Current Science

R. C. Agrawal ¹, Hema Tripathi ¹, Ritika Joshi ¹, R. Chaubey ¹, Dhiraj K. Singh ¹

Affiliations
1 National Agricultural Higher Education Project, ICAR HQ, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

Agricultural education is crucial to produce skilled human resources to take up present and emerging challenges faced by Indian agriculture. Over the last decade, agricultural higher education attractiveness has improved due to access to quality education, attractiveness in employment market, and widening career opportunities across social and geographical areas. While continuing to provide better quality and more relevant education in agriculture, ICAR, in association with World Bank, initiated National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) in 2017. The project development objective is to enhance the quality and relevance of agricultural higher education in the country. NAHEP has also adopted social inclusion by providing national and international training to student and faculty. In addition, various special initiatives are being undertaken to enable access to the essential amenities for differently abled, female students and faculties. To take it forward and make it sustainable, this article also suggests key measures.

Keywords

Agricultural Higher Education System, Equity Action Plan, Gender Equality, Skilled Human Resource, Social Equity.

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Hema Tripathi ¹, Indira Prakash ¹, Ritika Joshi ¹, R. C. Agarwal ¹

Affiliations
1 ICAR-National Agricultural Higher Education Project (ICAR-NAHEP), Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan-II, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) is implemented by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Government of India and World Bank to strengthen the national agricultural higher education system in India with an overall objective of providing more relevant and high-quality education to agricultural university students. Environment safeguard measures are one of the inbuilt components under the project and are categorized as ‘Category B’ as per the environmental safeguard policy of the World Bank. Thus, the interventions proposed under the project offer scope for enhancing the positive impacts on the environment through integrating pro-environmental measures. Based on the project proposal, the participating agricultural universities (AUs) prepared ‘Environmental sustainability plans’ comprising legal compliances and mitigation measures, green initiatives, and education and awareness programmes. The present article studied the impact of green initiatives undertaken by the universities under the categories of energy conservation, water conservation, waste management and enhancing greenery. Data on these activities were collected from project-awarded AUs that introduced environmental pro initiatives. These green initiatives were measured in terms of the reduction of CO₂ emissions (tonnes) annually and presented in the form of the carbon footprint of the university campus.

Keywords

Agricultural Universities, Carbon Footprint, Decarbonization, Environment Safeguard Measures, Green Initiatives, National Agricultural Higher Education Project.

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