Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, CSIR-CFTRI aim to empower rural women

Science and Technology interventions through the UBA to drive rural development and create livelihood opportunities for women in villages, says the director of CSIR-NIScPR

Ranjana Agarwal, director, CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (NIScPR), New Delhi on Thursday said the empowerment of rural women of India through the Science and Technology initiatives was behind the launch of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA). “Through the UBA, we are hoping for more transfers of technologies from the CSIR labs, including the Mysuru-based CFTRI, for achieving rural development,” she added.

She was speaking at the inaugural technology demonstration—“Technology Showcasing and Networking Meet of CSIR-CFTRI Food and Millet Technologies—” organised jointly by CSIR-NIScPR, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA)—National Coordinating Institute, IIT-Delhi and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA)—on the CFTRI campus here.

She said the larger idea of the programme is to make villages sustainable, encouraging entrepreneurship and providing opportunities for livelihood in villages. If livelihood opportunities are created in villages, the people need not have to migrate to cities in search for livelihood, thereby turning the villages self-sustainable, she felt.

The technologies have been showcased for the stakeholders, including NGOs, SHGs, and MSMEs, with the prospect of realising the goals of the abhiyan.

In her welcome address, CSIR-CFTRI director Sridevi Annapurna Singh spoke about the CFTRI and its technologies. She also spoke on the technologies that changed the face of the food industry and added that some of its technologies were game changers.

Sam Cherian, chairman and managing director, Schevaran Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mysuru was the chief guest. Vivek Kumar, National UBA Coordinator spoke virtually on UBA and on the collaboration of UBA CSIR-CFTRI.

P.K. Singh, project director, of UBA, gave an overview of the UBA, and Yogesh Suman, chief scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, gave an overview of the event. Rajeev of Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), New Delhi was present.

The inaugural event was followed by technical sessions with technology demonstrations and showcasing. The participants visited the pilot plant facilities at the CFTRI.

The two-day event aims to showcase and demonstrate the food technologies developed by CSIR-CFTRI for the benefit of stakeholders from rural areas and how they can be leveraged to create livelihood opportunities in rural areas and promote sustainable development.

The CFTRI has developed a range of food technologies aimed at enhancing livelihood in rural areas. These technologies address critical challenges related to food processing, and agricultural productivity, enabling rural communities to improve their economic prospects, according to the institute.

The event aims to provide a platform where these innovations can be demonstrated to a wide range of stakeholders, including industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and rural communities.

The event is designed to be both a technology demonstration and a networking opportunity, where participants can explore potential collaborations, technology transfer, and commercialisation opportunities.

The expected outcome of the event is to enhance understanding of the technologies available at CSIR-CFTRI and to increase their adaptation rate for livelihood creation in rural areas.

The conference includes presentation/demonstrations of CSIR-CFTRI technologies for rural livelihood creation; interaction with funding agencies about the knowledge of different funding scheme available; scientist-participants’ interactions and success stories’ demonstration by CSIR-NIScPR, CSIR-CFTRI, UBA, and VIBHA.

Published - September 19, 2024 07:04 pm IST