and bakery products like noodles and biscuits. Farmers appreciated the machines like slicers, grinders, dryers, etc. This demonstration series was sponsored by Food Security and Agricultural Development Depar tment , Government of Sikkim.

AICRP on PET, CAEPHT, Sikkim had organized a demonstration of the portable mulch laying machine. It was done in the farmer's field of village Assam Lingzey, East Sikkim on 28 December, 2016.

CAU organized the CAU Regional Agri-Fair, 2016-17 during 10-12 November, 2016 at College of Agriculture, Iroisemba, (Manipur). The theme of the Fair was "Importance of organic farming and integrated farming system in second green revolution". During the Inaugural Function, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, was the chief guest. In his inaugural address, he highlighted the unl imi ted potent ial of agriculture in the north eastern states and elaborated the benefit of some of the centrally sponsored schemes. Padma Bhushan, Dr R. B. Singh, the Chancellor of CAU, Imphal, in his presidential address focused on organic agriculture. Dr M. Premjit Singh, Vice Chancellor, CAU; Dr K. M. Bujarbaruah, VC, AAU, Jorhat, and Directors of ICAR institutes, viz., Dr S. V. Ngachan; NRC on Pig; NRC on Mithun and Director, ICAR- ATARI, Zone - III graced the event besides other dignitaries. About 4,700 farmers from different states of North Eastern Region visited the mega event of the university. Prior to the inauguration of this three-day Agri Fair, Shri Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated the newly constructed building of Auditorium and Post-graduate Boys' Hostel of College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal.

The Directorate of Instruction, CAU, Imphal organized a two days' Documentary Film Festival on Fisheries and allied issues in collaboration with Film and Cultural Society, North-East and the Indian Documentary Producers' Association in the College of Fisheries, Lembucherra, Agartala, (Tripura) during 1-2 Nov, 2016. Six documentary films were screened during this programme viz., Shores of Silence, Nero's Guests, One Man, One Cow, One Plane, Timeless Traveler's: Horseshoe Crab, Salmon Confidential, The Malagaon's Superman. Altogether 150 participants including 59 students and 13 staff members witnessed the film festival.

The university organized a grand Kisan Mela during 3-5 December 2016 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr Rajendra Prasad (3

'Innovative approaches, Value Addition in Dairy Products and Future Prospects in Dairy Industry'. The Winter School was inaugurated on 16 Nov, 2016. Dr N.C. Patel, VC, AAU, Anand presided over the function; Dr K. Rathnam, Managing Director, Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd (Amul) was the chief guest; and Dr K.B. Kathiria, DR, AAU, Anand was the Guest of Honour. The course was attended by 18 participants from various parts of the country.

The training workshop on "Veterinary Emergency Response Operations" under Veterinary Emergency Response Unit (VERU), West Zone, India was organized at Veterinary College, Anand during 17-21 Oct, 2016. The Workshop was inaugurated by Dr N. C. Patel, VC, AAU. The guest of honour were Dr K. B. Kathiria, Director of Research & Dean P. G. Studies; and Mr R. K. Mishra, Assistant Commandant, National Disaster Response Force, 6th Battalion, Gandhinagar Shri Hansen T. Prem, Project Manager, World Animal Protection, New Delhi conducted the training sessions. The 66 students of final year B. V. Sc. & A H. participated in the workshop.

The Department of Biochemistry, B. A. College of Agriculture, and Indian Society of Agricultural Biochemists, Kanpur jointly organized an international conference on "Nutraceuticals and functional foods" at Anand Agricultural University during 6-8 Dec, 2016. The chief guest of the function was Shri Chimanbhai Saparia, Minister, Agriculture and Energy; Dr S. N Tyagi, Mission Director, GSBTM, Gandhinagar, Dr Rajender S. Ranu, Colarado State University, the USA were guests of honor. The function was graced by president, Dr N. C. Patel, VC, AAU. Dr K. B. Kathiria, D. R, AAU; and Dr K. P. Patel, Principal and Dean (Agriculture) were Coordinator and Chairman of the conference respectively. Dr J. G. Talati, Res. Sci, & Head, Department of Biochemistry was the organizing Secretary. Participants from various countries like the U.S.A, the U.K, Australia and Camroon, besides from various parts of the country presented their research work in the conference.
Awards were distributed to young scientists for best oral and poster presentations. The ISAB conferred the Life-time Achievement Award to Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, DG, ICAR. The society also honored Dr N. C. Patel, VC, AAU, Anand, with award of honorary fellow of the society. Dr K. B. Kathiria, Dr K. P. Patel and Dr J. G. Talati were felicitated with excellence awards.

