Networking Agricultural Training Institutions through Cyber Corridor     The communication revolution is sweeping across the country in a big way. The area covered by mobile communication has already crossed over 30% of Indian territory. Its usage in rural communities is however limited as of now, but the penetration is increasing day by day. Internet connectivity on the other hand has gone up to the block level in almost all districts of the country. Its access by the farming community and usage is severely limited by infrastructure constraints (like power and telephone lines) and more importantly the content which is mostly in English. On the other hand, video connectivity has found more acceptability at the farmers level, as it is language neutral and it also provides a two-way face-to-face communication between the two parties (or among more than two).   MANAGE had established a Single Carrier Per Channel (SCPC) based video conferencing on its campus at Hyderabad and used the NIC’s network of satellite based video communication across the country. All the NIC studios are primarily situated at major cities (mainly state capitals) in the country and provide the service to all the government departments on need basis. MANAGE used this communication for over two years for having technical discussions with its trainees/ participants / officers at various locations. The limitation posed by the distance between agricultural training institutions and NIC studios was felt quite severely and then we decided to establish an open video conferencing (VC)  network (based on ISDN connectivity) across the agricultural training institutions in the country under the Agriclinics and Agribusiness Centres scheme.   The Agriclinics and Agribusiness centres scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture, is being jointly implemented by MANAGE, NABARD and Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), with the help of a network of over 60 training institutions spread over the length and breadth of the country. To provide information and a resource sharing mechanism among the participating training institutions, a video conferencing (VC) network has been established connecting 22 institutions in the first phase. These institutions include – Shere-e-Kashmir Agricultural University, Jammu, Kerala Agricultural University, Trichur, Gujarat Agriculture University, Anand and  Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat among others (the list of 22 training institutions connected on video conferencing is given in the table below).   This connectivity was established over a period of two months starting from the second week of December. Within a short span of two months, this multiple site connectivity has helped the participating institutions have face to face dialogue with renowned agricultural scientists and policy makers including Ministers and in some cases Chief Ministers. Shri. Digvijay Singh, Honorable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri. Tarun Gogoi, Honorable Chief Minister of Assam, Shri. Mangat Ram Sharma, Honorable Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri. Vasanth Rao Adik, Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Maharashtra and Shri. Dev, Minister of Agriculture, Assam are among the list of dignitaries who have participated in VC sessions with MANAGE from their respective states. The Vice Chancellors of Agricultural Universities were able to discuss technical and policy issues among themselves and with MANAGE using this facility. Crucial decisions on training infrastructure, training modules, and other administrative issues were discussed and decided in a matter of few hours, without commuting, using this facility. There have been continuous requests from all the participating institutions for sharing MANAGE faculty resource for their training programmes.   The contribution of MANAGE staff, who have traveled to all these places to install this facility, along with organizing all the logistics is worth recording. The whole project was completed within 2 months (with not more than two visits, per site) by MANAGE staff at all these locations. It is expected that this facility will be used to its full potential by all the nodes (institutions) of this network. MANAGE plans to install one VC facility at the forthcoming Krishi Expo 2003 (March 10-16, 2003) at Pragathi Maidan New Delhi. All the connected institutions are welcome to use their respective VCs to interact with officers, visitors, and participants at Pragathi Maidan right from their respective locations during this period. click here for the address of the institutes and their ISDN numbers Sno Name of the Institute Contact person 1. Assam Agricultural University   Assam 2. Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar 3. Gujarat Agricultural University Gujarat 4. CCS Haryana Agricultural University Haryana 5. Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and technology Jammu 6. Birsa Agricultural University Jharkhand 7. University of Agricultural Sciences Karnataka 8. Kerala Agricultural University Kerala 9. Mahatma Phule Agricultural University Mahahrashtra 10. Madhya Pradesh Academy of Administration Madhya Pradesh 11. The Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (APICOL) Orissa 12. Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering Technology Punjab 13 Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology Rajasthan 14. Rajasthan Institute of Cooperative Education and Management Rajasthan 15. Shanmuga Arts, Science Technology and Research Academy Tamilnadu 16 National Research Centre for Agro-forestry Uttar Pradesh 17 CS Azad University of Agriculture and Technology Uttar Pradesh 18 Allahabad Agricultural Deemed University Uttar Pradesh 19. GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Uttaranchal 20 Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya West Bengal 21 Extension Education Institute Andhra Pradesh 22. MANAGE Andhra Pradesh S. No Name of the Institute State & MANAGE Nodal Officer Contact Person Address VC ISDN Nos. 1. National Institute of Agricultural Extension Mgt.  (MANAGE) ANDHRA PRADESH Hyderabad Mrs.P.Bharathi Rani 98483 09923 Dr.P.Chandrashekara Dy.Director Agri Clinics Rajendranagar Hyderabad – 500 030 040-24015399 (O) 040-24015388 (F) 040-24001284/72/81 2. Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University ANDHRA PRADESH Hyderabad Dr. Sai Maheswari 98483 08124 Dr. M. Sudershan Reddy Principal / Nodal Officer Extension Education Institute Rajendranagar Hyderabad – 30 040 – 4015368 (O) / (F) 040 – 4545671 (R) 040-24001201/02/03 3. Assam Agricultural University ASSAM Jorhat Dr. J. P. Rao 98483 08103 Dr. D.K. Gogoi Professor & Head   Directorate of Extension Education, Jorhat - 785013, Assam 0376 – 2340086 ® 0376 – 2341227 (F) 0376 – 2340133 (O) dilipgogoi.aau.ac.in 0376-2311273/74/75 4. Gujarat Agricultural University GUJARAT Anand Mr. Krishna Murthy 98483 08107 Dr. S. K. Wagmare, Principal /  Nodal Officer Extension Education Institute, Anand, Gujarat – State 02748 – 78222 / 784444 (O) 02748 – 78261 (F) 0269-2267977/78/79 5. CCS Haryana Agricultural University HARYANA Hissar Mrs. K. Kamala 98483 08116 Dr. J. P. Singh Prof.& Head Nodal Officer College of Agriculture Department of Business Management Hisar – 125004 01662-37720-26, 31884 (D) 01662-34613 /34952(F) 01662 – 70629 (R) business@hau.nic.in 01662-272010/11/12 6. Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology of Kashmir JAMMU & KASHMIR Jammu Mrs. Waheeda Munawar 98483 08110     Dr. Pramod Baru Associate Director Nodal Officer Director of Extension Education, SKUAST –J, Rail Head Jammu – 180 004 0191- 475035,473417,471745 Ex:251 0191-475035 (F) 0191-2473912/13/14 7. Kerala Agricultural University KERALA Thrissur Mr. V. Sanjeev 98483 08102 Dr.Bhaskaran Professor of Extension Nodal Officer Central Training Institute Manuuthy – Post Trissur  – 680651 Kerala - State 0487-370150 (F) 0487-370086 / 371104 (O) dekau@vsnl.com 0487-2239120/30/40   8. Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, MAHARASHTRA Pune Mrs. L. Manohari   Dr. R.V.Wuike Associate Dean / Principal & Nodal officer College of Agriculture Pune – 411 005 MAHARASHTRA 020-5538489 / 5537167(o) 020-5537640 ® 020-5537188/5521023 (F) adacpune@vsnl.net 020-5512685/86/87 9. R.C.V.P. Naronha Academy of Administration, MADHYA PRADESH Bhopal Mr. M. Srinivasa Rao 98483 08105 Sri.B.M. Budholia Course Coordinator Bhopal – 462 016 Madhya Pradesh 0755 – 420293 (O) 0755 – 464244 (F) 0755-461141 ® bmbudholia@indiatimes.com 0755-2429087/86/85   110. The Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd., (APICOL) ORISSA Bhubaneswar Mr. N.Mallikarjuna Rao 98483 08112 Dr. A.K.Behera Managing Director Nodal Officer 326, Baramunda, Bhubaneswar – 751003, Orissa – State 0674-561203/561874 (O) 0674 – 563306 (F) apeda@dte.vsnl.net.in apeda@ori.ni.in 0674-2564988   111.