Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has served a showcause notice to the director of ICAR-National Research Centre for Grapes following complaints of serious administrative lapses and lack of vision at the Pune-based institute during a surprise inspection earlier this week.
Chairing a high-level review meeting in New Delhi today, Chouhan reviewed the functioning of certain institutions under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
According to an official statement, the minister said that, as part of a broader institutional overhaul, ICAR will introduce performance benchmarks and ranking parameters for all its institutes.
He also asked officials to prepare a roadmap for institutional reforms ahead of ICAR’s Foundation Day on July 16.
According to officials present at the meeting, the minister expressed dissatisfaction over poor upkeep at the Pune-based ICAR grape research institute. Chouhan said farmers had informed him that they were increasingly relying on private nurseries for planting material as institutional varieties were “not useful”.
“If such institutions continue to function in this manner, it amounts to a national loss,” the minister said, adding that agricultural research centres must remain focused on farmers’ needs, export preparedness, and market-oriented innovation rather than “formal functioning”.
The minister also instructed the ICAR director general to constitute teams of 8–10 members for surprise inspections across all 113 ICAR institutes.
