Punjab Agricultural University museum to host AIMA’s first-ever conference in South Asia

LUDHIANA: For the first time in 60 years, the International Association of Agricultural Museums (AIMA), France, will organise its conference in South Asia and has chosen the Museum of Social History of Rural Punjab of Punjab Agricultural University as its venue. More than 100 international delegates will attend the event scheduled for October. AIMA came into existence in Prague, Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1966. The event is organised every two years in different countries.
Upbeat over the development, PAU vice-chancellor Dr Satbir Singh Gosal credited the Punjab government’s tourism website for giving apt space to the PAU’s museum.
The event 'First Congress of International Agricultural Museums’ (CIMA) will see participation of over 100 delegates from over 50 countries along with 200 students, researchers and experts from India. The officials said the conference will be inaugurated on World Food Day, October 16 by World Food Prize Winner Dr Gurdev Singh Khush.
Gosal said, “PAU museum has gained popularity not only in India, but also in other countries. We are fortunate enough to grab this golden opportunity where delegates of many countries will visit PAU. There is growing interest of people living in cities in India and abroad, more particularly of Punjabi diaspora living abroad, to show these museums to their children to keep them connected with Punjab’s heritage, culture and history. The event will be an opportunity to highlight South Asia’s role and importance in world agriculture and research on agricultural heritages and living traditions.”