ICAR

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an independent body focusing on harmonizing agricultural education in India. It comes under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education as well as belongs to the Ministry of Education. The president of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is the Union Minister of Agriculture. It is the greatest system providing the basis of research for institutes covering Indian Agricultural Research education. The Yashpal Committee 2009 highlights the establishment of the body known as the National Commission for Higher Education and Research. This body would serve at the zenith to cater to the needs of higher education in agriculture as well as other domain.  The Yashpal Committee’s suggestions are approved by the Government and are highlighted in ‘100 days agenda’. 

Benchmarks

• It is known for preparing vaccines as opposed to bird flu. High-Security Animal Disease Laboratory is a place where vaccines were made. The test for H5N1 was conducted to detect bird flu. The responsibility for preparing a vaccine was vested in the hands of ICAR, especially after the eruption of Avian Influenza. This benchmark happened in July 2006 and ICAR was given Rs 8 Crore for this project.
• The ICAR declared that it is going to work on the strategy to give open entry to the concept of research. It took place on December 2009. 
•  Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Journal of Animal Sciences falls under the category of the flagship journals, which was made by the ICAR. This happened on March 2010.
• The aim behind the declaration of Open Access Policy was undertaking initiatives to prepare public-funded scholarly outputs. The Open Access Repositories serve as a gateway towards making it accessible. This took place on 13th September 2013.
• KISAAN(Krishi Integrated Solution for Agri Apps Navigation) is the latest mobile application developed by ICAR. It has been designed for farmers and provides an option to choose from 12 languages of India. This is the recent benchmark that happened in 2019.

Certification

There are myriad of colleges and universities under ICAR. National Agricultural Education  Accreditation Board maintains certificates for several courses, programs, and so on. It is a means to check quality assurance. Some universities under AICTE are as follows:-

• National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana
• Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh