Agriculture meet

The agriculture department in Bihar would set up two centres of excellence - Desri in Vaishali district and Chandi in Nalanda district - to help farmers learn the agriculture practices in Israel.

Agriculture production commissioner Vijoy Prakash made this announcement during a workshop for progressive farmers on the agro technologies in Israel. He said the farmers of the state could learn a lot from Israel, which despite of its limited means, has excelled in the field of cultivation and dairy production.

"We have been in talks with the authorities of the embassy of Israel in Delhi for quite some time. The two centres of excellence, which are being developed in coordination with Israel, will help farmers of the state know about modern farming in Israel and understand their approach towards farming and cultivation of crops, fruits and vegetables," Prakash said.

He added: "The farming here is mainly consumption oriented and farmers do not usually think much about the market and about selling their crops. Though there is a slight change happening towards commercial agriculture, much still needs to be done. In a country like Israel, which does not have very fertile soil and has scarcity of water, modern techniques are used. We can learn many things from Israel, like balanced use of fertilisers and water management."

The event was jointly organised by the Israel embassy and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Panel discussion

St Karen's High School on Tuesday organised an inter-school youth panel discussion - Crossfire - with Barry O'Brien as the moderator.

The topic of discussion was "Sometimes I am proud of India and sometimes I am not." It was the first time students had the opportunity to discuss such issues on such a platform. The competition was conducted in two rounds - a qualifying round and the final round. Around 20 prominent schools of Patna including Loyola High School, St Michael's High School, Notre Dame Academy, Delhi Public School, Litera Valley School, St Karen's High School, Don Bosco Academy and DAV BSEB took part in the event.

Vivek Kaushal from St Michael's High School bagged the most effective speaker award while the cutting edge speaker award was given to Jayanti Jaya and Simran of Litera Valley and Notre Dame Academy respectively. The power of expression award went to Apoorva Mishra of Notre Dame Academy.

O'Brien said: "The students proved that there were not much issues or subjects, which were not known to them and their opinions were brilliant. I am very satisfied with the young orators of Patna. They are very knowledgeable and left the audience spellbound."