New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi will soon have an international centre on rice research, after the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to set up an International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) there. It will work to develop special rice varieties.
Highly-placed sources said that the agriculture ministry expedited the Cabinet note on the proposal within record time to get the Cabinet clearance.
In fact, so fast things moved that the note, which was initially supposed to be discussed in next week’s Cabinet meeting, was sent for clearance on the evening of Tuesday (July 11) itself.
Sources in the know informed this newspaper that with the Cabinet reshuffle scheduled for next month, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh was keen to improve his report card and therefore is learnt to have ensured that the centre comes up in Varanasi.
Incidentally the new centre, which will be an extension office of the internationally renowned IRRI situated in Philippines, already has an office in New Delhi, situated in Pusa campus of IARI. The Delhi centre though is funded by IRRI, while the proposed one in Varanasi will be Centrally funded.
It will be the first such international centre in eastern India and will play a major role in sustaining rice production in the region.
The ISARC will be established on the campus of the National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC) in Varanasi, official sources said.
The Centre will help in utilising the rich biodiversity of India to develop special rice varieties. This will help India to achieve higher per hectare yields and improved nutritional contents. India’s food and nutritional security issues will also be addressed. The Centre will support in adopting value chain based production system in the country.
ISARC will operate under the governance of the IRRI (Philippines) Board of Trustees who will appoint an appropriate IRRI staff member as Director. A Coordination Committee will be headed by Director General, IRRI as Chair and Secretary in the Government of India, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DACFW) as Co-Chair.
