The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in partnership with the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Save Soil Group and other national stakeholders, is in the process of formulating the Bharat Soil Health Policy (BSHP) a comprehensive national policy framework to guide the improvement, monitoring, and sustainable management of soil health across India's diverse agro-ecological zones. In this connection a One-day Consultation Workshop on Bharat Soil Health Policy for the Eastern and North-Eastern Region of India was organized at ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management (IIWM), Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 06/6/2026 (Saturday) in dual mode. This workshop was a part of the series of workshops planned for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Zone of India. The program was conducted in four sessions covering different aspects of soil health management viz., (i) Soil Health Challenges, Traditional Knowledge, Incentive, Expectations, (ii) Alignment with Ongoing Schemes, Regulatory Gaps, Incentives, (iii) Scientific Priorities, Data Systems, Soil Taxonomy, SOM Thresholds and (iv) Solutions, Innovation Pipeline, Barriers to Scaling. Dr. Amaresh K. Nayak, Hon’ble DDG (NRM), ICAR was the Chief guest on this occasion. Dr. M. Mohanty, Director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal was the convenor of this workshop. Dr. A.K. Singh, former VC, RVSKVV, Gwalior and Dr. B.S. Dwivedi, former Member of ASRB, New Delhi, the core committee members participated in the workshop. Scientists from CGIAR Institutes viz., Dr. Mahesh Gathala from CIMMYT, Dr. Abhiraj Datta from ICRISAT, Dr. Yashpal Sehrawat from IFDC and Dr. Gopal Kumar from IWMI participated in this workshop. From the Save soil group, Dr. Indu Madhavan and her team joined in this programme physically. This was a unique workshop involving all the stakeholders related to soil viz., scientists, academicians, Govt. officials, Fertilizer companies, NGOs and Civil Society Members and also the farmers from the Eastern and North-Eastern states of India. In this workshop total there were 150 participants with 78 joined physically and 72 joined on line. The programme started with the National song Bande Mataram and ICAR song followed by watering the plants. At the outset, Dr. A. Sarangi welcomed the guests and two leaflets titled “Balanced use of fertilizers for rice-based production systems for enhancing resource use efficiency and farm income” and “Harmful effects of imbalanced use of fertilizers” were released by the dignitaries on this occasion. Ten progressive farmers were felicitated on this occasion.In the inaugural session, Dr. Nayak said that we should understand the scientific and spiritual aspect of soil health. Dr. B.S. Dwivedi said that there is diversity of in our Country, which calls for region-specific soil health policy. Dr. A.K. Singh stressed that soil erosion is the biggest form of soil degradation especially in the NE region, which needs to be controlled. The agenda overview and context setting were presented by Ms Indu Madhavan from Save soil and Dr. Mahesh Gathala from CIMMYT. Subsequently, deliberations and interaction with stakeholders in different sessions were conducted as per the programme schedule. There was active participation by all the stake holders including the farmers from the states of Odisha, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya in different sessions of the Workshop. Two fertilizer companies viz., IFFCO and International Zinc Association participated in this workshop besides progressive farmers, ATMA staff and civil society representatives. In the concluding session, Hon’ble DDG (NRM) stressed for proper documentation of the proceedings by different rapporteurs. The meeting ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. K.K. Bandyopadhyay, Organizing Secretary and Programme Leader, ICAR-IIWM followed by National Anthem. This programme was adequately covered in the print and media.
