Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Puruskar

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has instituted Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Puruskar for recognizing the contributions of marginal, small and landless farmers for developing integrated and sustainable models of agricultural farming. The awards include one award at national level comprising Rs. One lakh and 11 zonal awards comprising of Rs. 50 thousand each along with a citation and certificate.

Eligibility Criteria

• Those farmers including farm women whose family is dependent on agriculture and those who have developed their small farm /enterprise as exemplary and profitable units
• Small, marginal and landless farmers who are engaged in farming or farming related activities for the last ten years and actively engaged in one or more of the following agricultural activities
• The farmers who have contributed significantly towards development of sustainable and integrated farming models, resource conserving/ cost effective farming technologies/ package of practices
• Livestock and fish based integrated farming system models.
• Commendable works done in farm waste management.
• Diversification of farms as sustainable and profitable units.
• Developing value chains/ market linkages.
• Developing new innovations in any field of Agriculture.
• Developing vertical farming module(s) or
• Other such contributions of unique nature.

Procedure for Nomination

The award will strictly be based on the nominations of suitable candidates for which the nominations, in the prescribed format for the award, shall be forwarded by the Vice - Chancellor /Director of Extension of Agricultural University/ Director of ICAR Institute / ATARI Director. One individual may not nominate more than 2 farmers. The Recommendations may only be made in respect of the farmers within the jurisdiction of the University/ Institute/ ATARI concerned. The application nominations should be sent to ADG (Coordination), ICAR, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi. All the nominations thus received will be put before the duly constituted Award Judging Committee which will decide the award on merit. The National Award will also be decided from amongst the Zonal Award winners. In subsequent years the National Award will be decided from the current and two previous years’ zonal level award winners. A zonal award winner will not be considered for the same award for next 10 years after winning the award.

The call for awards is generally launched during December-January every year.

Administration of the Award

A five-member Judging Committee will be appointed by the DG, ICAR which will have 4 experts in agriculture and related fields including one farmer representative having high standing and proven track record in farming related activities to assess nominations and make suitable recommendations.

For the details and the application format, click here.

Award winners of 2016

1. National award - The National Award for the year 2016 has been won by Smt. Krishna Yadav, an enterprising lady farmer from, Dinpur, Najafgarh for her outstanding achievements in the processing and value addition of food especially fruits and vegetables. She is a successful food processing entrepreneur based in Najafgarh, New Delhi. Her extraordinary entrepreneurial journey from ‘selling vegetables’ on road to ‘opening factory’ is an exemplary example of women empowerment. She manufactures approximately 1500 quintals of fruits and vegetables processed product and also provides employment to others. She has also made substantial progress in terms of technology adoption, diversification, technology development, technology modification and technology diffusion. She is also actively involved in training and human resources development to realize the Skill India. She has signed Memorandum of Understanding with IARI for commercializing innovative technologies of Natural Pusa Drinks and Soynuts.
2. Zonal awards
• Zone I comprising of the states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi - Shri Jinder Singh, a small farmer from Roopnagar, Punjab has won the award. He started a nursery of vegetable crops under the brand name ‘Chamkaur Sahib Paniri Farm’. In 2011, he started bee-keeping to substantiate farm income. He has inspired farmers from nearby areas to progress in vegetable cultivation and production.
• Zone II comprising the states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi -  Smt. Pooja Sharma, a small Haryana farmer who has won all round accolades for her innovative ways of farming. She adopted IARI technology for making soyabean products and started Self Help Groups for marketing of the product, at national as well as state level. She has helped in creating awareness about the benefits of soyabean as protein booster available at affordable prices in her neighbouring areas, especially for people living below the poverty line,, which has resulted in improvement of their health and nutrition.
• Zone III which covers entire Uttar Pradesh - Shri Moti s/o Shri Shyama a small farmer from Saidasaunkh village in Mathura who owns a meagre 1.5 acres of land has won the award for his outstanding skills in innovative ways of farming which includes production of seeds of new varieties and planting material and distributing it among the fellow farmers at reasonable rates. Crops of his special interest include; wheat, bajra, mustard, potato and okra (bhindi) among others. He has taken the efforts not only to double his own income but also the income of the other farmers of the region. In addition, he is also maintaining very good dairy animals to further boost his family income.
• Zone IV comprising the states of Bihar and Jharkhand - Shri Deepak Kumar Singh from Bishanpur Banka, Bihar has been conferred this award. Shri Singh is involved in the cultivation and sale of mushroom which has enabled him to earn a sizeable income from this activity. Through his efforts he has inspired a large number of small and marginal famers from the surrounding areas to boost their farming income.
• Zone V comprising of the states of West Bengal, Orissa and Andaman & Nicobar Islands - Shri Ashok Kumar Sarkar, Nimbudera, a small farmer from, Andaman and Nicobar Island has been awarded for his outstanding entrepreneurial skill in agriculture production. He has earned wide acclaim for following the practice of cultivation of improved disease resistant varieties of indigenous field and vegetable crops, crop rotations and seed treatment for integrated management of disease and pests a practice now very well adopted by the others.
• Zone VI comprising of the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim - An enterprising lady farmer Smt. Anuradha Chhetri of Pakyong, East Sikkim has been awarded. She demonstrated that diversification of agricultural activities with orchids can be a boon for the farmers having small landholding in the hilly regions of the country. She adopted various technologies developed by ICAR-NRC Orchids and modified them to reduce the cost of production in orchids. Her methods have enabled farmers to save both the money as well as time.
• Zone VII comprising of the eastern states of Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya - A small farmer Shri Biswajit Majumder from Sabroom, Tripura has been awarded. He is a successful agri-enterpreneur and has established a farmer’s club in his village. He encouraged fellow farmers to establish commercial broiler farms, fish farms and dairy farms. He has been serving as an important link between the local farmers and the ICAR and KVK scientists.
• Zone VIII comprising of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli - Shri Hasam Bhai Jumabhai Musangara, an enterprising fish farmer from Gir, Somnath, Gujarat has been awarded for his outstanding achievements in Agriculture especially fisheries. He has become a mentor for sea cage farming in the Veraval area of Gujarat. His practical skill and dexterity specially in lobstar farming has helped in bringing improvements in many farming practices like the net bottom hide-outs design, tray based feeding method, next exchange, etc.
• Zone IX comprising of the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - Shri Balaram Patidar a progressive and innovative farmer from Sarangi, in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh has been awarded. He cultivates horticultural and cash crops using scientific technologies. He has been nominated a resource person of district Department of Agriculture, Jhabua and has developed many agricultural implements that are useful to farmers of the district.
• Zone X comprising of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry - Shri Alluri Suryanarayana Murthy, a small farmer from East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh has been awarded fromHe has adopted an integrated farming system which has enabled the farmers in his surrounding areas to reap huge benefits.
• Zone XI comprising of the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep - Shri A. Baburaj, Kozhikode, Kerala has won the award. He is a traditional fisherman who since two decades has successfully adopted sustainable brackish water aquaculture practices as a livelihood option. He is a reputed pond based pearl-spot seed producer in North Kerala. He has innovatively integrated island and farm tourism with social media to get premium price for his farm produce.

Source : PIB