Faridkot govt college to resume BSc agriculture admissions from this session

The new admissions for the course were stopped in 2019 by the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR), which cited that the institution was not meeting the minimum standards required for imparting agricultural education

Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that Government Barjindra College will restart admissions to the BSc (Agriculture) course from this session. The issue was hanging fire for the last four years.

Started in the pre-independence era in 1942, the course used to have 100 seats, offered by the college for a nominal fee. (HT File)

The new admissions for the course were stopped in 2019 by the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR), which cited that the institution was not meeting the minimum standards required for imparting agricultural education. The last batch of students appeared for their final exam earlier this month.

For fulfilling the requisite land conditions of the ICAR, Sandhawan said the college will be using 65 acres of land of Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Faridkot which is owned by Punjab Agricultural University.

“Vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal has agreed to it,” Sandhwan said.

Presiding over the meeting of officials of various concerned departments, including the college administration, Sandhwan said, “It would have been very unfortunate for an agrarian state if the agriculture course in time-tested and prominent college would have stopped.”

Barjindra College principal Hartej Kaur informed that the State Council of Agricultural Research had asked the college to discontinue the four-year agricultural course in 2019, citing the conditions of the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR). “The last batch of students had taken admission in 2019, and they completed their course last month,” she said.

Sandhawan asked the principal secretary higher education Jaspreet Talwar, and secretary agriculture Arshdeep Singh Thind, to make arrangements to fulfil the conditions of the ICAR to ensure that admissions in the agricultural course in this college can be started from this session. He said that the services of former professors and agricultural development officers can be roped in to fulfil the conditions.

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