An international conference on 'Food, Water and Energy Nexus in Arena of Climate Change' was organized jointly by AAU, Anand and NCCSD, Ahmedabad during 14-16 Oct, 2016. Shri Parshottambhai Rupala, Ministerof Agriculture - State , Government of India; and Shri Chimanbhai Sapariya, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Gujarat, graced the inaugural function of the conference as a chief guest and

Diagnosis and Control of Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases of Livestock, Poultry and Fish' was organized jointly by Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists (IAVP) and Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Chhattisgarh Kamdhenu Vishwavidyalaya, Anjora, Durg (Chhattisgarh) during 9-11 Nov, 2016.
It was decided that a well-equipped Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory should be established at all the Veterinary Colleges and District veterinary Laboratories for early, reliable and quick diagnosis of various diseases.

1. Veterinary Pathologists should be encouraged to think about the diseases of animals in totality involving epidemiological aspects.
2. There is need to impart teaching on Anatomic Pathology for the beginners as per ICVP/ACVP, so that the possible diagnosis could be made on the spot.
3. There is need to create specialization in different branches of Pathology, particularly Cytopathology, for precise diagnosis at small laboratory levels.
4. Monitoring and surveillance of Glanders throughout the country need to be carried out systematically. to control Glanders in India and indirect ELISA test-kit facilities for mass screening in State / Regional Laboratories should be provided. Formulation of "National Policy on Control of Glanders" is required. "National Glanders Control Monitoring Committee" need to be established.
5. Owing to rise in haemo-protozoan and helminthic infections in animals, there is need to look into the managemental and preventive or treatment aspects of livestock diseases.

Prof. Ashok Kumar Sarial, VC, CSKHPKV, attended Expert Consultationon Best Pract ices in Agr i -Food Innovations and General Assembly Meeting of Asia- Pacific Associationof Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI- in the Asia-Pacific region), held in Taichung city, Taiwan.
Prof. Sarial presented a paper on "Organic Farming in Hill Agriculture" and co-chaired a technical session on "Capacity Development in Agrifood Innovations". As Sarial offered promotion and sharing of the university's technology through co-ordinated research projects on 'Protected vegetable cultivation, polyhouses designs for snow-bound tribal areas, and House hold organic gardening for rural and urban areas' with Nepal Agricultural Research Council and World Vegetable Centre, Taiwan.

Four members Monitoring and Review Team of ICAR visited the university during 18-20 Oct, 2016 to assess the works undertaken through ICAR development assistance, Experiential Learning Unit and Niche Area of Excellence during XII plan and requirements of the university for the next three years.
Dr S.L.Mehta, Chairman of the Committee, appreciated the university for improving the quality of education as reflected in increasing number of student fellowships of the university. He said that the videoconferencing facility should strengthen outreach programmes. He expressed satisfaction about new varieties and technologies developed by the university and their further dissemination to the farmers' fields. Prof Ashok Kumar Sarial thanked the Chairman and committee members for recommending two Experience Learning

Products Technology. More than 200 scientists, academicians, researchers and post-graduate students from all over the world attended the conference. Dr Harpreet Kochhar, Chief Veterinary Officer in Canada and Associate Vice-President of Canadian Food Inspection Agency was the chief guest for the conference. Dr C.K. Thota, Director, Allanasons Pvt. Ltd, and Mr O.P. Arora, Chairman, AOV group both were guests of honor. Two MoUs were also signed with Raja Food and Kansal Agro Food for value addition of egg products with special emphasis on egg paneer. A compendium and CD of lectures were released by dignitaries and officers of the university. The IMSA Lifetime Achievement awards 2016 and Innovative Entrepreneurship award were also conferred.

