5 June 2026, New Delhi
Marking World Environment Day 2026, three main amenities at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi had been inaugurated by Dr M.L. Jat, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR as we speak. The newly inaugurated amenities embody the Next Generation Agricultural Extension Learning Centre (NAEL Centre) at the Division of Agricultural Extension, the Processing Laboratory at the Division of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, and the Climate Resilient Green Agriculture (CARIGAR) Lab at the Division of Environmental Sciences.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Jat emphasised the significance of technology-driven options in agriculture and highlighted the position of digital studying platforms, superior processing applied sciences, and climate-resilient improvements in reaching the imaginative and prescient of Viksit Bharat @ 2047. He appreciated the efforts of the involved divisions in growing cutting-edge amenities that may strengthen agricultural schooling, capability constructing, entrepreneurship, and sustainable agricultural growth.
The inauguration programme was attended by Dr D. Ok. Yadava, Deputy Director General (Crop Science), ICAR; Dr Ch. Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-IARI, Senior dignitaries from IARI, scientists, college students, trade companions, and different distinguished company.
The NAEL Centre, established beneath an ICAR Education Division-funded challenge, represents a big step in the direction of digital transformation in agricultural schooling and extension. The challenge has developed 25 bilingual e-learning modules and 9 immersive Virtual Reality (VR) modules protecting agricultural extension, climate-smart agriculture, built-in pest administration, post-harvest administration, communication abilities, knowledge analytics, entrepreneurship, and experiential studying. These assets are designed to offer interactive and immersive studying experiences for farmers, college students, extension personnel, and agricultural educators. On the event, the ICAR-IARI Campus Walkthrough (360-Degree Virtual Tour) was additionally launched, showcasing the institute’s analysis infrastructure, instructional amenities, and technological achievements by way of an immersive digital platform.
The Processing Laboratory, with monetary help of ₹1.13 crore from the ICICI Foundation, has been outfitted with fashionable meals processing applied sciences for coaching, demonstration, and product growth. The facility will present hands-on coaching to farmers, rural youth, and entrepreneurs in meals processing, worth addition, and growth of revolutionary meals merchandise. The laboratory is predicted to advertise agri-entrepreneurship, cut back post-harvest losses, and contribute in the direction of enhancing farmers’ earnings by way of value-added agricultural merchandise.
The Climate Resilient Green Agriculture (CARIGAR) Lab, funded by the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth beneath its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, has been established to strengthen analysis and innovation in climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural applied sciences. The laboratory will help superior analysis on local weather adaptation methods, useful resource conservation, carbon administration, and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, contributing to resilient farming methods and long-term agricultural sustainability.
Earlier within the day, as a part of the World Environment Day 2026 celebrations, the dignitaries participated in a particular tree plantation drive beneath the theme “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam”, reaffirming ICAR’s dedication in the direction of environmental conservation and sustainable growth.
The three newly inaugurated amenities are anticipated to function nationwide centres of excellence, fostering innovation, talent growth, local weather resilience, and technology-enabled agricultural transformation for the advantage of farmers, college students, researchers, and extension professionals throughout the nation.
(Source: ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi)