World Soil Day was celebrated at ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, Bhubaneswar on 05 December, 2024. The meeting started with ICAR song. Nearly 150 persons including 20 farmers and 15 students from three different schools i.e. Saraswati Shisu Mandir, Vivekanand Shiksa Sansthan, Bhubaneswar and DAV School, Chandrashekharpur attended this program. Dr. A. Sarangi, Director, ICAR-IIWM welcomed the participants and highlighted the significant achievements of the Institute on agricultural water management. Dr. K.K. Bandyopadhyay, Principal Scientist and Chairman of the organizing committee talked about the significance of World Soil Day. Dr. A.K. Patra, Former Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal delivered a talk on the world soil day theme “Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor and Manage”. Dr. A. Velmurugan, ADG (Soil and Water Management), ICAR was the Chief guest on this occasion. He gave his remarks and stressed on measuring, monitoring and management of soil health by scientists, policy makers and farmers in an integrated manner. Both Dr. Patra and Dr. Velmurugan joined the meeting in virtual mode. A farmers-scientists interaction meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Sarangi, Director, ICAR-IIWM, Bhubaneswar. Then debate and painting competition was held among the students on the World Soil Day theme. The progressive farmers were felicitated and the students who won prizes in different competitions were rewarded on this occasion. The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chief guest and all the participants.
