No new agricultural University to come up in Punjab in near future: Centre

The Minister was replying to a question posed by the Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann during the ongoing session of the Lok Sabha.

Minister for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has said that no new agricultural university will be set up in Punjab at least in the near further. The Minister was replying to a question posed by the Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann during the ongoing session of the Lok Sabha.

He had asked the government if they are contemplating setting up a new agricultural University in Punjab to give a boost to agricultural education. In his reply, Tomar said: “There is no such proposal for setting up a new agricultural university in Punjab by the government”.

Mann had also asked if the government had allocated funds to encourage education in agricultural universities located in Punjab, in reply to which Tomar said: “Financial support of Rs 110.30 crore has been provided by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, during the period of 2017-18 and till date for strengthening and development of the universities”.

The question gained the limelight because there were decisions in the academic circles, during the earlier years of the current state government, that the state had planned a new agricultural university on the patterns of GADVASU which came up in 2006. The Punjab Agriculture University too had lost about one-fourth of its campus and related administration activities.

Some of the agriculture experts also felt that the University can consider the option of setting up new centres for areas such as horticulture, however, it will not be wise to set up a new university.

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