'Green Sims' have been provided to the livestock farmer s of Punjab in association with IFFCO Kisan in Public Private Partnership mode. 'Green Sims' is a normal mobile sim, which will be used through a mobile phone. Farmers will receive three calls (voice messages) dai ly f rom livestock experts of different fields for their whole life. These registered farmers will be further categorized according to their farming needs. 'Green Sims' were distributed to 14 farmers who attended the specialized goat training at GADVASU. With these sims the farmers can directly contact the experts and will be getting regular voice calls. This will create a two-way channel for updating the knowledge of the farmers, and the feedback will be received for assessing the real field situation, to help in redesigning research strategies.

A national workshop on agricultural journalism was organized on 6 and 7 May 2016, as a part of goldenjubilee celebrations of a monthly farm magazine of the university, Indian Farmer s ' Diges t . The workshop was organized by Department of Agricultural Communication and Communication Centre. The main purpose of this workshop was to link agricultural journalism with main-stream journalism, so that the success and failure of agricultural technologies could be highlighted through various modes of mass media, viz. newspaper, TV channels, radio/community radio, social media etc. Besides, it also aimed at making agriculture a part of the news stories of mass media to solve the problems of farmers and make agriculture a business-like venture through active participation of media houses.
A number of representatives from different media houses, experts of the field and farm journalists took part in this workshop, and discussed at length and breadth the causes and remedies of pathetic situation of farm journalism in the present-day mass media. The workshop came out with significant recommendations including giving important place to agricultural development under social responsibility of media houses, strengthening agricultural journalism and giving professional angle to it, training rural reporters with the help of media representatives, including developmental journalism as a course at post-graduate level and as elective course at under-graduate level in agricultural universities, establishing social media unit at agricultural institutions etc. It was emphasized that the university should play a lead role in correcting this situation.

The Pulse Seed Hub Project of the ICAR was launched in the university in August 2016. During the kharif rainy season 169 q breeder seeds of Urd bean (black gram) variety, PU-31; 218 q seed of moong (green gram) varieties, Pant Moong-2 and Pant Moong-5; and 105 q breeder seed of pigeonpea variety, UPAS -120 and PA-291, were produced.
During the rabi winter 2016 crop season chickpea variety PG-186 was sown in 10 ha area, variety PGK-1 in 09 ha area; and lentil variety PL-8 in 10 ha, PL-7 in 03 ha and PL-6 in ha area. Field pea variety Pant P-13 was sown in 3 ha, Pant P-14 in 1.5 ha and Pant P-42 in 01 ha area.

Wheat variety GJW 463 was approved by 12th Combined Joint AGRESCO meeting of agricultural universities of Gujarat, held during 11-13 Apr, 2016 at Navsari Agricultural University, This variety has recorded 5575 kg/ha grain yield under early sown condition, which was 28.1%, 30.0%, 21.7% and 12.9% higher than of the check varieties GW 496 (3,338 kg/ha), Lok 1 (4,287 kg/ha), GW 366 (4,565 kg/ha) and GW 190 (4,938 kg/ha) respectively. In comparison GJW 463 recorded 5,091 kg/ha grain yield under timely sown condition, which has 13.4%, 6.9%, 1.1% and 6.2% higher grain yield than the check varieties GW 496 (4,479 kg/ha), Lok 1 (4,763 kg/ha), GW 322 (5,037 kg/ha) and GW 366 (4,792 kg/ha) respectively. It possesses amber seed similar to that of GW 496. It is tolerant to rust disease. Its seed has also been registered vide National Identity Number IC 618476 at NBPGR, New Delhi for long-term storage.

This red onion variety was recommended in 11th combinedjoint AGRESCO meeting held at Anand during 7-9 Apr 2015, and was released for Gujarat excluding South Gujarat. The proposal was presented with South Gujarat data. Overall, this variety recorded bulb yield of 336.29 q/ha, which was 16.0%, 27.3% and 21.3% higher than the check varieties: AGFL Red (289.9 q/ha), Pilli Patti (264.2 q/ha) and Talaja Red (277.3 q/ha) respectively. It was found less pungent (pyruvic acid, 1.22 ?M/g) compared with the check varieties AGFL-Red and Talaja-Red. Its bulbs are medium in size with flat globe shape and red colour. It was found 'good' compared with the check varieties against diseases and insect-pest reactions. The proposal was approved by the house for South Gujarat too.

