The Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak is taking steps to reshape the job scenario of the youth living in rural areas. The university aims to form a partnership with two of the country’s agricultural organizations—the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. The partnership will not only encourage the innovation of agricultural startups but also the technology-based startups targeted at the rural youth. The university is attempting to build a solid base for a new and modern, job-market-focused ecosystem structure with the help of institutional expertise.

Core objective and operational focus

The basic idea behind the new program that is being proposed is to develop a separate agenda for agri-entrepreneurship. Sunit Mukherjee, the Director of Public Relations at Maharshi Dayanand University, said that the overall vision is to give hands-on training to the young people, strengthening innovations, and imparting holistic training to the starting entrepreneurs. 

There are areas of active partnership where the focus will be on operational implementation of viable self-employment ventures in contemporary work fields. The specialized regions involve techniques in climate-resilient agriculture, technology-based solutions for agriculture, and other value-added agriculture ventures, which would help improve the local economy.

For turning the idea into practical action, Vice Chancellor Professor Milap Punia met up with Dr. Rabi Narayan Sahu, who is Principal Scientist and Programme Leader at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, PUSA. They discussed in major detail the idea and the beginning of such awareness campaigns and capacity-building programmes. These specialized courses will be specifically formulated to involve the young minds in agricultural startups and innovation-led entrepreneurship, from scientific development to field execution.

Institutional support and skill development

In the course of discussions, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Milap Punia shared valuable insights on the changing world of work. He added that “climate resilience plus entrepreneurship” is a sure portrait of the future of employment. Punia is passionate about startups around agriculture and agricultural technology, which can provide new opportunities for agricultural self-employment, especially for young people from rural communities. This will only be possible if these young minds are supported with highly structured training, constant institutional support, and easy innovation opportunities, he added.

The youth will be provided with the requisite skills and knowledge to deal with changing circumstances in agriculture, according to the Vice-Chancellor. For this purpose, it is intended to develop skills by adopting both scientific knowledge and practical exposure, along with entrepreneurship. 

Dr. Rabi Narayan Sahu highlighted the critical role played by such premier institutes in the agriculture domain in India, especially during the Green Revolution era. He said the institutes are highly interested in contributing their huge technical and scientific capabilities to improve the university’s academic and entrepreneurial relationship in a beneficial way. A distinguished group of academic and scientific personnel participated in the critical planning session. 

Conclusion

The collaboration of the universities with these prestigious agricultural institutes signifies an important step towards ensuring assistance for rural youth. Professor Sandeep Bansal, Registrar, stated that this MoU between the two institutions will allow the creation of opportunities for research and innovations for the students.

The university is increasingly developing itself in the direction of supporting startups and is making efforts to create a formal policy for the same. This internal structure is being duly made compatible with the overall development programmes which are being executed by the Government of India and the Haryana Government for sustainable growth.