First Indigenous E-Tractor CSIR Prima ET11 Unveiled By Minister Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, Aug 22 (KNN) The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Jitendra Singh launches the CSIR Prima ET11, first indigenous e-tractor developed by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur.

Speaking on the occasion, Singh highlighted the important role of Agri StartUps in India’s economy and the adoption of new and AI-driven technologies in agriculture. “There are increasing number of new startups venturing into the agriculture sector, focussing on niche technologies including e-tractor, recycling garbage, drip irrigation, and genome-sequenced farming such as Mango and Lotus among others,” he said.

“This is one sector in which India has rather not taken up the pace that was required. This is a huge unexplored resource, which is only exclusive to India. Those countries which had been promoting IT, have been promoting from their point of view because they have their assets; they don’t have the agri asset that we have. If I have plenty of agriculture resources, why not make use of it.Therefore, this route would be a very important component in India’s future economy in the next 25 years,” Singh pointed out.

He gave the mantra of ‘5 S’- showcasing, stakeholders, startups, synergising and strategizing industry linkage, for the success of R&D conducted at government-run scientific laboratories.

“Unless we are able to engage all these five components, we will not be able to achieve the optimum results,” he said.

The minister also proposed the creation of a separate cell for encouraging investment. “In order to sustain yourself, you have to have the involvement of Industry right from day one. We have an Industry that is ready to invest, but they don’t know where and how to invest,” he added.  (KNN Bureau)