Sunday, Jan 18, 2009
Convocation of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences varsity held


Bidar : The president of the Veterinary Council of India, New Delhi, Amrit Lal Chaudhary, on Saturday said, “The situation demands that as in the case with medical, technical and management education, private entrepreneurs need to be motivated to participate in veterinary education and research.” Mr. Chaudhary was delivering the convocation address at the second convocation of the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar, where 527 candidates received their undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral degrees.

He said the current output of qualified veterinarians entering the national pool was about 1,900 annually, graduating from 36 veterinary colleges in the country. However, the superannuation of veterinarians was around 2,200, which had widened the existing gap. Mr. Chaudhary said that for the existing livestock population, the country needed 72,000 qualified veterinarians, but the existing number of veterinarians was about 22,000.

“This is a very serious situation which is bound to have a negative impact on the implementation and success of research and development programmes,” he said.

According to Mr. Chaudhary, the need of the hour is to achieve public-private partnership in veterinary education, maintain quality of education and frame and enforce effective regulations.

Mr. Chaudhary said that investment in producing technical manpower was the most profitable national investment in the long run. Realising the importance of producing veterinary graduates and postgraduates, States such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa and Haryana had taken steps to establish veterinary universities, he said.

He said that owing to financial constraints, resource allocations for veterinary education were not getting the required priority. Despite the proliferation of State-level agricultural universities, the number of veterinary colleges in the country had remained at 36. Mr. Chaudhary said that about two decades ago, a veterinary graduate could look forward to only a limited number of choices. But now choices were wide open. Besides, teaching and research and extension jobs, veterinary graduates were entering general administration, financial management, market organisation, biological products sector, animal feeds and self-entrepreneurship, he said.

Pro-Chancellor of the university and Minister for Animal Husbandry Revu Naik Belamagi, Vice-Chancellor of the university Suresh S. Honnappagol and others were present.