UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN (A Movement for Progressive India) Quarterly Progress Report (Uttarakhand & West Uttar Pradesh Region) April – June 2021 of Regional Coordinating Institute (RCI) Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Organic Water Renewable Artisans, Industries Basic Convergence Farming Management Energy & Livelihood Amenities Regional Coordinating Institute (RCI) Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee-247 667 (Uttarakhand) E-mail: [email protected], Phone: 01332-286566 Regional Coordinating Institute (RCI) Quarterly Progress Report This Quarterly Progress Report provides the details of activities carried out by the Regional Coordinating Institute, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, from April 01, to June 30, 2021. The RCI, UBA, IIT Roorkee organized the following Webinars: Meetings/Webinars Sl. No. Date Keynote Speaker /Workshops Dr. Ambrish Kumar, Dean, College of Agricultural “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Engineering, Dr. Rajendra 1. April 16, 2021 Sustainable Agriculture” Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Pusa, Bihar “Mushroom Cultivation for Ms. Divya Rawat, who is 2. May 06, 2021 popularly known as ‘Mushroom Self-Reliant Farmers” Lady of Uttarakhand’, Dehradun Dr. Santosh Kumar, Associate “Community Samvvad for Professor of Community and 3. May 23, 2021 Family Medicine, Nodal Officer COVID-19 Pandemic” COVID-19 Community Task Force, AIIMS Rishikesh “Ecosystem Restoration Dr. Satish Kumar Shastri, 4. June 05, 2021 International Promoter of Indian for Prosperous India” Culture 1 Workshop entitled “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Sustainable Agriculture” INTRODUCTION A Workshop entitled “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Sustainable Agriculture” was organized by the Regional Coordinating Institute (RCI), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, on April 16, 2021 (Friday) through virtual platform WebEx. UBA Participating Institutions (PIs) coordinators from Uttarakhand, West Uttar Pradesh, and other regions, IIT Roorkee faculty members, students, Gram Pradhan's farmers of adopted villages attended this program. The workshop schedule is enclosed as Annexure – I. INAUGURAL SESSION Prof. Ashish Pandey, Coordinator, RCI-UBA, IIT Roorkee, welcomed the dignitaries and all the workshop participants. He commenced the online workshop that featured the keynote speakers, i.e., Dr. Ambrish Kumar, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Pusa, Bihar. Prof. Pandey apprised that 70% of our country's population lives in rural areas engaged in the agricultural economy. Agriculture and allied sector employing 51% of the total workforce but accounting for only 17% of the country's GDP. Thus, there are huge developmental disconnects between the rural and urban sectors, such as inequity in health, education, incomes and basic amenities, and employment opportunities, all causing great discontent and large-scale migration to urban areas. Drone technology, equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and remote sensing features, is rising in demand because of its advantages. Drone startups in India have used this opportunity to accomplish better technological capacities. 2 Prof. M. Parida, Deputy Director, IIT Roorkee, welcomed the keynote speaker Dr. Ambrish Kumar. He apprised that recently IIT Roorkee has started a drone center. He said that the agricultural drone would empower agriculture professionals with powerful equipment and provides intelligent solutions that save time and increase workflow. This allows timely protection of crops from pests, saves time for crop scouting, reduces overall cost in farm production, and secures high yield and quality crops. Dr. Ambrish Kumar, discussed and shared his experience through the on “Drone - A Modren tool for Sustainable Agriculure”. Dr. Ambrish said that Drones are emerging as a component of precision agriculture and contribute to sustainable agriculture. He added that adopting modern technologies in agriculture, such as drones, can significantly enhance risk and damage assessments and revolutionize agricultural management. Presently, farmers face many problems like unavailability or high labor cost, health problems by coming into contact with chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) while applying them in the field, bite by insects or animals, etc. In this context, drones can also help farmers in avoiding these troubles. He said that Drones help farmers optimize inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, water, and pesticides more efficiently. It benefits a wide range of customers, from farmers and growers to agricultural cooperation and service agencies. Digital, informative, intelligent, and precise management solutions can easily be extended for