Bashir Ahmad writes on a project by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under National Agriculture Innovative Project (NAIP).

Doctoral research is a rich intellectual heritage of a country. It is the harbinger of scientific research in all domains of knowledge which initiates the researchers in to a great scholarly journey to academia. The extensive background information, detailed methodology, discussions, inferences and exhaustive bibliography make it an original and unique resource which in most cases may not be available in any other form. This wealth of information needs to be catalogued, archived and disseminated. Since at institutional and organizational level, no such mechanism has been evolved, this wealth of information is hardly consulted or read. Around Rs. 3000 crores are spent per annum for conducting research and producing results in the form of doctoral dissertations for innovative gains. There are 45 Agricultural Universities/Deemed Agricultural Universities in India which award Doctoral Degrees in agriculture and allied disciplines. Therefore, it is evident that very reliable and original information is casketed in them. This resource must be preserved for the posterity and used by the contemporary scientists. There is a need to expose this resource to the scientists across the world. This objective can be achieved if:
lIndian Agricultural Doctoral Dissertations Repository is set up for the preservation of information enshrined in them for the posterity and for the use of the current generation;
lthe repository , so established, is used for evaluation of research fundings and the evaluation reports are used for further pursuit and generation of agricultural knowledge;
lthe same repository is utilized for creation of electronic database of Doctoral Dissertation;
lthe database, so created, is made accessible online to the national & international users; and
lthe same database is further utilized for publication of an e-journal reporting abstracts of the dissertations in order to disseminate information.
 Keeping in view the importance of the doctoral dissertations, a project, “Krishiprabha: Indian Agricultural doctoral dissertations Repository” was conceived and finally launched by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under National Agriculture Innovative Project (NAIP) on 25th of March, 2008 at Chandhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (CCS HAU) Hissar. While inaugurating the launch function, Dr. Mruthyunjava, National Director, NAIP and Chief guest hoped that the project will help develop scientist to scientist, student to student and institution to institution interaction besides helping to avoid duplicacy in research to save a lot of time, energy and resources of scholars working on forefront of knowledge. The Vice-Chancellor, CCS HAU, Hissar, Dr. Katiyal,  also spoke on the occasion and reiterated the importance of digital library and digital content management on web. The function was attended by Agriculture librarians of all SAU’s /DAU,s  who deliberated on various issues related to the project.
 Literally Prabha means ‘morning’ or ’beginning’ of the day. Since the project is first of its kind in Agricultural discipline in India, hence the title Krishiprabha. The objective of the project will be achieved at a cost of 124.33 lakh within a period of 02 years and the beneficiaries will have the access to databases as soon as the data is captured form the SAU’s/DAU’s, processed and uploaded on the servers.
 The project shall, in the first instance, digitize about 10,500 Agricultural doctoral dissertations produced in India during 2000-2006 and maintain the digital content. Hard and soft copies of the theses shall also be collected from the stakeholders.

The objectives of the project shall be:-
¨ to develop, organize and sustain knowledge base of Indian Agricultural Dissertation in digital form and make it accessible on line;
¨ to develop a standard format for submission of theses to the SAUs/DAUs;
¨ to upgrade skills of human resources of SAU’s/DAU’s; and
¨ to publish a journal in electronic form from the database.
 In the changing world scenario, librarians are supposed to be the catalysts of change; the change which has occurred due to the application of ICT in information management and its dissemination and the availability of documents/ information in e-products like e-journals, e-Books, e-theses, e-resources etc. Fatigue in reading and readership being observed can be bridged with the new trends and programmes. The libraries, which are the intellectual banks, the resources available in them need to be exploited at optimal level for better change in society. Krishiprabaha will most likely help in achieving these targets.
 The stakeholders in the project shall be ICAR, lead Centre-Nehru library, CCSHAU, Hissar and all the SAU’s/DAU’s. Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir shall also be a partner of the project. Full text content of all the Ph.D dissertations shall be contributed for this digital repository . In return the University shall avail free online access to this digital repository for scientists and students. This will help scholars to a large extent in planning their research programmes and in avoiding duplicacy in research.

(Bashir Ahmad Head Library Service can be mailed at bashir_ahmad55@rediffmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Mon, 7 Apr 2008 21:30:00 Makkah time
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