AGRICULTURE/VETERINARY UNIVERSITY SHOULD ALSO ADOPT VILLAGES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

It is heartening that our honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has launched an ambitious scheme "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna" where he has asked every Member of Parliament to adopt a village (not belonging to him or his relatives) and turn it into a Adarsh village ; here they are supposed to start schools, hospitals,banks,  roads etc so that the villagers should not be deprived of basic social needs.

It will be better if on the same line our Agriculture universities/Veterinary universities also start adopting villages for implementing the new technologies in the villages. We must not forget that the present Indian Agriculture Universities have started in the year 1960 on American Land Grand Pattern where the students will earn while learn system . Additionally, students and faculty were supposed to develop new technologies and try their practicality under field conditions or at village level ; for implementation of  the new system , a strong department of extension was established in each university .  Slowly, the system  forgot its primary objectives and became like a traditional university ; thankfully, we do not have any system of evaluating and finding faults in our system hence the system continues with out any questions . Even in present days, a routine practice of extension is followed by every Agri/Vety univ where a vehicle, with students , visit to a village and come back without much benefit to the students and villages.

But this may be changed slowly, if our Agri/Vety univ  take a lesson from our prime minister's thinking .

I am suggesting some steps to start the program :

The Agriculture Universities have their constituent Agriculture colleges, Agriculture Engineering colleges, Home science colleges while Veterinary Universities are made of Veterinary colleges, fishery college, Dairy science college etc

• At university level, the program will be monitored by the Director of Extension and Director of Research.
• Each college should adopt at least 5 villages to start the work. 
• At college level, Dean will be in charge of the program. He will form a team including faculty members and students for each village. 
• Each college will identify its own field of work which will be related to its subject . Thus agriculture engineering college will look after agriculture appliances, fishery college will be responsible for aqua culture  (using not only fishes but other creatures as well).
• Scope for Agriculture and Veterinary colleges are much larger and it will include a spectrum of subjects. For instance, veterinary colleges will look after, breeding , Artificial insemination,, vaccination, disease diagnosis, feed and fodder supply etc Agriculture college may look after health of the soil, crop patterns, marketing etc
• There are some fields where a joint effort is needed.
• In every village , worm compost and gobar gas plants should be made essential and  operational . A "Gobar Bank " may be started in the villages where gobar may be collected from each house and profit should be distributed proportionately .
• The initial work should include the old techniques being followed in the village, the production data generated by these  old techniques as well as earnings each scheme is responsible.
• Then the college team will demonstrate its new technique , implement the same and will generate production data and economic benefits caused by following these schemes.
• Help should be taken of TV, Videos, internet, You-tube to spread the new techniques. They will have the advantage of saving money on printing and will be repeated any time. However, the technique should depict all the details. For example in worm compost its not only the technique but places for purchase of earth-worms, their variety , cost , places where worm compost may be sold etc should be clearly shown . 
• Youths of the village should be selected who will learn the new techniques and will follow them.
• The program will be assessed half yearly at college level and annually at university level.
• It is always advantageous to have " Cash prizes" , letter of appreciations etc for the participants - both village and college level.
• When new techniques have been followed quite well in the village with appreciation of increase in production data because of them, the college may shift to select new villages .
• I am well aware that above is only a very rough outline but initiation of the scheme is important. Naturally, once it takes off  there are many experiences which will come in our way and we will be able to implement the program in a better way.
• BUT WHAT I AM SUGGESTING IS THE INTEND OF THESE COLLEGES TO TRANSFORM ECONOMY OF  OUR  VILLAGES BY IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES 
• It will be my pleasure to be a participant in any of these programs ..

THIS IS FOR ICAR NATIONAL FELLOWS

                             

                      (Who is the employer of ICAR National Fellow ?)

I am writing blogs since 2008 (www.indianschistosomiasis.blogspot.com) but never tried to put my personal feelings or difficulties in the blog. But this time, if I do not express myself, I may be blamed by my future ICAR national fellows of concealing an important Madhya Pradesh High Court decision which may also affect their service career, adversely ,by referring this High Court decision by future administrators . Also there is a hope that the matter will be taken up by the concerned persons to rectify this anomaly. Therefore, I considered it prudent to narrate present position as regards to national fellow pay protection or granting of NPA to the Veterinary national fellows whose university is still not providing NPA . Prior writing this blog , I surfed ICAR website to look into the list of past or present ICAR National fellows  but I could not find details either of present or past ICAR National fellows –reconfirming my write up (15^th August,2013 in  www.indianparasitologists.blogspot.com ) how our premier institute websites are neglecting their own eminent scientists (as per proclamation of ICAR) by not providing any information regarding them.

