The symposium at Assam Agricultural University on Monday. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, March 7: A symposium on private public partnership was held at Assam Agricultural University for women entrepreneurs on the eve of Women’s Day.

Vice-chancellor of the university K.M. Bujarbaruah gave some practical advice on women’s empowerment. He said the private public partnership should be properly understood to benefit from this mode.

The vice-chancellor said Jawaharlal Nehru had rightly pointed out that when a woman moves forward, the home moves forward, the village moves forward and ultimately the country moves forward.

Listing the different agencies including Nabard, Nedfi and various government schemes, which funded women entrepreneurs, Bujarbaruah said the university could work in partnership with women in rural areas if they properly organised themselves.

“The stress today is on organic farming and what the region needs is bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. There is a shortfall of 4,000 tonnes of bio-fertilisers and 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes of bio-pesticides. Women’s organisations interested in organic farming will be given training, while they can take up production, packaging and sale,” he said.

Bujarbaruah said production of vegetables, fruits or rice seeds, which were imported from Bangalore, could also be taken up.

“We will provide the breeder or nucleus seeds and you can take care of the production and sale,” he told the gathering, including women entrepreneurs and trainees.

Bujarbaruah said making pickles or weaving clothes and selling them in nearby places was not economic empowerment in the true sense, however, it could be achieved by selling the products in different parts of the country.

The vice-chancellor also mentioned organisations like National Women’s Centre, Indian Council of Women’s Entrepreneurs and Federation of Ladies Organisation, which could prove to be helpful.

Assistant manager of Nabard, Jorhat branch, Mayur Bora, said although the government had undertaken a lot of initiatives to improve the condition of women in Assam, they were still lagging behind. He exhorted the gathering to learn from women like Joymati and Mulagabhoru who participated in the freedom movement of the country along with men. Both the women came from rural areas.

He hoped that a road map would be created for economic empowerment of women.

Minaxi Pathak, dean of College of Home Science, and Manju Dutta Das, head of the extension education department spoke on how thecollege was working for women’s empowerment since its inception and about the model to be created by which women could move ahead.

The symposium was organised by the extension wing of the Home Science College of the university and sponsored by the North Eastern Council and Nabard.