ICAR Institutes celebrate International Women’s Day - 2023

International Women’s Day is observed on 8th March every year globally to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Observing the current year’s theme # EmbraceEquity, the ICAR Institutes pan India celebrated the day with full zeal.

8^th March 2023

ICAR Headquarters

International Women’s Day was celebrated at ICAR Headquarters on 2^nd March 2023.

The Chief Guest, Ms. Alka Nangia Arora, Additional Secretary (DARE) & Financial Advisor (ICAR) emphasized the role of women’s power in the holistic development of society.

A Rangoli Competition and Cultural program was held on the occasion.

 

ICAR- National Meat Research Institute, Hyderabad

Dr S. B. Barbuddhe, Director, ICAR-NMRI highlighted the significant contribution of women from time immemorial in the Indian culture and the role and contributions of women in different sectors. He stated the theme of International Women’s Day 2023 i.e.  ‘DigitALL - Innovation and technology for gender equality’ and discussed how digital agriculture can play a significant role in achieving global food security and nutrition, reducing poverty, and improving livelihoods, especially for rural women.

On this occasion, successful women entrepreneurs of Agribusiness Incubation Centres of NMRI shared their success stories and were felicitated.

 

ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Chennai,

In his address, the Chief Guest, Dr. Babu Rengarajan, Clinical Psychologist stressed the importance of emotional intelligence and conflict management.

  

Dr Kuldeep Kumar Lal, Director, ICAR-CIBA, highlighted the significance of celebrating the International Women’s Day and the relevance of balancing emotions in life. 

As part of the women’s day celebrations, a contribution of Rs. 57,000/- from ICAR-CIBA staff was donated to Nethrodaya, a self-help organization serving for the welfare of the differently abled (Visually Challenged & Physically challenged).

The participants of Rangoli and Extempore competition were felicitated with prizes during the occasion.

 

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science organized the International Women's Day (IWD) program at village Borkhedi, Phanda Thesil, Bhopal District, on 6th March 2022. A one-day training cum workshop was organized to sensitize and train the farm women on "Improving the livelihood of farm women through managing soil health, waste to wealth and women nutrition" About 150 farm women, including the scientist and technical staff of the Institute, participated in the program.

The Chief Guest, Ms. Kokila Chaturvedi, M.P. Jan Abhiyan Parishad, Bhopal, emphasized the need for adapting to the advances in technological change and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

The Guest speaker, Smt. Shobha Lodhi, Smarthan center for development Barkhedi, Sehore, trained the farm women on vermicomposting. She briefed the farm women on the key benefits and features of various women-centric programs launched by the government.

The resource person Smt. Purva Rai, Anchor and News Reader, Bhopal Doordarshan outlined the importance of community-based initiatives effective in mobilizing communities, empowering women, and promoting community dialogue and changes on issues of gender equality.

Later, Ms. Nikita Jain, founder of "The Mushroom House," delivered on the potential of Mushroom cultivation for income and waste-to-wealth generation.

A few progressive farm women and women achievers from different fields were felicitated during the occasion.

A video was released on youtube (https://youtu.be/Tf48qrz2DQU).

 

ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar

ICAR-CIFA and KVK, Khordha organized a Workshop on “Empowering Women through Aqua-preneurship: A Way Forward for Sustainable Livelihood” on the occasion of International Women’s day 2023.

The Chief Guest, Dr. (Mrs) Binodini Mishra, Sr. Consultant and Master Trainer delivered a presentation on “Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Fisheries”. She encouraged women beneficiaries to participate in the social and economic development of the society for empowerment and bringing equity. She stressed organic farming, the involvement of women in forest development and kitchen garden.

  

Dr Pramoda Kumar Sahoo, Director, ICAR-CIFA, spoke about the various livelihood development programmes being organized by the institute for the empowerment of women farmers through various projects and central sector schemes.

Dr Kanta Das Mahapatra, Former Principal Scientist of the institute graced the function as Guest of Honour and suggested that both urban and rural women can strengthen their economic status by adopting aquaculture, and gave a presentation on “Quality fish seed production as a viable livelihood option for women entrepreneurs”.

Dr. Nagesh K. Barik, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the Agri-business incubation centre of ICAR-CIFA appraised the house about the special efforts that are being taken by the institute in the development of the women entrepreneurs in the state. He delivered a lecture on “Entrepreneurship opportunities for women in aquaculture”.

An interaction session was held on new business models and new farm model creation.

The workshop was funded by RKVY Project, Odisha, ICAR-CIFA and it was attended by 50 women entrepreneurs and farmers from Khordha district of Odisha.

In the afternoon a meeting to celebrate International Women’s Day was organized.

The Chief Guest, Dr. Soma Chattopadhyay, Scientist F, Dept. of Infectious Biology, DBT- Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar spoke about how to improve our physical, mental, social and spiritual strength to make our daily work more peaceful and effective.

Dr. Pramoda Kumar Sahoo elaborated various programmes undertaken by the institute for the empowerment of women.

(Source: Respective ICAR Institutes)