commercial crops such as sugarcane, cotton, citrus trees, apple trees, tea plants, etc. He emphasized using Drone technology for agriculture like Soil Health Monitoring, Pesticide Monitoring, Weed Mapping, Fertilizer application, Crop growth monitoring, disease detection, etc. Moreover, Dr. Ambrish discussed some points for using drone technology in the agricultural field like Scope & Opportunities, Precision Agriculture, Classification of Drone, Field layout & mapping for spray application, LOCUST Control Using Drone, Way Forward & Challenges, Recommendations for DAC & 3 FW, Corp Monitoring & Modeling, Outcomes, DGCA Guidelines and Drone as a future technology for agriculture, etc. Farmers’ BIRD EYE – Torchbearer of Next-gen Agriculture During the interactive session, few questions were raised by the participants, which were answered by keynote speaker Dr. Ambrish Kumar. In the end, Prof. Ashish Pandey, Coordinator, Regional Coordinating Institute, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, IIT Roorkee, proposed a formal vote of thanks to keynote speaker Dr. Amrish Kumar, Prof. M. Parida, Deputy Director, IIT Roorkee, participants, UBA team, and Media Cell of IIT Roorkee. 4 Photographs of Live Session 5 UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN Annexure - I REGIONAL COORDINATING INSTITUTE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TTECHNOLOGY ROORKEE Online Workshop on “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Sustainable Agriculture” Date & Time: April 16, 2021; 16:00 hrs. to 17:30 hrs. (on WebEx) Program Schedule 16:00 – 16:05 About the workshop Prof. Ashish Pandey Coordinator, RCI-UBA,IIT Roorkee 16:05 – 16:15 Address by Prof. M. Parida Deputy Director, IIT Roorkee 16:15– 17:15 Presentation on “DRONE: Dr. Ambrish Kumar A Modern Tool for Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, Sustainable Agriculture” Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samstipur (BIHAR) 17:15 – 17:30 Open Discussion All Participants 6 News Clippings “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Sustainable Agriculture” 7 News Clippings “DRONE: A Modern Tool for Sustainable Agriculture” cnzhfo”kky 19 vizsy 2021 8 Workshop News Links: https://epaper.jagran.com/epaper/18-apr-2021-107-roorkee-edition-roorkee.html https://mepaper.livehindustan.com/epaper/Uttarakhand/Roorkee/2021-04- 18/145/Page-1.html https://epaper.amarujala.com/roorkee/my-city/2021-04- 18/02.html?format=img&ed_code=roorkee https://www.dainikhawk.com/education/iit-use-of-drones-in-agriculture- workshop-organized-221352 https://www.thehawk.in/states/uttarakhand-news/iit-roorkee-online-workshop- drone-agriculture-221329 9 WORKSHOP REPORT “Mushroom Cultivation for Self-Reliant Farmers” INTRODUCTION An Online Workshop entitled “Mushroom Cultivation for Self-Reliant Farmers” was organized by the Regional Coordinating Institute (RCI), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, on May 06, 2021 (Thursday) through virtual platform WebEx. UBA Participating Institutions (PIs) coordinators from Uttarakhand, West Uttar Pradesh, and other regions, IIT Roorkee faculty members, students, Gram Pradhan's farmers of adopted villages attended this program. The workshop schedule is enclosed as Annexure – I. INAUGURAL SESSION Prof. Ashish Pandey, Coordinator, RCI-UBA, IIT Roorkee, welcomed the dignitaries and all the workshop participants. He commenced the online workshop that featured the keynote speakers, i.e., Ms. Divya Rawat, popularly known as ‘Mushroom Lady of Uttarakhand’ among locals. Having a professional degree like MSW, she left several job offers in the private sector to become self-employed and give others employment. Initially, she started mushroom farming in a tiny house and was only experimenting with it. But when she got unexpected results, she planned to take up mushroom farming to a new level. Ms. Divya has been felicitated with several awards from the state government like Sanjivani Rattan for agri-entrepreneur. She was also felicitated with the ‘Nari Shakti Samman’ award by President Shri Pranab Mukherjee in 2016 on International Women’s Day. With a motive to empower other women. She handed a CD containing invaluable information about mushroom farming to the Women Empowerment Ministry of Central Government to propagate mushroom farming. 10 Prof. M. Parida, Deputy Director, IIT Roorkee, welcomed the keynote speaker Ms. Divya Rawat (Mushroom Lady of Uttarakhand). He apprised that this is not necessary for the villagers to start entrepreneurship at a larger scale, but they can take the initiative at a smaller scale. He added that the UBA-RCI, IIT Roorkee, makes the efforts in this direction would undoubtedly be beneficial for the villagers. Ms. Divya Rawat (The Mushroom Lady of Uttarakhand), the keynote speaker of the workshop, discussed cultivation, marketing, and other essential aspects