Editorial – Extension education theory and research in India
Dear reader,
On January 27-30, 2016, the international conference on extension education took place in
Varanasi, India. The conference was organized by the Department of Extension Education of the Institute of
Agricultural Sciences, at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which is with nearly 40,000 students, one of the
largest residential universities in Asia. The major thrust behind this conference was Dr Kalyan Ghadei,
faculty member of the Department, and recent visiting professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, in the
United States. BHU was founded in 1916, so the university is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Varanasi is the global centre of Hinduism, and considered to be one of the most ancient cities which still
exists. The city lies on the banks of the river Ganga (Ganges), which is considered to be holy in the Hindu
religion.