India okays Rs 2,276 Cr to boost agri-education

New Delhi: A cabinet panel on Thursday sanctioned Rs 2,276 Cr (US $460 million) for strengthening and developing higher agricultural education in the country.

Of this, Rs 1,125 crore will be spent on development and strengthening of agricultural universities and Rs 421 crore on modernisation of agricultural university farms, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan said.

He was briefing reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reports IANS.

The rest of the amount would be spent on sectors like niche areas of excellence and experiential learning.

"The scheme aims to enhance quality and relevance of agricultural education so that the human resource thus developed can contribute to sustainable development of agriculture and is also able to respond to national challenges," Chavan said.

"This will lead to improvement in structural and infrastructure facilities like classrooms, laboratories, girls' and boys' hostels, international hostels, libraries, museums, sports complexes and examination halls.

The scheme will also provide fellowships and students' amenities and enable faculty development," Chavan added.