Bachelor's degrees were conferred on 111 students at the 13th convocation of the College of Veterinary Science of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU). KML Pathak, deputy director general (animal sciences) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), awarded gold medals and certificates to three meritorious students.
GADVASU vice-chancellor VK Taneja presided over the function at which PD Juyal, registrar, SS Randhawa, director of research, RS Sahota, director of extension education, and Sushil Prabhakar, controller of examinations, were also present.
Pathak praised the college for its herd of murrah buffaloes, development of some poultry breeds and Punjab white Japanese quail, as also for initiating conservation and improvement of Nili-Ravi buffaloes and different Zebu breeds of cattle.
Voicing concern over the shortage of skilled veterinary professionals, he said: "The number of new veterinary graduates coming out of colleges every year is still far below the required level.
There's an urgent need to upgrade both education and research in the country by setting up new veterinary institutions."
Calling for diversification in the livestock sector, Pathak noted almost three-fourths of rural households in the country own livestock. "Animal husbandry is an important source of employment in rural India, especially for women. Although the average livestock holding is small, still this sector has considerable potential for generating more jobs through production of milk, meat, wool and eggs as well as value addition," he said. He also underlined the need to float a disaster management fund to support livestock owners during calamities.
HS Sandhu, dean of the veterinary college, spoke about GADVASU's future programs that will focus on developing cutting edge technologies to increase animal productivity while mitigating the effects of climate change on livestock productivity.
"To ensure accurate and efficient disease diagnosis and treatment, excellence in clinical services will be maintained with superspecialty at species level and advancements in medicine, surgery and reproduction. Priority will be given to generate cost effective technologies to benefit farmers. Also, animal husbandry extension network for demonstration and dissemination of technologies and services will be strengthened further," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"To ensure accurate and efficient disease diagnosis and treatment, excellence in clinical services will be maintained with superspecialty at species level and advancements in medicine, surgery and reproduction. Priority will be given to generate cost effective technologies to benefit farmers. Also, animal husbandry extension network for demonstration and dissemination of technologies and services will be strengthened further," he added.
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