Shimla (The Hawk): Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni will soon be starting a Vocational Certificate Course on Entrepreneurship development in the production and processing of medicinal and aromatic plants. The course will be among five vocational courses which will be started under the World Bank Funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project(NAHEP) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. A review meeting was held recently on Vocational Certificate Course on Entrepreneurship development in production and processing of Medicinal and Aromatic plants was organized by the Department of Forests Products. Dr. Meenu Sood, HOD, Department of Forest Products welcomed the participants. Dr. Anju K Dhiman, Dean College of Horticulture and Coordinator of Vocational Programmes in the University gave an overview of the activities which will be covered under the course.Dr. Rajeev Raina, former Professor from UHF Nauni and Dr. Shyam Kumar from IIT Mandi were the subject experts during the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Dr. Parvinder Kaushal said that the university was working towards developing the students of the university into entrepreneurs. He said that the university is in the process of starting vocational courses in five disciplines and will be spending over one crore on these courses in the coming year under NAHEP. Congratulating the department for developing several products and technologies on medicinal and aromatic plants, Dr. Kaushal said that vocational courses will be helpful in the skill development of students, rural youth and people in the industry who will be able to make similar products. He said that the university is also in the process of establishing an incubation center for medicinal and aromatic plants.
The vocational course will be focused on value addition of medicinal and aromatic plants and aims to make students independent by empowering them with entrepreneurship development. This course will provide information on the production, processing, marketing and value addition of Himalayan medicinal herbs and is designed to provide foundational information in the development of herb enterprise. It will assist trainees to develop and enhance their knowledge of medicinal plants at both backyard and commercial levels. The course is aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of trainees on Himalayan medicinal herbs for their better management. Dr. Bhupender Gupta, Dean College of Forestry; Librarian Dr. DD Sharma, Dr. KK Raina, Coordinator NAHEP IDP and other faculty and staff of the department took part in the meeting. Deliberations were held among experts on the course contents and how to make the course more attractive and in line with industry needs.
