satisfaction that the innovations in India had started having a positive effect on its economy. Toppers interacted with experts and also presented their views
The Governor of Uttarakhand Krishan Kant Paul was present in the first session of the conclave.