M A I N   N E W S

Aulakh PAU VC
by P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 25 — Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, with effect from April 1.

This unanimous decision was taken by PAU’s Board of Management at a meeting here today. The letter of resignation of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr G. S. Kalkat, was accepted. He would, however, continue till March 31.

He had sent in his resignation on November 27 indicating that he can not continue beyond March 31. In fact, he had earlier, on October 23, also desired to quit by December 31 last but was persuaded to continue for some more time.

Dr Aulakh, is at present Pro-Vice-Chancellor. He will have a four-year term.

At the board meeting, chaired by Dr Kalkat, all members, except Dr Sukhdev Singh, were present. Bhai Narinder Singh, Muktsar, has been re-nominated on the board.

Soon after his appointment, Dr Aulakh told TNS in an exclusive interview that PAU faced big challenges. It was at the cross-roads. It had to reinvent itself to match productivity with quality and cut down on the cost of cultivation to remain in tune with global markets and trends.

Dr Aulakh attributes the higher cost of cultivation to the farmer. It is entirely man-made because of over mechanisation. The “ego hassles” of a farmer make him go for machinery and equipment that he neither needs nor is economical to operate on small holdings resulting in adding to his debt burden.

Another “challenge” before PAU is absence of processing industry in the state and consequently no value addition to farm produce. The PAU shall have to re-orient its academic courses and come on top with the latest technologies and scientific knowhow to encourage processing.

While most of the major demands of the teaching and non-teaching staff have been attended to, what worries Dr Aulakh is lack of job opportunities for farm and veterinary graduates. A committee, headed by Dr Kalkat, had suggested introducing agriculture as a subject at the school level, thereby, creating posts for agricultural and veterinary graduates, who are frustrated for want of employment opportunities.

Answering a question on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) debate, Dr Aulakh said there was no escape from its impact and implications. Farmers must be educated and made aware of its provisions and how to cope with them for survival in the world market rather than condemning it. WTO has in-built “safeguards”. But, unfortunately, those who either favour or fault with WTO are not fully in the know of what it is all about. Efforts should be made to “balance” interests of producers and consumers rather than making it producers vs consumers; after all farmers are also co- consumers.

Dr Aulakh commented that in view of the WTO and with agriculture coming on the centre-stage in policy-making, it was high time India followed the rest of the world and appointed an agricultural attache in all its missions abroad to keep abreast with the world agricultural and economic scene.

As a farmer, scientist and administrator, Dr Aulakh would focus on information technology, post-harvest technology, human resource development and re-charging of sub-soil water getting depleted due to overdrawals. Within the PAU he finds lack of “sense of belonging” and “commitment” to the institution among the employees. He would endevour to inculcate these two. PAU also needs a handsome one-time grant to revamp its ageing buildings.

Farmers as also business houses shall have to be involved in future research. The former can be made to contribute by levying of a nominal half-a-per cent cess on major produce going to the markets and the latter by funding need-based research that requires genetic engineering and bio-technology labs.

Dr Aulakh, who turns 59 in November, is a product of PAU. He did his B.Sc. (Agriculture) in 1962, M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology in 1964 and 1968, respectively. Starting his career as a Lecturer in Botany in Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1964, he rose to be Professor and Head of Plant Pathology at PAU and later become Dean, College of Agriculture, Director of Research and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. He brings with him vast academic and administrative experience. He is a globe-trotter.

Incidentally, Dr Aulakh is a well-known wrestler from his student days. It remains to be seen how he wrestles with the new responsibilities. Asked how he felt on being appointed Vice-Chancellor (he will be the eighth VC), he quipped, “I feel I have suddenly grown old”.

His appointment has been welcomed by Punjab Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (PAUTA). Its president, Mr Hari Singh Brar, told TNS that due cooperation would be extended to the Vice-Chancellor-designate. He, however, pointed out that teachers were keenly awaiting a favourable decision on the career advancement scheme(CAS) of the ICAR, adopted by PAU.