 Hello friends, I am Dr. Basava Prabhu Jirli working as a professor of extension education at Institute of Agriculture Sciences Banaras Hindu University Varanasi. I welcome you all to this course on Fundamentals of Agricultural Extension on AG MOOCs platform in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Common Wealth of Learning Bank over Canada. The basic idea with which the course on Fundamentals of Agricultural Extension is being launched is to give an orientation to the students on the basics of agricultural extension. You might be studying it as the part of your course curriculum as a part of undergraduate courses not only in agriculture but in various other allied disciplines also and as a part of the master's course also you have a course like Development Perspectives of Extension Education wherein the fundamental issues associated with extension are being discussed. The course on Fundamentals of Agricultural Extension is giving you appropriate perspectives regarding the concepts associated with extension, the processes of extension, the principles of extension, what exactly the extension is and the because of certain misconceptions among the professionals there are what extension is not about all these things are part of the discussion in this particular platform. The course is going to cover the topics like what exactly the extension is in which we will be talking of its definition, its principles, its objectives, philosophy, principles and all those things are part of this and what extension is not about. So some people might be thinking of it as a propaganda activity, some people might be thinking of it as a advertisement activity, some people are thinking it as a mass communication activity, journalistic activity so on and so there are certain misconceptions associated with this concept so that we will be making it clear as a part of the discussion on this what exactly extension is not about. In addition to that the processes of extension education and the program planning which are the essential skills to be understood by the extension professionals. So how the program is planned and what are the various steps and the stages of program development, the issues associated with that and in the pre-independence extension efforts that were done, the extension programs that were planned and implemented in the pre-independence era as well as a range of programs that were planned and implemented in the post-independence era are also part of this particular course. The logic behind going for historical aspects in extension education as well as the latest developments in the extension education include so how the technology or the society used to behave in those direction and what are the changes that happened over a period of time and what are the needs for the society are being understood with the help of this historic aspects and based on that what are the current modifications that we have done and we can be doing in the future aspects that will be learning from those past experiences. Coming to the post-independence extension system that I have already said about then the innovation in extension and development are another important issues that we will be discussing as a part of this course wherein the latest developmental initiatives like ATMA, cyber extension and all those things will be part of this and the innovative models that emerged for providing the extension services will be part of this discussion. The new trends in extension like market-led extension, the privatization of extension services, cyber extension all these things are going to be part of our discussion wherein how the extension is changing itself in providing the services and meeting out the demands of end users or the clientele system so that are also part of our discussion. The concept of rural development because we have discussed enough about the rural development programs but the concept of rural development is another important issue that is being covered as a part of this course and the issues associated with the adoption of innovation is also part of this course and it ends with the consequences of innovation and before that various issues are being addressed. Now coming to who can register for this course the undergraduate and post graduate students in various agricultural universities are going to be the potential receivers of this particular course because as a student you are going to acquire good number of skills and insights as for the extension discipline is considered, extension skills are considered because the evaluation reports of various developmental initiatives have said that the lack of extension skills is one of the hindering factor in technology dissemination invariably you will be acting as extension service providers or extension educationist wherein you need the inputs from the discipline of extension and that is how it is going to help you. Then the professional working in the Krishivika and Kendra are already aware of various extension methodologies, skills, techniques, etcetera, etcetera but what are the latest additions and what are the latest trends in extension that you will be coming to know about through by attending this course so that is how you can also go for registration of this course. Then the students belonging to agribusiness management as well as the general management students because as a manager you need to go for good number of program planning processes, administration processes, management processes which are also invariably involved in various programs as well as the projects related to extension and providing extension services that we need the inputs from the management as well as we are providing inputs to the managers also and that is how it is going to benefit these professionals also. In addition to that the professionals who are working in non-governmental organizations it is going to be one of the worthwhile attending courses because you can update your knowledge levels, you can update your skills and you can understand good number of issues associated with the development, rural development, extension education as well as extension administration. Now coming to the evaluation of this course the course is of eight weeks so there will be four quizzes that you will have to undergo one quiz after completion of every two weeks. Then there will be one assignment at the end of the eighth week and after successful completion of this course you will be awarded two different types of certificates that depends on your level of involvement in this course. So you will be given the participation certificate based on your attendance as well as performance in the examination and if your performance is excellent in examination as well as your attendance. So then you will also be issued the certificate of competency it means that you have understood the concepts in its real sense. I welcome you all once again to this course on Fundamentals of Agricultural Extension. Thank you.