Facility for tribal people - Gadchiroli to get Agriculture College
The state government has decided to set up a college in Gadchiroli,
which will offer a diploma course in agriculture. Eighty per cent of the seats in
the proposed college will be reserved for local tribal people.
Children of tribal people in Gadchiroli get education till secondary level, but
have to go to other places for higher education, which leads to spending more. With
the new agriculture diploma college, tribal people can come into mainstream education,
said Vijay Kolte, vice president of Maharashtra Council for Agricultural Education
and Research (MCAER), while addressing a news conference on Thursday 30th June to
give information about decisions taken by the council.
The council heads agriculture universities in the state and plays a major role in
their administration and forming of policies. Kolte said, the state government has
sanctioned Rs. 10 crore for the college in Gadchiroli under the state tribal sub-plan.
The college will start functioning from the next academic year. The state home minister
and district guardian minister of Gadchiroli, R. R. Patil, has taken an initiative
in sanctioning and completing construction of the college. The tribal people will
become eligible for jobs in government as well as private sector once they take
up higher education. The college will be a government-aided one as no private institution
was keen on investing in areas which are prone to Naxalism.
Another project mooted by state is the setting up of agriculture knowledge based
school in the Melghat tribal belt, which is infamous for malnutrition deaths. Kolte
said, the proposal has been approved in-principle and is waiting for state finance
department’s nod. It is aimed at developing skills among tribals and increases their
employability.
Among the other major decisions taken by the council include providing express feeders
for supplying power to Punjabrao Deshmukh Agriculture University, Balasaheb Sawant
Konkan Agriculture University and Marathwada Agriculture University. The Rahuri-based
Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth already enjoys an express feeder facility.
Courtesy: Times of India
