Srinagar, Jul 4: Vice Chancellor Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Friday said Jammu and Kashmir was the first in the country to implement the ‘Evergreen Revolution’ under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP).
Speaking at the 6th convocation, VC SKUAST-K said, “Post ‘Green Revolution’, J&K has become the first in the country to conceptualise and implement a visionary policy for the ‘Evergreen Revolution’ under the HADP, based on three important verticals – food, nutritional, and economic security; equity and inclusiveness of marginal farmers and fringe communities; and sustainable ecosystems.
He said that J&K spearheaded the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 across the country, built its implementation framework in agri-education and positioned itself as the top innovation-led university.
Ganai congratulated the graduating students and said these young minds carry the responsibility of shaping the future of the society, state, and the country, besides carving out a niche for themselves.
“I am confident that they carry forward the legacy of SKUAST-K and contribute meaningfully to a peaceful, progressive, and inclusive knowledge society,” he said.
“SKUAST-K-developed agri-education model under NEP-2020 that has been adopted by ICAR’s 6th Dean’s Committee for nationwide curriculum reform,” the VC SKUAST-K said. “Our education model at the undergraduate level is Degree by Design, which is a flexible, multidisciplinary and choice-based system,” he said.
Ganai said that SKUAT-K stands as the 5th best State Agriculture University (SAU) in the country as per the NIRF ranking 2024. “This position not only reflects our performance indicators but also symbolises our excellence,” he said.
The SKUAST-K VC said that the student enrollment at the varsity doubled in the last two years from 2500 to 5300, the highest increase in Gross Student Enrolment (GER) in any SAU across the country.
“Our university has 30 percent of the students from other states and UTs. SKUAST-K is first agricultural university in the country to institute a four-year B Tech programme in Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture with IIT Mandi, B Tech Bio Technology, B Tech Food Technology, B Tech Bio-Chemistry, B Sc Microbiology, B Tech Dairy Technology as well as four-year B Sc Economics with Data Science,” he said.
Ganai said SKUAST-K offers 67 Master’s, 55 PhD programmes, 70 Diploma and Skill courses, and 102 certificate courses that cater to the needs of a diverse student community. “Through our structured R&D programmes, we aim to address 12 of the 17 SDGs and improve our ranking on social development indices. Our goal is to double our agri GDP to 8 billion US dollars by 2030 and 80 billion US dollars by 2047,” he said.
The VC SKUAST-K said the varsity had scripted the game-changing HADP policy that was poised to transform the agricultural landscape of J&K.
“This project has been approved at a cost of Rs 5013 crore and with an additional support of Rs 1800 crore under J&K CIP, offering unlimited opportunities to give new directions to the agricultural economy of J&K,” he said.
Ganai said that through their innovative extension and community outreach model, SKUAST-K had transformed progressive farmers into champion farmers through knowledge, skill, and technology backing.
“Under HADP, the government has already established 500 Kisan Khidmat Ghars (KKGs), which are a vital part of our outreach strategy, bringing specialised guidance directly to the farmers and offering tailored technology support,” he said. The VC SKUAST-K said the varsity was the first in the country to make students adopt a panchayat or group of villages throughout their degree programmes, in contrast to other universities where students take up such programmes in the last year of their degree.
“Our focus is on reaching out to the people with the basket of our technologies and solutions through our agri-tech melas,” he said.
Ganai said that during the last four years, the university had earned 85 IPRs and established 72 startups and stands tall in the league of IITs and IISCs, much ahead of SAUs that had made SKUAST-K Numero Uno in innovations and startups among all 78 agri-varsities.
“We are among the very few universities that qualify for the QUAD Nations Programme on AI-ENGAGE. We have put up a joint proposal with Japan, Australia, and the US. For this, we seek the support of our Union Minister in this endeavour so that we can partner with these institutions for capacity building in these areas,” he said.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Raj Singh Chouhan was the chief guest while Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who is the Chancellor of the university, and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is Pro-Chancellor SKUAST-K, were the guests of honour on the occasion.
Minister for Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Javid Ahmad Dar, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Principal Secretary Agriculture Production Department, Shailendra Kumar, and Deputy Director General (Education), ICAR, GoI, Prof R C Agrawal were also present on the occasion.
At the 6th convocation of SKUAST-K, 5250 candidates, including 3051 undergraduates, 1611 Master’s degree holders, and 588 doctorates, were conferred with their degrees.
On the occasion, 150 toppers were awarded gold medals while 445 meritorious students were awarded certificates of merit.
