Dr. Vikas Sharma, Dr. Vivak M. Arya
The State Government’s move on conversion of Horticulture Centers / Stations and Veterinary Campus of SKUAST-Jammu into Horticulture and Veterinary University will paralyse and impede the functioning of this already existing / acclaimed Agricultural University of Jammu division. Scientists and Non-teaching staff of SKUAST-J, farming community, civil society and intellectuals of Jammu region, who fought / struggled a lot for making this Institution as a separate asset of Jammu will not accept this at any cost. SKUAST was established in Srinagar in the year 1982 through an Act passed by the State Legislature and Jammu had to wait / struggle for seventeen long years when in 1999, the SKUAST Kashmir was bifurcated and SKUAST Jammu came into existence. This also reminds us of a long wait of Jammu for the inception of Engineering College, that in itself reflects how Jammu was unfairly made to wait for such a long time for Professional Institutes of higher learning. Now, SKUAST-J is working efficiently in its infancy stage to cater to the needs of farming community and civil society of Jammu region and this is very unfortunate that Govt is planning to occupy already established Advance Centres and Veterinary Faculty of SKUAST-Jammu under the banner of new varsity.
On one side, the proposal of SKUAST-Jammu for much required additional faculties viz., Faculty of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Faculty of Dairy Technology has been made hostage by State Govt. to the process of seeking repeated queries from the last 12 years and on the other side, Govt is planning to snatch already established Units of SKUAST-J. On the appeal of SKUAST-TAJ, Chancellor N. N. Vohra personally intervened in the matter regarding establishment of new faculties of SKUAST-J, but till date State Government has not sanctioned even a single additional faculty to SKUAST-J for the reasons best known to the persons at the helm of affairs in the State Government administration. SKUAST-J is running with only two faculties namely Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Veterinary Sciences from the last 18 years. The request of SKUAST-Jammu has been hanging fire for 12 long years, SKUAST-Kashmir has added five more faculties to its strength viz., Faculty of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Dairy Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Faculty of Forestry. In 1999, both the varsities had two faculties each; Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Veterinary Science. After eighteen years, SKUAST-K has seven faculties and SKUAST-J stands at two faculties and yet the queries and questions put to SKUAST Jammu seem to be endless. If this is not calculated discrimination what other name can we give to it.
According to botanical diversity regarding fruit crops, the establishment of Horticultural University in the valley is very essential and for this purpose 1000 kanals of horticultural land is available with the State Government across Kashmir, that can be converted into Horticultural University, but as per the matter of Veterinary University is concerned, two independent Veterinary Campuses are already functioning properly under SKUAST-J and SKUAST-K and that are more than sufficient to cater to the needs of people of Jammu and Kashmir.
SKUAST-Jammu was established with jurisdiction in Jammu division having 6 districts; however, in the year 2007, number of districts were increased to 10, with the creation of 4 new districts, viz., Samba, Reasi, Ramban and Kishtwar. Jammu province has vast area, whose length / breadth ranges from 200 to 400 kms from Lakhanpur to Bani, Doda / Bhaderwah and Rajouri / Poonch. SKUAST-Jammu have limited staff and resources, which makes difficult to cater to the needs of farmers in far flung / remote areas of Udhampur (Gool, Mahore, etc.), Doda / Bhaderwah (Chinta, Bhalessa etc.) and Bani (Dandi Kutu, Basohli, Billawar etc.), besides, upper reaches of Rajouri and Poonch districts, which have suffered political as well as developmental alienation since independence. The farmers of these areas are unable to get the benefit of latest advances in agricultural technologies, due to the shortage of sanctioned staff and meager financial resources made available to the State Agriculture University i.e., SKUAST-Jammu, thus, resulting in lower agricultural production and a strong resentment among the farming community leading to hindrances in joining the main stream of Indian polity. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen newly established Universities of J&K State rather than to open more and more universities.
Jammu region of the State, unlike the Kashmir Province and that of Ladakh, is bestowed upon with four agro climatic zones by the nature. They comprised of subtropical, subtemperate, temperate and cold arid zones, which are not available in any other area of the country. This is the reason, why a large no. of crops are grown along with a number of cash crops, vegetables, fruits, wild mushroom, saffron etc throughout the year. Thus, State Authorities should strengthen this only farm / professional varsity of Jammu region by providing each and every basic amenity so that the scientists can perform well and meet the expectations of farming community and civil society.
In the light of aforesaid facts, teaching association would request State Govt. to consider the genuine demand and oblige Jammuities by not disturbing the established research Stations and Veterinary Campus of SKUAST-Jammu. We, the members of SKUAST-TAJ shall be highly obliged and thankful to present coalition Govt., if a step towards strengthening of SKUAST-Jammu will be taken rather than bifurcation of this newly born Institution and we assure that this will go a long way in bringing the neglected farmers and people of Jammu to feel and become a part of Great Indian Nation.
(The authors are executive members of Teaching Association, SKUAST-Jammu, skuasttaj@gmail.com )
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