To begin with, I have joined on 15^th January,1968 Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV), College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh as Demonstrator and was Associate Professor/Scientist since 1984 in the Department of Parasitology. As a result of an all India interview , I received appointment letter of Professor of Parasitology , Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar which I joined in September, 1994.

However, in January, 1995 I was awarded ICAR National fellowship in Parasitology to work on some aspects of Indian schistosomiasis hence I came back to JNKVV and joined ICAR National Fellow on 12^th January,1995 which I remained till July, 2000 ; incidentally, this happened first national fellow award in Parasitology in India and first in JNKVV in any faculty since its inception i.e. October , 1964 (even till date no other faculty  has received this award).

For implementing this fellowship, as you are aware, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between ICAR, Vice Chancellor of JNKVV and me. The MOU vide item (vi) has clearly mentioned “ He will continue to be an employee of the parent institution till his superannuation”. Further, our pay fixation was done by JNKVV under the direction of ICAR letter No. 27(16)/94-Edn III dated  11^th October,1994 which implicitly mentioned “ In service condition, it has been provided that for all practical purpose scientists appointed as National Fellow will continue to be an employee of the parent institutions”. It is important to note that JNKVV has never raised any question on above issues and has never sought any clarification from ICAR  .

Under Career Advancement Scheme, I was placed as Professor since 27.7.1998 by JNKVV and my basic pay on 27.7.1998 was fixed as Rs 17750/ ,after protecting my basic pay of national fellow  vide order No. 5378/Estt/I/Vety/2003 dated 15.01.2003. However, this was questioned  and my pay was reduced by Local Fund Audit (LFA) , JNKVV , but without cancelling previous order , to Rs 16400/ vide JNKVV order Compt/PFC/492/149/7261  dated 8.10.2004 ; thus my pay on national fellow was not protected.

My representations to this regard were not heeded and I retired from JNKVV services on 31^st January,2005 . When JNKVV was planning to fix my pension as per reduced pay, I had no alternate then to lodge a writ petition in Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur (No. 14144/2005) with Vice Chancellor, JNKVV and Deputy Director, LFA as respondents. The LFA in its reply mentioned that I was posted at ICAR, New Delhi (an erroneous notion) as National Fellow and when joined back JNKVV,Jabalpur , I was considered on deputation for national fellow period. The JNKVV replied that earlier they did correct pay fixation but since this was objected by LFA, it had no option but to follow the dictates of LFA as JNKVV has to take grants from state government which is subjected to approval by LFA.

As every one of us, serving a Government organization, is aware that grant and joining on deputation requires lot of orders and entry in the service book and nothing was done for this national fellowship . Moreover, JNKVV has no provision of granting deputation to the teachers and it provides only lien as it was given to me while joining Hisar ,after issuing number of orders and handing over and taking over of the charges- nothing of this sort was done for national fellow post.

Orders on my writ petition was issued by Hon’ble Judge (Shri R.K.Gupta) of the High Court on 09.02.2010 accepting my writ petition and rejecting the arguments of the respondents , particularly since they failed to produce any documents issued for deputation and not raising any objection while fixing my pay as national fellow , following letter of ICAR (where I was treated as JNKVV employee ).

As a follow up of this Court’s orders, The LFA asked JNKVV (End.No. RDD/280 dated 4^th March,2010) to forward the papers so that my pay fixation should be done as per Court’s orders. Obviously, there was no iota of doubt of restoring my previous pay fixation order as per Court’s orders especially when Dr Gautam Kaloo was the Vice Chancellor of JNKVV who had been Deputy Director General of ICAR and supposed to  create and maintain atmosphere for promoting high class research in JNKVV. Surprisingly, this did not happen and taking a U- turn, JNKVV filed a writ appeal ( 187/2010) in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur making me and LFA as the respondents .

This time, JNKVV pleaded me on deputation on national fellow post as the orders were issued by ICAR (in fact , it is memorandum and not order and will be operational only when all the parties (JNKVV, ICAR, National fellow)agree to the terms ,laid down in the MOU , my joining was forwarded to ICAR, salary was dispersed by ICAR and I was working on an ICAR research project. While LFA did not reply , I provided additional support disputing JNKVV claims.

Is it not a criminal act to plead in the Court of Law by the institute against the MOU ,signed by itself or concealing other documents in this regards ?  Is it just to raise the questions after 15 years of implementation of national fellow project in the court of law , which were never raised earlier ?  But who is there to look after such matters ?

