Villages need to have micro-industries for sustainable society: Vice-President Dhankhar

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday emphasized the need for micro-industries at the village cluster level to add value to agriculture produce and evolve into a sustainable society.

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He was presiding over as the chief guest at the inauguration of Advanced Entrepreneurship Skill Development Program (A-EDSP) on “Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals and their Safety” at National Agri-Food and Biotechnology Institute, Sector 81 here.

“There was time in ancient India when a village was self-sufficient. Now, the cooperatives are embedded in the Constitution as an institution. There must be evolution of a mechanism in a village or in a cluster of villages where we have micro industries at the farm that add value to the agro produce, to the livestock and milk produced.

“This will help evolve a sustainable society and the nutritional value of food will go up. Right now, we have milk in the villages, but value addition is minimal. What stops us from having entrepreneurial skills to get into ice creams, paneer, sweets and the kind in a cluster approach? This is very important because it will generate employment. It will satisfy the rural youth,” Dhankhar said after inaugurating the programme.

Dhankar emphasized that technology transfer to farm is important.

“A farmer is by and large clinging to his tractor. He wants to use the tractor for as long as it can last, ignorant that the technology of the tractor is undergoing big changes- it is becoming environment friendly, fuel-efficient, multifunctional and highly subsidized,” he said.

“We cannot allow that our farmers get anything but the very best. No short-change for the farm sector, no short-change for the farmer. That has to be our motto,” Dhankhar added.

The Vice-President also planted a sapling in memory of his late mother Kesari Devi at the premises.

Earlier, he was welcomed by Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Punjab cabinet minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond, and Haryana minister Shyam Singh Rana, and other dignitaries on his arrival at the Chandigarh international airport.