Thumbnail Image

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa

In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa. Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex. Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.

Browse

20201
Reset filters
Subject: Processing and Food Engineering × Author: Thokchom, Dinesh × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of low cost portable Corn Roaster-cum-Boiler
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Thokchom, Dinesh; Kumar, Vishal
    In India, roasted or boiled sweet corns are sold by the street vendors very highly and also the roasted and boiled corns are popular snacks enjoyed by many people. Many have tried and various technologies have been created for the process of quicker and easy, low cost, stress-free roasting to be obtained. The limitation of unavailability of an integrated corn roasting cum boiling unit is mainly due to the huge gap between the affordability of Indian street vendors and the high cost of the machines for roasting and boiling corns. Beside from this, the Indian vendors also experience another drawback in the form of drudgery involved during roasting and boiling where they are constantly exposed to heat. At times when the corn is over or under roasted, the traditional roasting process affects the outer beauty or attractiveness of the corn. The use of power driven and automated equipments are impossible for Indian street vendors due to their economic conditions. Therefore, developing of a corn roasting device with increased efficiency, productivity and with affordable price is very much needed in order to face the stress and limitations during roasting. A low cost portable corn roaster-cum-boiler was designed and developed and its performance evaluation was evaluated. It was designed and fabricated which can roast around 20 corns and can boil 24 corns in an hour. The average heat utilization factor in no load condition was found to be 0.14 while at full load condition it was 0.26. An average thermal efficiency of 51.05 per cent was obtained for the unit. The mean roasting efficiency of the developed corn cob roaster cum boiler was determined to be 95.09%.Total cost of the functional prototype is Rs 20,000.The net present worth calculated for next 5 years was Rs 1, 64,990, internal rate of return 243 per cent, benefit cost ratio 1.44 and payback period 0.40 years inferring that the developed unit is economically viable.