As per the Council’s order No PA/ADG(SWM)/2016 dated the 1st December 2016, the Institute has celebrated the World Soil Day on 5th December, 2016 by organizing a Seminar on Healthy Soils for Healthy Life. Dr. S.K. Dhyani, Former Director, ICAR-CAFRI, Jhansi and Principal Scientist, NRM Division, ICAR, KAB-II, New Delhi was the chief guest and delivered the above said talk to the scientists and students of the institute. He explained the importance of celebrating the World Soil Day by high lighting various issues related to soil health, viz., Low nutrient use efficiency and effects due to crop residue burning. Under the “Way Forward” he had touched upon various points, namely, ban on using top soils for brick making, ban on use of dung for fuel, ban on open grazing by roaming cattle, need for diversification of crop, rewarding the farmers for adopting soil conservation and restoration measures, ban on flood irrigation, development of new generation fertilizers like neem coated urea, implementation of farmer-centric technologies for enhancing soil health, in situ conservation technology, adoption of portable digital soil test kit, adoption of agro-forestry to improve soil health. Also, Dr. Dhyani highlighted and shared the issues associated with soil degradation and interventions required. The seminar ended with the remarks by the Director, ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi and thanks by the President, Institute Seminar Association.
