The Director General urged for water harvesting and storage, selection of appropriate methods for irrigation, choosing crops based on water resources availability, etc., for judicious use of water.

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, in his inaugural address, of the ’World Water Day – 2021’ virtually organised on March 22, by ICAR highlighted many facets of water in human life along with the importance of rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and Narmada, etc., in Indian Culture. Rupala also underlined the role of women in water management and emphasised on the need to include water as part of school-level education.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) emphasised on the importance of rivers in human civilisations. He also accentuated on water stress, water conflicts globally. The Director General urged for water harvesting and storage, selection of appropriate methods for irrigation, choosing crops based on water resources availability, etc., for judicious use of water.

Around 1,500 delegates from the ICAR, CGIAR Centres, State Agricultural Universities, Central Agricultural Universities, ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Farmers from the various parts of the country also virtually participated in the event.