The 72nd Republic Day celebrations were held at ICAR-MGIFRI in a grand function attended by several dignitaries and officials of various state government departments, staff of KVK, Piprakothi and from ICAR – NRC Litchi, ICAR- RCER, Patna and from the host Institute.

The function was organized in the MGIFRI premises and began at about 11 AM after the clearing of dense foggy conditions. The Chief Guest was accorded a warm welcome by the large gathering of farmers who had come from nearby villages and from clusters situated even 40 kms away. Personnel from the police station provided a guard of Honour for the National Flag at the time it was being unfurled by the chief guest and other officials of the Institute.

The second stage of the function was organized in the newly completed training hall of the Institute, with the traditional lighting of the lamp along with the ICAR song playing in the background. The audience of farmers, press and media and several state department officials were informed about the various activities being done by the newly established ICAR Institute by Dr. A.Raizada, PS & I/c , followed by information provided by the Head, KVK, Piprakothi, Dr A. K. Singh, Dr Vishal Nath, Director, NRC-Litchi Muzzafarpur , Dr. Md. Monobrullah, PI of the Climate Change project operating in the Piprakothi area and then by the Head, KVK, Parsauni, Dr. Abhishek Kumar Singh.

This was followed by a speech by Shri Pramod Kumar Ji, MLA, Motihari and Ex State minister for Sports, Youth and Culture, Govt. of Bihar, in which he exhorted the farmers to adopt integrated farming as a source of assured income and independence form the vagaries of an uncertain climate. His speech was followed by the speech of the Chief Guest, Shri Radha Mohan Singh Ji, in which he spoke at length about the risk of monoculture and continuation of the rice wheat cropping system in this part of Bihar, which is affected by floods, frost and drought on a regular basis. He advised the cultivators and farmers to adopt integrated farming systems covering vegetables, fruits, poultry, fishery, duckery and their various combinations as a source of increased income and economic upliftment and reverse migration.

At the end of the function, 38 farmers who had shown exemplary integrated farming practices were awarded by Chief Guest with a shawl and with their achievements being mentioned by the anchor of the program. The list of awardees also included four ladies who had showed their skill in mushroom and vegetable cultivation and others who had increased their income several times over by adopting integrated farming practices.

The function ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. S.K.Purbey (PS – Hort.) which was followed by packed lunch provided by the ICAR-MGIFRI. The function was widely covered in the local press and media.