OREANDA-NEWS. July 01, 2015. The Prime Minister called upon farmers to raise the level of pulses production in the country, to help make India self-sufficient in pulses. Invoking former Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,” Shri Narendra Modi asked every farmer to try and grow pulses on a part of his land. He also mentioned steps being taken by the Union Government for the pulses sector. He said pulses were an important part of the diet of the common man. The Prime Minister was speaking after laying the Foundation Stone of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute today at Barhi in Jharkhand.

Shri Modi also said that the need of the hour was a second green revolution, without any delay, in eastern India. He said that the Union Government was therefore committed to the development of this region. The Prime Minister further said that animal husbandry and fisheries were equally important for the agriculture sector. He further added that the Government has decided to pay special attention to the dairy sector in Jharkhand.

The Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh while welcoming the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the foundation laying ceremony of the IARI in Jharkhand, said that it was the need of hour to set up a second IARI in Jharkhand on the lines of IARI, Pusa, New Delhi. The Union Minister said that the Institute at Jharkhand will help in meeting the challenges in the field of agriculture in the State in a scientific manner.

The Institute would help in developing this Economic Zone in a scientific manner. The Minister added that the announcement of setting up of a second IARI in the country was made in the General Budget of the year 2014-2015 and he thanked the Prime Minister that the setting up of such an Institute was made possible under his leadership and guidance.

Soon after this announcement in the Budge-2014-2015, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Government of Jharkhand went into action to identify the land for the second IARI and this activity was completed within a year’s time. And that is how, the Minister added that this laying of Foundation Stone for IARI was possible.