Monday, January 28, 2002		The world of  dot.com

AGRICULTURE and agro-sector still happens to be the most important sector for us Indians. In this era of IT, with GM (genetically modified) seeds, the focus might have shifted a bit yet ours remains an agro-based economy, or more precisely agrarian society, with 70 per cent of the population employed directly or indirectly in this sector. Sites focussing on this sector are:

This site belongs to Indian Council of Agricultural Research, an autonomous monolith involved in research activity. Here, you will read about the research activities of the organisation in the fields of development of high yielding varieties of hybrid crops, research on horticulture, spices and livestock. Lists of agriculture universities of India and various publications are provided. The exclusive item on the site is Parliament question and answer system. The material has been prepared on the basis of the questions and answers provided by the ministries. It enables an easy access to the questions on agro-related subjects put up in the Houses of Parliament. Ways to manage natural resources are also mentioned.

This is the official Website of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. The Website has been developed in order to promote the use and application of Information Technology (IT) tools with the objective of making agriculture on-line for the use of farmers, exporters, traders, research institutions, state agriculture departments and the central government in order to achieve higher levels of productivity and income for the farmers. Information is provided about the constitution of task force on agriculture. You will read the salient features of WTO, report of its impacts on agriculture and strategies for coping with them. Various aspects of project on use of biofertilisers, pest management, plant protection have been mentioned. Read the details of cooperative agricultural development banks, credit schemes, cooperative education, training, marketing, processing and storage of agricultural products, HRD training and support to agriculture and helping scheme for women in agriculture. Other topics are agricultural and livestock census, Agmark grading & standardisation and natural disaster management schemes.

This is a well-designed site of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana. This university was established in 1962 to serve the state of Punjab, known as the "granary of India". The Website has information of academic programmes run by university in its five constituent colleges. Admission capacity and eligibility to various courses is available. Landmark research by the university in the fields of crop improvement & management, crop protection, livestock improvement, agricultural engineering technologies are discussed. The current research endeavours of the university have also been mentioned. The site also has information of the communication centre of the university which is engaged in the transfer of farm technology through mass media. Go on a virtual tour to see pictures of various productions and programmes in the university.

This Website is a brainchild of Agronet Software Private Limited, Nagpur. It contains national and world news related to agriculture. Market update of various agricultural products is provided in a separate section. Yellow pages of seeds fertilisers, manures, insecticides and machinery are available. You can join an agriculture community that will help you to share your opinion, knowledge with rest of the world and other Indians farmers in particular. The community service provides bulletin board, discussion forum, ask the experts, customised information, success stories and interviews of successful farmers, new product information and new technology update. Information about crop insurance and cattle insurance is also provided. Job seekers can have list of jobs available. Companies can register their names in the directory free of cost.

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal