The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has ordered all its institutes to develop agriculture-specific digital courses and upload them to the iGOT Karmayogi platform, the government’s online learning system for civil servants and public sector employees. This directive came during a review meeting held by Dr. M. L. Jat, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General of ICAR, to check progress on course creation and ensure adherence to quality standards and timelines.
The iGOT Karmayogi platform, also known as Mission Karmayogi, is a national initiative to build skills and knowledge among government employees through structured digital learning. ICAR, which oversees agricultural research and education across India, is now integrating domain-specific content into this system to align its training programmes with the broader government framework.
Key facts
- Review meeting chaired by Dr. M. L. Jat, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR
- All ICAR Institutes directed to develop and upload domain-specific courses on iGOT Karmayogi
- ICAR employees required to complete at least two hours of learning on the platform regularly
- Courses must undergo internal quality review before uploading and follow prescribed guidelines
- Work must be completed within stipulated timelines as per the directive
- Expert inputs provided by Karmayogi Bharat on content development and digitisation process
- Meeting included discussion on available empanelled agencies for course development assistance
What ICAR has been asked to do
The ICAR leadership has mandated that all its 101 institutes across India create digital learning courses tailored to agriculture-related fields and subjects. These courses should reflect the specific research and educational expertise of each institute. Before uploading to iGOT Karmayogi, each course must pass an internal quality review process to ensure it meets national standards and guidelines set for the platform.
Dr. Jat stressed that course development and uploading must happen within agreed timelines. He also directed that these courses should be high-quality and properly structured to provide meaningful learning for participants who access them through the iGOT Karmayogi portal.
Mandatory learning requirement for ICAR staff
Every ICAR employee, from scientists to support staff, must now dedicate at least two hours per week to learning on the iGOT Karmayogi platform. This is part of a larger push to make continuous professional development a routine practice across the agricultural research system. The institutes have been asked to track participation and ensure all staff members meet their assigned learning targets.
How this connects to Mission Karmayogi
Mission Karmayogi is a government-wide digital learning and human resource management initiative launched to strengthen the capacity of public sector employees. Each ministry and department is expected to contribute domain-specific courses that reflect their area of work. ICAR’s participation means agricultural research and education content will be available to learners across government and potentially to agriculture professionals seeking to upgrade their skills.
Dr. Yashpal Singh Malik, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education) at ICAR, noted that active participation by all ICAR Institutes in this initiative will improve the organization’s ranking under the Mission Karmayogi framework, which evaluates how well each agency is building employee capacity.
Technical support available
To help institutes develop courses efficiently, experts from Karmayogi Bharat provided technical guidance on the process of content creation and digitisation during the review meeting. The government has also empanelled certain agencies that can assist ICAR Institutes in developing these courses if needed, reducing the burden on individual institutes that may lack in-house digital content creation expertise.
What this means for you
If you work in agricultural research or education under ICAR, you will be expected to participate in regular online learning on iGOT Karmayogi. Your institute will likely offer courses relevant to your field of work. If you are a student of agriculture or aspiring to work in agricultural research, the growing availability of ICAR courses on iGOT Karmayogi means more free or subsidised learning resources will become accessible online. Agricultural professionals outside government may also benefit if these courses are made public on the platform.
Farmers and agricultural extension workers should expect that ICAR’s push to digitise its knowledge base will eventually translate into more accessible online training and advisory content, though this review meeting focuses primarily on government employee training.