Former Associate Director gets Senior ICAR Fellowship

Palampur, February 17

Prof Virender Kumar, former Associate Director (Extension), and Head, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension Education and Rural Sociology, College of Agriculture, CSKHPKV, Palampur, has been awarded Senior Fellowship of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

During the fellowship he will carry out research to examine the extent, causes and implications of urban sprawling on agriculture in Himachal Pradesh. The tenure of the fellowship is two years and the affiliating institution for this work is Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV), Palampur. Given the trend of expanding urban suburbs into adjoining villages, the topic for research is quite relevant as the best crop fields are being converted into concrete structures. This will have serious implications on the food security and agriculture sector of the state.

Prof Kumar has an academic career spanning over 32 years as a farm economist and a teacher. He has over 150 publications, besides drafting the state agriculture plan and human development report of Kangra district to his credit.