Tarn Taran Diary: AI to boost dairy industry

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Rs 24.99 lakh to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Booh, Tarn Taran, for a research project. The KVK is affiliated to Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana. Principal investigator Dr Suresh Kumar and co-principal investigators Dr Balwinder Kumar, Dr Ravi Kant Gupta and Dr Neeraj Kashyap, from the university, had been involved for the execution of the project.

The project aims to decipher the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in dairy farms for the farmers of the border area in Tarn Taran. Dr Balwinder Kumar, Associate Director, KVK, Booh, said artificial intelligence could be a game-changer for dairy farming and it could emerge as a tool that empowers farmers in monitoring, forecasting as well as optimising farm animal growth by maintaining the health, physiological and physical conditions of dairy cows. This knowledge-based technology has a huge potential and could confront the existing lacunas in dairy farming and help strengthen the dairy industry. The experts said AI was one of the options which could be exploited in the industry and had multiple applications such as monitoring the activities of cows, boosting milk production and farm productivity, detection of diseased animals and eventually, it can provide new hope and open prospects for overall quality and progress in the dairy industry. GADVASU Vice-Chancellor Dr Inderjeet Singh and Extension Education or Research Director Dr PS Brar of university said the project in the border district would improve the health and productivity of the livestock in the region.

Foundation stone laid in 1955 lies unnoticed

An inauguration stone that was laid over six decades ago on July 11, 1955, at the Shani Mandir Road in Tarn Taran is lying unnoticed. The stone was laid by Dr Gurdial Singh Dhillon, the then Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Dr Dhillon had been the Speaker of the Lok Sabha twice during the Indira Gandhi government and also a Union Minister during the Rajiv Gandhi government. Dr Dhillon had laid down the stone of the office of the Market Committee, godown, rest house and a shed of the Market Committee in Tarn Taran as per the dictation written on the stone. It bears that Dr Dhillon was once also the Chairman of the same committee. (Contributed by Gurbaxpuri)