The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, two of the state’s premier research institutions, are grappling with acute shortage of funds to maintain adequate staff and conduct quality research, according to the Punjab Agriculture Policy draft.
The draft of the agriculture policy was circulated to the stakeholders on Monday.
According to the draft, 538 of the 1,062 sanctioned teaching posts (scientists) at the PAU are vacant, accounting for 50.6%.
For the support staff, the agriculture university has a sanctioned strength of 3,723 and only 1,304 seats are filled.
The policy draft notes that in the fiscal year 2023-24, PAU needed 547 crore to cover the salary expenses for the exiting staff. However, it received only 422 crore from the state government. The draft adds that if the university was running on adequate staff with all vacancies filled, it would need 1,000 crore a year to cover the salary expenses alone.
According to the draft, PAU requires an additional 100 crore to meet the expenses for research, education and extension activities. It also called for a one-time grant of 700 crore for infrastructure, maintenance and upgrading laboratories.
Need additional grants to ensure quality research: VC Gosal
PAU vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal said the state despite having just 1.5% of area in the country, Punjab contributed around 30 to 40% of the paddy and wheat produced nationwide.
He added that after the heatwave in 2022, the wheat productivity in north India took a 20% hit and the Center asked the state to chip in with as much as possible to make up for the losses elsewhere.
“We contributed 51% of the wheat that year,” he said.
“Punjab plays a central role in ensuring food safety across the country. So, the Center and the state should ensure sure the university gets the funds it needs to hire adequate staff and carry on the research work,” Gosal said.
He said the PAU was eyeing projects on spectroscopy, imaging, geographical intelligence systems and a School of Artificial Intelligence.
“The school of artificial intelligence, which is going to be a crucial field in the coming times, will require 10 crores. Similarly, there are a lot of other projects that we have in mind and will require a lot of funding for,” he added.
At the veterinary university, 41% of the teaching (scientists) posts lay vacant, the draft said. Of the 426 teaching positions, only 250 are filled. For the supporting staff, 61% posts were yet to be filled as the university employs a staff of 481 against a sanctioned strength of 1,218.
The veterinary university needed 113 crore to cover salaries of the existing staff in the fiscal year 2023-24.
However, it is only received 81 crore from the state government. To manage salaries of staff at full strength, the veterinary university will need 258 crores for the year.
To meet the expenses for research, education and extension activities, the university needed 40 crore, the draft added.
It pointed out that to build new infrastructure, maintenance and upgrading laboratories and faculty facilities, the university needed a one-time grant of 300 crores.
The policy recommended that the budgetary allocation and its release to the agriculture and veterinary university should come directly from the department of finance, rather than the departments of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, and animal husbandry, the departments concerned for the two universities, respectively.
Need more staff immediately: Vet varsity VC
Veterinary varsity vice-chancellor Dr Jatinder Paul Singh Gill said the university needed more staff immediately to balance academics, research and extension activities.
“Academic activities, research and extension events are all equally important. What good is research if we can’t get it to the farmers and the beneficiaries?” he said.
He added that with the available staff, the university was burdened to even keep the academic and research activities running. He said it was hard to spare faculty for the extension activities.
“We must have enough staff so that we can spare a couple of professors from each department for extension activities,” he pointed out.
The dairy farm at the university is ‘outdated’ and requires mechanisation. The farmers have a long-standing demand for a high-tech feed testing centre.
“Around 60 to 70% of the cost in dairy farming comes from feed. It is crucial that the farmers get the feed they buy tested to ensure that it doesn’t have aflatoxins produced by fungus,” he said.
He emphasized that this lab will cost around 10 crore and will need additional funds to cover human resources.
The veterinary hospital at the university, which the VC was the biggest in north India, did not have MRI and CT scan facilities.
“It is not usually used in the treatment of animals but can go a long way in treatment,” he said.
He also highlighted that at present, the university has to prepare proposals for specific research projects to get funding from various agencies. “If a specific amount is earmarked every year, it will smoothen research,” he said.
