DAV University, Jalandhar has been awarded a grant for setting up Science Technology & Innovation (STI) Cell for the empowerment of SC community by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology with the support of Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, The STI Cluster will be established jointly by DAV University and NIT, Jalandhar. Under the aegis of this project, DAV University will adopt ten surrounding villages dominated by SC population namely Sarmastpur, Ballan, Kishangarh, Daulatpur, Alawalpur, Mannan, Kala Bakra, Raipur Rasulpur, Naugajja, and Karari. The experts from the university will impart job-oriented training to the residents of these villages. Also, the villagers will be given skill-based training for starting small scale industries. The marginal farmers will be trained for some small scale agro-based processing industry like turmeric processing, honey processing, soya processing (soya milk & tofu), developing bio fertilizers and vermicomposting, utilization of farm residue by developing them into value added products for farm use. Many technologies will be introduced to the small scale farmers which include protected cultivation, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation, growing high value crops like fruits, flowers and vegetables, nursery for planting material production. They will also be educated and trained to start small dairy, poultry farm, fish farm, piggery, etc.Women self-help groups will be formed where rural women will be trained to make value added products (turmeric powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, pickles and chutney, jams etc.) from farm produce or from locally available raw material and sell their produce using digital platforms. Better quality hybrid seeds will be made available to the farmers to improve crop yield.The residents will be made aware of the IOT based applications like automatic farm monitoring systems, Power management systems, Pollution management, etc. The residents will be given the basic technical knowledge of using smart phones to meet their daily needs like paying electricity bills, online payments, banking, digital marketing of their products, attending online classes, seeking medical help online, etc.
In addition, the university students and faculty members will spread awareness regarding health and hygiene. Overall, this project will help in improving the livelihood framework of the residents of these villages.
Vice Chancellor, Dr. Jasbir Rishi, congratulated all the staff members on this achievement. She said that the University would leave no stone upturned to empower the SC community in the region and live up to the expectations of PSCST and DST. She expressed her gratitude to Punjab State Council for Science & Technology and Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for the trust reposed in DAV University.