After hearing the petitioner and respondents ,the Double Bench of the High Court opined “ when a person is working for and being paid salary by a wholly independent employer, he cannot be deemed to be in normal service of the parent employer for whom he is neither working nor being paid by such parent employer”. However, the double bench did not issue orders and instead remanded the case for final hearing again to a single judge of the High Court. In his order dated 31.01.2013, Hon’ble Judge Shri Sanjay Yadav of the High Court opined that the finding of the double bench of my being on deputation has not been challenged by me in higher forum hence has attained finality. Thus, the court dismissed my petition ,declaring me on deputation to ICAR during national fellow period.

As the High Court considered me on deputation during national fellow period, I ,being a Registered Veterinarian ,  applied to the ICAR on March 2013 ,with enclosing both court orders and other documents , to  provide me NPA (25% of basic pay) and central dearness allowance for national fellow period. The Asstt Director General (Education) ICAR asked me to forward different documents, including my registration certificate to State Veterinary Council which I did and this correspondence continued for about a year. At last, by its letter No. 27/3/2013-HRD/Part III dated 25^th March, 2014 , ICAR rejected my request of providing NPA stating “ In view of the provisions laid out in the MOU signed between the three parties, the National Fellow cannot be considered to be on deputation to ICAR during his national fellowship tenure and consequently the Council has no obligation to pay NPA or Dearness Allowance at Central Govt rates for that matter .”

In light of the above ICAR letter , I wrote a letter (dated 15th April,2014) to the Vice Chancellor, JNKVV with a copy to the Chancellor of JNKVV and Director General of ICAR that either my pay fixation should be done by JNKVV considering me in service during national fellow period as per ICAR notion or ICAR should provide me NPA as per court orders and I will accept any of the two verdicts . But I could not get either .  And none is interested to solve the case of national fellow hence till now I have received  no claims from any organization  .

In the present situation, the Asia’s biggest Agriculture University (JNKVV) does not consider national fellow as his employee ; neither the World’s largest Agriculture Research Organization (ICAR) considers national fellow as their employee. Thus I had no employer during national fellowship period. Is there any other example in any government organization where an employee is working continuously for five years without an employer ? How you and our administrators   will react over this whole episode  ?

The most frustrated person in this whole episode is my better half who questions “ what  you have received by leaving professor’s post of Hisar in 1995 and joining JNKVV back as national fellow. You have left a professor's post , NPA, a comfortable life to join national fellow and still struggling for your correct pay fixation (without NPA) , running here and there and  facing so much stress at this age ( I am presently 72 years old ; date of birth 02.01.1943). “ So what , if Springer, Germany has published your reference  book “ Schistosomes and schistosomiasis in South Asia” (ISBN  978-81-322-0538-8) which has filled up a wide gap as there was no such book on this subject though work was continued since last one hundred years in whole of South Asia .

Our hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee is raising the question at many forums “why there is no university of India , among 200 world class universities ? “

Our hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi is stressing for  a new Agriculture revolution and giving so much importance to the Agriculture . But this is the example of  ground realities in our research organizations and universities .

In the present case , common good and public interest have suffered heavily and both organizations are responsible for this situation including the Chancellor of JNKVV who remained a mute spectator. ICAR can be blamed being non-concerned when JNKVV has not  applied its mind properly and has acted arbitrary in the case. Obviously, this is the fundamental duty of the Employer to provide just claims to their employees- and this is most important in present case as it directly affects research atmosphere in the country.  

I fervently pray that good sense will prevail on these two organizations and will come together to solve this problem (as it is not an individual problem) which will enhance research atmosphere in the country- a tall claim by both of them in their statutes ,rules and regulations.
It is a bad commentary on our part that i heard not a single voice saying it is wrong doing on the part of ICAR/JNKVV. Why a scientist should suffer and even his just claims are not settled by any organization even after lapse of 10 years of his retirement. Moreover,JNKVV is not bothered to attract fresh applicants for national fellow by clearing its stand.  Most perturbing fact is that now in services persons may be considered on deputation without issuing any orders, in this respect; it is sufficient to say so in the court of law.
As is common for any true scientist that he is adamant and continue to fight if he feels just for his cause. Therefore, i am constrained to lodge again a fresh writ petition in the honorable High Court of Madhya Pradesh (No.20650/2015) informing the court that neither my pay has been fixed by JNKVV as per first court order  nor i have been given NPA by ICAR as per double bench order. I should be provided relief from any organization.   I do not know whether i will receive judgement at my life time (i am 72 year old) but i will feel satisfied that i have not accepted gross injustice from our big organizations.
Here I express my indebtedness to Advocate shri Suyesh Guru who after reading the case has agreed to plead my case in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur , free of cost. We feel proud that  presence of such dedicated legal persons , encourages a scientist  to fight again for his just cause.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT OUR PARASITOLOGISTS