This white onion variety recorded a bulb yield of 398.06 q/ha, which was 20.8%, 11.3% and 7.8% higher than the check varieties, PWF-131 (329.54 q/ha), GWO-1 (357.75 q/ha) and qualifying variety GAWO-2 (369.26 q/ha) respectively. Its bulbs contain higher total soluble solids (13.15%) compared with the check varieties, viz. PWF-131 (12.80%), GWO-1 (12.88%) and GAWO-2 (12.18%) respectively. Bolting per cent and jointed bulb per cent were less than in the check varieties, and its bulbs were medium

Animal Husbandry, Fisheries & Cow Breeding, Government of Gujarat; Shri. Chimanbhai Sapariya , Ministerof Agriculture and Energy, Govt. of Gujarat , and Dr . Karsanbhai Patel, President, Nirma University, Ahmedabad were the guests of honour. Vice Chancellors of member universities of IAUA, Directors, Deans, Senior officers, Ph.D. scholars and students of State Agricultural and Veterinary Universities of India participated in the Convention. Dr D. B. Patil, Director of Research & Dean PG Studies, KU, Gandhinagar, was Organising Secretary of the Convention.

Shri Vijaybhai Rupani, the Chief Minister of Gujarat welcomed all Vice Chancellors coming from different states of India to the state of Gujarat. He also appreciated agricultural scientists and farmers of Gujarat for their hard work, leading to double-digit growth in agricultural sector of Gujarat. He also promised that Gujarat will continue to provide best inputs in terms of water, electricity, quality seeds and technological inputs to farmers of the state to intensify agricultural growth and increase the income of the farmers.

During the Inaugural Ceremony, Prof. Varshneya narrated the key role of the Vice Chancellors in fulfilling the objective of 'Food for health and doubling the farmers' income in five years' as per the wishes of Shri. Narendrabhai Modi, the Prime Minister of India. Shri Parshottambhai Rupala, Guest of Honour addressed the gathering and advised the Vice Chancellors of Agricultural Universities for developing the varieties suitable for changing the climate scenario in the country. A book entitled Droughts and the Way Forward edited by Prof. M. C. Varshneya, along with Co-editors Shri Anil Javalekar, Dr R. G. Shah and Dr D. B. Patil and published by Kamdhenu University, was released by Shri Vijaybhai Rupani, and other dignitaries. Dr N. C. Patel, the Secretary General of IAUA and VC, AAU, Anand proposed the vote of thanks.During the Convention, five Technical and one Plenary Sessions were conducted at Eulogia Inn, Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 20 - 21 Dec, 2016.

Prof. M. C. Varshneya, President, IAUA, New Delhi & VC, KU, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He laid emphasised on the critical input/availability of water for agriculture in the near future. Further, he suggested to the house to devise a way to solve the problem of water scarcity and to adopt strategy for "Per Drop More Crop". He also suggested low cost technology should be devised for the use of desalinated water in agriculture through innovative ways and ideas cheaper technology should be developed for desalination of sea water. Members of the house also expressed that rivers of the country should be linked and the possibility for extraction of the water from the clouds should be explored to mitigate the challenges of water scarcity in the context of climate change. Seven region-wise Committees were formed to prepare framework of National Action Plan for climate change needs. It was agreed that the National Action Plan will be finalized and submitted to the ICAR/Government for implementation.

