Ludhiana, April 8
Punjab Agricultural University has witnessed rapid strides during the first two years of the four-year term of the present Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh. The biggest achievement of the Vice-Chancellor has been enforcement of strict discipline on the campus and a check on absenteeism. The university has been witnessing a number of agitations by teachers before the appointment of Dr Aulakh as Vice-Chancellor.
Dr Aulakh who completed two years of his term on March 31 tells that there is no agitation of any sort on the campus at present. The academic environment is very conducive. I am getting the cooperation of the entire faculty and non-teaching staff.
Dr Aulakh says that in view of the changing agricultural scenario, academic programme in the university is being upgraded to produce graduates for the new millennium mission and to equip students to start their own ventures. In future, these graduates need to be job providers instead of job-seekers. They need to be well-versed in science and art of sustainable agriculture and agri-business.
The Vice-Chancellor has reviewed departments of the College of Agricultural Engineering. He is now set to review the departments of the College of Agriculture, Colleges of Basic Sciences and Humanities and the College of Home Science. During the review, the emphasis will be laid on development of globally competitive, cost effective and eco-friendly production technologies, including farm machinery.
Dr Aulakh maintains, “The review programme has been quite successful and all fears of the faculty have been allayed. Earlier there was impression that there would be intimidation and the faculty felt threatened.” The university has strengthened its linkages with other institutions in India and abroad and commercialisation of agricultural education has been given impetus and students were admitted from many SAARC and non-SAARC nations, including Nepal, Thailand, Iran, Bangladesh, Tansania, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the USA. A collaborative programme between the PAU and Ohio State University, the USA, has been revived. Additional linkages with San Jose State University, the USA, and the University of Venda for Science and Technology, the UK, have also been established, he says.
In order to curtail overhead expenses in running of the departments, seven departments in PAU have been merged with other departments.
The Punjab Government has agreed to create a corpus fund of Rs 100 crore in principle which will generate sufficient interest for meeting the emergent research needs of the university. The government has released a sum of Rs 15 crore for the fund.
However, the university has not received Rs 21.7 crore from the government pertaining to the arrears of the staff for the past three years. This money is to go to the provident fund of the university staff. The facelift of the university campus has begun with funds worth Rs 96 lakh provided by the Punjab Mandi Board
