CII Communique - December, 2010

knowledge & innovation initiatives
the progress of clinical research in the country. “The
Government of India is also trying to encourage drug
development, and for this, it is ready to share 50 per
cent of the cost to develop the infrastructure.” He invited
ACRO to step in to design the guidelines which would
help augment regulatory clearances.
Dr Apurv Shah, Chairman, ACRO, and Group MD, Veeda
Clinical Research, gave statistics about India's progress
in clinical research and cited examples of government-led
promotion in other countries. The two-day conference
brought together clinical research organizations from
across the country.
CII and ACRO will partner to conduct seminars across
the country for spreading the knowledge of the benefits
of doing clinical research in an ethical manner. CII will
soon be submitting a white paper to the Government
of India on the guidelines that would help augment
regulatory clearances.
Tamil Nadu Technology Development &
Promotion Centre
Way Forward for Agricultural Products Export
In association with the Agricultural
& Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA),
CII organized a conference on
‘Challenges and Way Forward
for Agricultural Products Export’
on 10 November in Chennai.
Speaking at the inaugural session, Dr P Rama Mohana
Rao, Principal Secretary & Agriculture Production
Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Tamil Nadu,
said that farmers should be educated by corporate
houses to implement the cluster approach for improving
the quality of agri produce. He added that in Tamil Nadu,
most of the farmers are small and marginal and they
are not able to produce high quality products as price
matters to them. He urged for Industry-Government
partnership in facilitating relevant infrastructure for agri
clusters. Dr Rao cited a successful programme by the
Tata Group in purchasing red gram, which is now being
dovetailed with the World Bank and Central and state
government projects to support farmers.
Through another programme for marketing infrastructure,
the State Government is setting up terminal markets
in three locations, including Perundurai, Chennai and
Madurai, for procuring, processing and marketing of farm
products, said Mr Atul Anand, Commissioner, Agricultural
Marketing. Mr. S. Chandra Mohan, Co-Chairman,
Agriculture Sub-Committee, CII Southern Region and
Chief Financial Officer, TAFE Ltd., said that growth of
agriculture can be achieved by linking farmers, suppliers,
transporters, bankers, manufacturers and the insurance
companies by moving from primary to secondary and
tertiary processing with the use of technology.
In his keynote address, Dr. Tarun Bajaj, Deputy General
Manager, APEDA, said that the agriculture sector has
to be adequately equipped. He added that APEDA
has identified 3-4 clusters in consultation with the
Horticulture Department of Tamil Nadu keeping in view
the potential of vegetables in the State. Mr. R. Ravindra,
Assistant General Manager, APEDA, Southern Region
said that awareness programmes have helped not only
to spread awareness but also to get feedback from
the stakeholders for the development of a roadmap
for export promotion of agri products from potential
States in the country.
Speakers from state government and various organizations,
companies, certification bodies, Multi Commodities
Exchange of India, as well as universities participated
in developing a roadmap for export promotion of
agri-produce from Tamil Nadu.
R. Ravindra, Assistant General Manager, APEDA; Dr. Tarun Bajaj, Dy General Manager, APEDA; Dr P Rama Mohana Rao, Principal Secretary &
Agriculture Production Commissioner, Tamil Nadu; and Atul Anand, Commissioner, Agricultural Marketing
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