If I ask my young Parasitologists about a short life-sketch and contributions of our eminent Indian Parasitologists like Drs GD Bhalerao, HN Ray, HR Mehra, Babbar Mirza ,HD Srivastava ,AB Chaudhary, GD Thappar,  MAN Rao, AK Verma , BP Pande, VS Alwar, SC Dutt ,BS Gill  etc , it is very unlikely that many of them may tell about these scientists-even their affiliations and contributions . They might have come across these names and their important work while referring a Parasitology book but beyond that, there is a lot to know about these legends of Indian Parasitology which is unknown to most of our young Parasitologists.

In my opinion, it is more important to know their struggle for advancement of science in that odd period with limited facilities  and their planning of research by which most of their research findings are still hold true and have paved the way for further advancing the subject.

If you ever have a chance to peep into their life, you will notice that each of them have devoted their whole life for a single cause which was dear to them- this might be preparing a checklist of the parasites for ruminants or domestic animals , finding pathogenicity of a particular parasite ,or intermediate host of an important parasite or studying details of Indian schistosomes, or taking up matter of  appointing teachers in medical/ veterinary colleges with specialization in particular subject or writing a monograph to fill up the gap of knowledge . Still we do not know details about them? Who is responsible for such neglect ?

One reason, to me, appears the apathy of our institutes where these scientists devoted their whole life for achieving scientific goals and advancing science in India. These institutes do not recognize contributions of their own scientists- evidence of my allegation erupts by vetting their websites ( pl see my post of 15^th August,2013- websites of our premier institutes on my blog www.indianparasitologists.blogspot.com)  which lack even their name , if retired from the institute , leave aside their contributions. Even if you look to the awards or milestones of an institute, they are mentioned without name of the scientist who took all the pains to achieve these milestones. Even, website of our ICAR does not reveal name of national award winners, summary of research schemes for which a lot of public money has been spent etc .

 In contrast, it’s amazing to log in the website of London School of hygiene and Tropical Medicine where you will find not only contributions of present and past faculty members but all the details including diaries which were written during conducting particular research by the eminent scientists .

 To some extend our Indian  Societies of Parasitology are also responsible for this neglect. These societies have instituted many awards in the name of eminent Parasitologists like Dr BP Pande , VS Alwar, BN Singh, SC Dutt and each year competing Parasitologists are bestowed with these and other awards. But if you log in the website of these Societies you will not find any details of those Parasitologists on whose name the scientist is receiving these awards. Thus , even after receiving the award in the name of a  particular Parasitologist, the recipient is unaware about importance of the particular scientist in advancing Parasitology in India. Then how our contemporary Parasitologists will know  our past legends ?

And what is the way to know  personal struggles , sorrow , happiness ,felt  during achievements by these scientists ? Certainly, these are their family members who can throw light on these issues else there is no way to know personal  details of our past Parasitologists though , with some efforts, it is possible to prepare list of their research papers with summary of important papers .

I have tried to write more details about Dr VS Alwar  ,for which Indian Veterinary Journal very kindly provided his obituary which I added along with my personal experiences  on my blog . However, I have failed to add  more about this scientist and failed to receive  details from any other source . Again , on each year, Madras Veterinary College is arranging Dr VS Alwar lectures but these are not visible any where ?  Will it be possible to  search these lectures , after lapse of some years ?

Recently Dr B S Gill has expired and we do not have even his obituary ,published by any Parasitology journal (except a few lines by Journal of Veterinary Parasitology) hence it will be difficult for future generation to know more about Dr Gill.

In 1970, a Commemoration volume on Dr H D Srivastava  was published by IVRI, Izatnagar  , that contained research papers by national and international scientists. However, I am not aware , if this volume contained personal memories of Dr Srivastava and his contemporary fellows. It is also difficult to find this volume in most of Indian Research Institutes .

I am pleased to mention that comparatively we have been able to gather more information about Dr SC Dutt who ,in 1964-65, along with Dr HD Srivastava was awarded ICAR Rafi Ahmed Kiddwai award for their research in animal sciences- this happened first in animal sciences as prior to that the award was given only in Agriculture sciences. The importance of scientific contributions of Dr SC Dutt became more glaring by the fact and even “After fifty years of Research” his findings still holds true.

We have been able to publish a book “ Remembering Dr SC Dutt : The Parasitologist” in Nov  2002 which provides details (Part A) about Dr Dutt, as expressed by his contemporaries, students, family members, his research publications with summary of research papers on schistosomes ;  Part B possesses five Dr SC Dutt memorial lectures  ,delivered till that time, while Part C contains five articles reflecting present problems in Parasitology.