Fish is an important food stuff and major source of protein all over the world. Many populations depend on fish as a part of their daily diet, and this dependence is usually higher in the developing countries than in the developed ones. In addition, fish is considered as a cheaper source of animal protein. India is a major producer of fish and ranks second in the world after China. As fish is highly perishable, fish sellers apply fish with preservatives like ammonia, formalin, sodium benzoate etc. to extend their shelf-life, make it stiff as well as fresh appeal for longer period of time. These chemicals have been declared as a potential carcinogen and mutagen and thus harm the health of human beings.
Based on these situations, a study was conducted in Ernakulam

Energy, New and Renewable Energy, Nagpur, Dr C. D. Mayee, former Chairman, ASRB, New Delhi, Dr M. V. Joshi, Acting, VC, MAFSU, Nagpur and Dr R. S. Dalvi, Associate Dean, College of Fishery Science, Nagpur were present. The seminar was attended by farmers, fishermen and entrepreneurs in the region.

Shri Mahadeoraoji Jankar, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fishery , Maharashtra State and Pro- Chancellor, MAFSU, Nagpur visited the MAFSU headquarter on 11 Nov, 2016. Prof. A. K. Misra, VC, welcomed him at the university headquarter and presented detailed information on the ongoing projects and other activities of the university and its constituent colleges. Shri Jankar expressed pleasure on the work done in the university and assured full support to solve the problems related to administrative and financial issues. He assured financial help for RKVY projects, radio station, media Laboratory, construction of buildings for College of Fishery Science, Nagpur and College of Dairy Technology, Udgir, besides help in regularization of workers engaged on contract basis.

The university, celebrated its 16th Foundation Day on 3 Dec, 2016. Th Agriculture Education Day was also observed in the memory of Bharat Ratna Dr Rajendra Prasad on the occasion of his bi r th anni ver sar y. The Agriculture Education Day was observed for promoting the spirit of agriculture and allied subjects among the school students. Shri Kantilal Umap, Commissioner (AH), Maharashtra inaugurated the programme organized at Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur. Prof. A. K. Misra, VC and Chairman of the function, delivered the Foundation Day Lecture on "Livestock sector: A growth engine of Indian economy". Blood donation camp was organized at Veterinary College campus in association with Rainbow Blood Bank, Nagpur, followed by Specialty Animal Health Camp on Nephrology, Cardiology, anti-rabies vaccination, Laboratory diagnostics organized at Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Nagpur. The programme was followed by distribution of prizes and certificates to the successful students and staff members.

The technique of processing and preservation of epididymal spermatozoa from slaughtered or dead buffalo bull for in vitro fertilization was developed in the University, which resulted in consistent production of excellent-quality developmentally competent blastocysts in the laboratory. A successful pregnancy was also established in the recipient buffalo after transfer of in vitro produced embryo germplasm of male and female derived from slaughter house and was successfully carried till eighth month but was aborted due to unknown reason. The calf production using this technique will open new frontiers in research and can be successfully applied as the last option of conservation of superior male animals even after their death. The research was carried out by Dr Manish Kumar Shukla, as a part of his doctoral research under the supervision of Dr O.P. Shrivastava (Professor & Head, Veterinary

patents and commercialization of 21 technologies during these years. As a part of the visit, the team members held discussions with the faculty members and students and inspected the college laboratories and other infrastructure of the university. Dr Kalloo, while applauding the activities of the university, said that besides working for the empowerment of the agricultural sector, PAU has created an excellent academic environment for the students. He suggested for the development of a knowledge bank in the university. Dr S.R. Maloo lauded the efforts made by PAU for commercialization of its technologies. Dr M.B. Chetti appreciated the 'Best Educational Practices' prevalent at PAU with special mention of the Experiential and Learning Units on Apiculture, Bakery and Confectionary and Apparel Manufacturing.

The College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, PAU, organized Alumni Meet during 18-19 Nov, 2016 to mark the Golden Jubilee of its inception. Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, VC, PAU inaugurated the Meet, held under the aegis of Association of Basic Sciences and Humanities Alumni (ABHA). Dr Gurinder Kaur Sangha, Dean of the College and President, ABHA informed that this meeting witnessed a participation of more than 500 students and alumni. A galaxy of venerable scientists, researchers and scholars, who have been recipients of prestigious awards and have occupied highest offices in the country and abroad had assembled on the occasion. These included Padma awardees Dr S.S. Johl and Dr Surjit Patar; former Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Central University, Bathinda, Dr Jai Rup Singh; former State Information Commissioner, Shri PPS Gill and Editor, Punjabi Jagran, Shri Varinder Walia.

