National Director, Dr. R.C. Agarwal, during inaugural function of online video conferencing on e-Governance-AMS
Two days Online Training Programme on e-Governance, with special reference to Academic Management System (AMS) was organized for the faculty of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, on 11-12th June, 2020 under Institutional Development Plan (IDP) of National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), funded by World Bank.
The programme was registered by more than 100 faculty members through zoom platform apart from common viewing facility made available in all teaching campuses under UAS, Dharwad. Welcoming the guests and faculty, Dr.M.B.Chetti, Vice Chancellor, UAS, Dharwad indicated that the University has adopted the academic management system and planning to adopt e-exams system also. He expressed that use of e-Governance is important especially in the COVID-19 situation. He stressed on the importance of application of ICT in the farm Universities.
Dr.R.C. Agarwal, National Director, NAHEP & DDG (Agril.Edn.), ICAR, New Delhi inaugurated the programme online and in his inaugural address gave a detailed account of reforms in Agricultural Education brought out by ICAR. He expressed that the Academic Management System as a part of e-Governance is essential to encourage the academic faculty and manage their performance in all Farm Universities. He also said that ICAR has taken initiative to provide all software required for academic management system in as many as 22 Farm Universities and to establish virtual classrooms in the selected Universities. He appreciated the initiatives of UAS, Dharwad to conduct online programmes to improve the e-Academics in the University.
Dr. R.C. Goyal, IT Consultant (NAHEP), ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi presented the different components of NAHRP-Component-2a. Dr. Sudeep Marwaha, PI; Mr. Vibhore Tyagi ; Mr. Manish Chauhan; Mr. Himanshu Kaushik; Mr. Midhun Kumar; Mr. Harish; and Mr. Mohit Anand, IT Professionals (NAHEP-Comp-2), ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi were invited as experts for the two days online training programme.
During Session-1 and 2, Mr. Vibhore Tyagi and Mr. Manish Chauhan presented different components of AMS software to the faculty of UAS, Dharwad. They explained how to register oneself on the AMS. They also demonstrated the procedures to register, addition of faculty, addition of courses, colleges, etc., duties and responsibilities of students, faculty, Professor & Heads and Deans.
Second day Dr. P.S. Pandey, ADG (EP & HS), Agril. Education Division, ICAR, New Delhi, in his opening remarks explained application of IT over a period of time in IASRI. Dr. P.U. Krishnaraj, Principal Investigator NAHEP-IDP, UAS, Dharwad appreciated the work of IASRI in bringing all farm universities under single umbrella in implementation of various modules developed by IASRI. In Session-III, Mr. Vibhore Tyagi and Mr. Manish Chauhan continued presentation on AMS. Further, Mr. Himanshu Kaushik presented the importance of Project Implementation Management System (PIMS) in Session-IV. In Session-V, Mr. Midhun Kumar and Mr. Harish Kashyap explained the module developed by IASRI on Artificial Intelligence based pest and disease management in crops and animals. Dr. R.C. Goyal assured that, under NAHEP-Component-2a, PIMS and AI based pest and disease management software will be made available to the needy farm universities. He also stressed to form a committee at University level involving entomologists, pathologists, agronomists and soil scientists for effective implementation of module. He also opined to have an IT consultant at the University level to look after all modules in general and AMS in particular.
Dr. Sudeep Marwaha, Head, computer division and Principal Investigator, NAHEP- Component-2, IASRI, New Delhi, explained the initiation taken by IASRI in developing and implementing IT at IARI, New Delhi from the year 2009-10. He opined that, for effective implementation of the software, University has to make provision for one teaching faculty and one non-teaching faculty exclusively to work in AMS. At the end, Dr. Balachandra K. Naik Nodal Officer (National Academic Activities) – IDP and Co-coordinator of the training programme proposed vote of thanks.