Srinagar- SKUAST-Kashmir is the first agricultural university of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state established vide SRO-306 dated 27-07-1982 with a vision to pursue teaching and conduct research and extension services in agriculture and allied sciences directed to food, nutritional and livelihood security. The varsity demands central university status and immediate attention on following grounds.
The university is housing five faculties and two colleges and has emerged as a leading University in Hill and Mountain Agriculture offering, undergraduate, Master’s and Doctorate Degree Programmes with an operational area of around 923 ha and ICAR ranking 9th out of 65 agricultural universities of India.
To address the mandated activities, the university over the years established new laboratories, classrooms, hostels, administrative buildings, student amenity and facility centre’s, farmers hostels, residential quarters, library services and information technology centre’s across the region. An appreciable number of students from this University have qualified the Indian Administrative and allied services (IAS), Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS), Indian Forest Service (IFS), Agricultural Research Services (ARS) and other All India Level Competitive Examinations.
The University was declared second and third best University at the National level for securing highest number of Junior Research Fellowships of ICAR and is continuously maintaining its performance at the National level. Registered PG students at the University are being awarded fellowships like ICAR Senior Research Fellowships, Inspire Fellowships, Maulana Azad National Fellowship, CSIR Fellowship, UGC Fellowship besides financial assistance from the University through merit scholarships or project assistance-ship. This has helped the University to pursue productive student’s research programme as a requirement for various degrees. The students who are graduating from this university are almost absorbed either in public, or private and autonomous organizations is a major achievement.
The University has a sanctioned strength of 700 scientific/teaching positions and many were honoured by securing prestigious Raman Fellowships of UGC and DBT Crust Awards for advanced research at national and international levels. Every year good number of such National and Post-doctoral fellowships are also secured by the scientists of this University for getting advance training in frontier research in the leading Universities abroad.
University holds pride of producing two eminent scientists; who produced world’s first cloned Pashmina goat and buffalo besides STAR COLLEGE Status to two faculties by GOI, Best AICRP awards in Rice, rapeseed-mustard, vegetables and potato, NSP and International collaborations and MoU’s with IRRI, ICARDA, JKI Germany, CIMMYT, USDA, ICRISAT, Italy, Belgium and Biodiversity International.
Research and extension activities are focused and directed from farm production and productivity to farmers economic prosperity, livelihood security, profitability and sustainable conservation of natural resources by placing the farmer in the centre of Agricultural Production System model in Hill and Mountain Agriculture. The University over the years released 95 varieties and 16 are in pipeline and has covered about 70-80 per cent area and have made significant contribution enhancing economic and livelihood security of the resource poor farmers in the Kashmir and UT of Ladakh through increased productivity.
The University has identified speciality rice varieties like Pusa Sughand-3 and Pusa Basmati-1509; Koshihikari, Mushkbudgi, Kamad and mineral rich Zag known as Lal Chawal in addition to hybrid vegetables and lead in HDP in other horticultural crops.
The university has in its credit the ‘National Saffron Mission’ and a special grant of rupees 100 crores in addition to 250 projects worth crores funded by different agencies for its implementation and execution in different areas of agriculture and allied sectors. Among them IDP-NAHEP funded by world bank has been awarded excellent and was appreciated at the national and international levels.
Keeping the above facts in view, SKUAST Scientists & Teachers Association (SSTA) request his Excellency the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of UT of J & K, Union agriculture minister Shri. N. S. Tomar and Union Minister PMO, Office, Dr. Jitendra Singh for their intervention and allocation of central university status to SKUAST-Kashmir.
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