• Superior Seedless grapes: Bunches of Superior Seedless grapes are loose and medium to large in size with seedless, amber-coloured and crisp berries. It has TSS content of 17% and acidity 0.51% and is suitable for table purpose. It gives average yield of 240 q/ha on Y-trellis system.
• Kagzi bael: Fruit of Kagzi bael is small sized (1.2 kg) with thin shell, fewer seeds and higher percentage of pulp. It has TSS content 28-32% and gives average yield 107 kg/ tree. Fruit harvesting begins in mid-April and continues till mid-May under Punjab conditions.

• Grain yield of wheat varieties PBW 677 and PBW 725 as inter-crop in 3-year and 4-year old poplar plantations (8m x 2.5m spacing) was at par with grain yield of wheat variety WH 1105. Thus all these three wheat varieties are suitable for cultivation under the poplar plantation.

• The PAU multipurpose highclearance sprayer, having three types of nozzles, i.e. autorotating gun, boom and drop up types, performed better, killing 92-95 % white fly nymphs compared with 80-85 % with knapsack sprayer. Field capacity of High -clearance sprayer was 1.78 ha/ha compared with 0.80 and 0.08 ha/ha for rotate type and knapsack type sprayers respectively.
• Auto-rotating gun sprayer with carrying capacity of 150- 400 litres of spray material is effective for the control of sucking pests like

Meeran , DEE , TNFU welcomed the participants and Dr S. Felix, Dean, delivered the presidential address. Th. Natarajan, Stat ion Di rec tor, AIR, Chennai, the chief guest of the Programme highlighted the important role played by AIR in the dissemination of agricultural technologies to increase the food productions. In the interaction session Dr N. Felix, FITT; Dr. K. Rawaneswaran, Professor; Dr Balasundari, Professor; Dr Gopalakannan, Assistant Professor and Ms Agnes Dany Angela, Assistant Professor served as experts to answer the queries raised by the participants.

A national-level workshop on " Biodiversity and conservation of aquatic resources" was organized at Fisheries Training and Research Centre, Prakkai during 10-11 Nov, 2016. Total of 12 presentations were made about the conservation of Aquatic resources were presented by scientists, experts and invited guest speakers. More than 100 delegates including scientists, research scholars and students from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal attended the workshop. A proceeding of the workshop was released during the inauguration of the programme on 10 Nov, 2016. In the inaugural session Th. Elango, District Revenue Officer, Kanya Kumari, delivered the Chief Guest address. Dr M. Nagoor Meeran, Director of Extension Education, Dr G. Sugumar, Dean, FCRI, Thoothukudi and Dr. K. Karal Marx, Dean, Faculty of Basic sciences, offered felicitations on this occasion.

The UAHS organized Krishi Mela 2016 from 21-26 Oct, 2016. The main theme of the mela was "Pulse for soil and human health". Its objective was to provide detailed information about latest agricultural and horticultural practices at a time when the state is - under drought and is facing water scarcity. More than 450 stalls were setup on the campus where the farmers could get information on anything related to agricultural and horticultural crops such as seeds, crops, irrigation, pest and insect control, fisheries, cereals integrated farming. Different varieties of seeds of rice (paddy), areca, oil-seeds, pulses and flowers, organic farming and produces of organic farming were displayed.
Agricultural Minister Shri Krishna Byregowda inaugurated the Krishi Mela. Shri Kagodu Thimmappa, District Minister and Revenue minister, inaugurated the exhibition. Shri D.H. Shankar Murthy, Chairman of legislative council of Karnataka, graced the occasion. Two seminars were organized for the benefit of the farming community on the second and third day: On the first day on "Pulses for soil and human health" and on the second day "Micro irrigation

The Distinguished Alumni Award was conferred to Dr Deepak Jhajharia, Associate Professor (Dep. of SWE, CAEPHT) for commendable contribution to engineering profession on 8 Oct, 2016 during the 14th Annual Meet - cum - Felicitation Programme-2016 at CTAE, MPUAT, Udaipur, (Rajasthan).

