Meetings of the Councils of SKUAST-Jammu/Kashmir have taken place under the chairmanship of the Governor and Chancellor Shri N.N. Vohra in Raj Bhavan, Jammu. The two Vice Chancellors made their presentations detailing the achievements of respective universities in academic and research areas of the universities since last year. Some useful guidelines and suggestions were made in the meeting. It was emphasized that Farm Universities in the State have to respond to the needs of contemporary society. Since the population of the State was increasing so were the food and other requirements of the people. Therefore emphasis has to be on increasing agricultural produce and also diversifying it. Any new initiative made had to be assessed from its impact on the ground. This makes it unavoidable for the teachers and the taught to spend more time out on the field and come closer to the agrarian community to understand and help them in their pursuits. While the Governor desired interaction among the Farm Universities in Northern India for exchange of ideas and expertise, Pro Chancellor and Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed desired to be acquainted with the actual benefits of “High Density Fruit Farming System in Kashmir Valley”.
Governor’s advice to the VC of SKUAST-J was to fill the vacant faculties without further loss of time because delay could adversely affect the student community. The Council laid emphasis on imparting training and skills to the youth in rural areas so that they are able to find an earning and that would also reduce unemployment among the youth of the State. There is great need of innovations in agricultural practices and farm production. For example, dairy and poultry industries have large scope in the State and same is the case with sheep farming. A cogent suggestion came from the Pro-Chancellor that the SKUAST-J could plan to adopt 4-5 villages closer to the university campus, perhaps in RS Pora, so that these could become the places for field work of the trainees and researchers.
A bane of our farm activity has been the involvement of various unscrupulous individuals and agencies in the sale of spurious fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides in the State. This has caused great harm to the fruit and other agrarian industries in the State with direct and adverse impact on the farmers and those connected with the industry. The Chancellor and the Pro-Chancellor, both directed the concerned authorities to take stringent action against those indulging in unlawful activities to the detriment of the farmers and entrepreneurs.
We hope that the suggestions and advice that have emerged from the meeting of the Councils for two Agricultural universities will be taken care of by the concerned authorities. Everybody expects the two universities to encourage innovative faculties among the researchers and students.
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