Dr Abdus Sattar, Assistant Professor and Nodal Officer (Agro-meteorology) received "P.D. Mistry Award" for Best Ph. D. thesis from Association of Agro-meteorologists in India for the year 2016. The title of his thesis was "Agro-climatic characterization for assessment of crop potential under rainfed condition in Bihar". The Award includes a Gold Medal and a citation. The Award was given to him in the inaugural function of National Seminar, AGMET - 2016, "Climate-driven food production system: Agro-meteorological interventions", held during 20-22 Dec, 2016 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

Dr. R.C. Srivastava, VC, DRPCAU, Pusa, received Life-time Achievement Award from Andaman Science Association on 8 Dec at Port Blair. The honour was bestowed by Dr Ramesh Chand, Member, Niti Ayog, in the gracious presence of DDG (Hort), Chairman, PVPFRA and others. During his career of 39 years in the ICAR, he held several progressively prestigious positions. Dr Srivastava has vast experience in establishing linkages with public and private, national and international institutions for effective implementation of the programmes undertaken.

Shri Jitendra Singh, an agricultural graduate and a progressive farmer of Namidih, Lalganj, district Vaishali, (Bihar) bagged National Jagjivan Ram Abhinav Kisan Puruskar (Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer Award) for the year 2015. Dr D.D. Patra, VC, BCKV, Nadia. It comprised cash amount of Rs 50,000 with travel grant to promote his achievement among the farmers. Shri Jitendra Singh has contributed to the formation of a farmers' group for horticultural crops (like mango and litchi) with scientific cultivation and organized marketing. He also involved the group for high-density okra cultivation, wheat-seed production and flower cultivation. He is practising neem-seed-kernel extract for insect-pest management. Shri Singh is actively associated with the KVK, Vaishali for technological trainings and demonstrations.

international conference on ' Recent advances in agricultural and horticultural sciences' held at Jodhpur (Rajasthan) during 30-31 Dec, 2016. Dr Yadav and Dr Jitendra Kumar, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Directorate of Extension Education, also received Young Scientist Award in this conference.

Mr Jaymin K. Jadav, Research Associate, Department of Biotechnology, JAU, Junagadh won the International Young Scientist award for " Best Poster Presentation" of his research paper in material sciences. He won this award during 8-9 Dec., 2016 at International Science Congress, organized by Internat ional Congress Association, held at Pune (Maharashtra).

Born in 1955 at Bankura, (West Bengal), Dr Dharani Dhar Patra had his School education from Dubrajpur Uttarayan. He ranked first in Agricultural stream in West Bengal Board in 1971. He also secured second position during graduation and first position in postgraduation from BCKV in 1976 and 1978 respectively. Dr Patra did his Ph.D. in 1982 from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. His doctoral research fetched him the prestigious FAI (New Delhi) Gold Medal in 1983.
Dr Patra started his career as Assistant Professor in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, in Rajasthan Agricultural University in 1982 and subsequently joined Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, (CSIR), Lucknow in 1987. He has been presently working as Vice-Chancellor of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, (West Bengal). His significant contributions have been development of dual 15N levelling technique for precise estimation of di-nitrogen fixation in cereal-legume-mixed cropping system, concurrent transfer of fixed N to cereal, development of natural essential oil by product-coated slow -release urea fertilizer, and technology for growing medicinal and aromatic crops in user land and other marginal lands. In recognition of his work Dr Patra was conferred several awards and laurels; the important among them are: FAI Silver Jubilee Awards - 1980, FAI Gold Medal - 1983, PPIC-FAI Gold Medal - 2000, 12th International Congress Commemoration Award - 2005, UP Eminent Scientist Award on Natural Resource Management - 2006, ISCA Platinum Jubilee Awards, 2008 and member of the teams conferred with Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation (UK) Award, 2008, and CSIR Rural Development Award, 2008. Dr Patra is a Fellow of Indian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi. Under Commonwealth Fellowship, Dr Patra visited Rothamsted Experimental Station, U.K. in 1983-84 and worked with Sir David Jenkinson and under STA-JISTEC Fellowship and visited Hokkido National Agricultural Experimental Station, Japan in 1999. Besides, Dr Patra visited Germany,