Publication of this book became possible by the efforts of many contemporary personalities  but particularly by Shri Shekhar Dutt, the eldest son of Dr SC Dutt.  Now, we are trying to convert the book into an e-book so that it will be available to our future generations .

However, to me, this appears a rare example where we have so much details about an eminent Parasitologist- Dr SC Dutt . This is high time that we should pay attention on this aspect and start gathering information of our past eminent Parasitologists from all sources else it will be too late with no way out to extract correct information from past events.

Though  our VCI has directed that students should be taught history of the subject , sadly it has not come forward to illustrate how this past history may be generated  and stored. 

And this story does not end on Parasitology but perhaps all the science subjects have the same story to repeat.  

A PRO-ACTIVE GOVERNOR OF CHHATTISGARH

                         


  Those who are serving state universities might have experienced the behavior of our  chancellor or Governor of the state towards the state universities and their work . Whenever a teacher is experiencing some injustice in the hands of the university or vice chancellor , he has no option but to address his grievances to the chancellor  of the university ; however, in most of  the times, the teacher complains of not getting any attention from chancellor’s office and he has no alternative except to lodge a writ petition in the court of law. It is surprising why our  Governors are so alien to the academic activities and academicians ; and why they are not taking  expertise of the academicians in the development of the state to which they are the first citizen.

Under this background , one is witnessing dynamic and visionary leadership of  Governor of Chhattisgarh  Shri Shekhar Dutt who is decisive in his actions  ,all of which are diverted towards improvement of the well being of Chhattisgarh  . He is well aware that Chhattisgarh is very rich in fauna and flora including medicinal plants hence it will be beneficial to encourage cultivation of known medicinal plants in the state to fetch good  remuneration . Simultaneously, it is more important to search some new plants with new pharmacological activities as this will tremendously increase market value of that plant extending great benefit  to the farmers. With these aspects in mind, a workshop was arranged on 11^th May,2014 at Indra Gandhi Agriculture University , Raipur in the presence of Director General, Indian Council of Agriculture Research Dr S.Ayyappan and others  to which he was the chief guest- hopefully we may hear , in near future, identifying a new plant by the Chhattisgarh scientists  showing altogether new pharmacological activity .
 There was no veterinary university to look after livestock, poultry and fishery  in the state though its proposal was pending since some years. The governor took special interest and Chhattisgarh Kamdhenu Vishwa Vidyalaya , Durg came in existence in the year 2012.

He did not stop after inaugurating  the university but continued gathering information about livestock population and  their production data . He was of the firm opinion to analyze present situation and how we can improve the livestock  to eliminate poverty in our hinterland.  And he was able to gather all the imminent Agriculture Scientists, administrators of the country on 12 and 13^th May, 2014 to participate in the  national brainstorming workshop on “ Strategies for enhancing livestock and fisheries production in the state of Chhattisgarh”.

In the  inauguration program , where  Governor Shri Shekhar Dutt  was the Chief guest , the Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research , New Delhi Dr S Ayyappan  addressed the audience and informed how honorable Governor is keenly interested in improving livestock of the state and to chalk out a road map for future work which should be integrated from all corners. Dr Ayyappan  informed the secret of the governor  for being so much interested in the academics that the governor belongs to an illustrious academic family- his father Dr SC Dutt was a distinguished Scientist  who received ICAR Rafi Ahmed Kidwai national award in 1964-65 which happened first in animal husbandry  (prior that the award always went to Agriculture scientist) for his outstanding work  on parasites and parasitic diseases ; further his uncle Dr Hira Lal Choudhary was the person who initiated fish breeding first time in India  The  fish farmers’ day is celebrated in all the States and Union Territories on 10th July every year. It was on this day in 1957 that Dr. Hiralal Choudhary, a pioneer in the induced breeding technique in Indian major craps, achieved this feat.

On this occasion , it  was amusing to hear the address of shri Shekhar Dutt  as he narrated many scientific instances making it difficult whether we were hearing the speech of a scientist or a politician or a past  bureaucrat . Though many of us know that he is an IAS having rich experience of Government functioning , certainly , it was amazing to hear his speech which was full with scientific facts and how human civilization has progressed. Perhaps many are not aware that he has echoed “ a number of developmental issues with an open and creative mind “ in his book  “Reflections on contemporary India” published by  Har-Anand Publications Pvt Ltd, New Delhi in 2014 (he has published another book " India's defence and national security in 2014 ).

The workshop ran for two days where all the scientists of ICAR , administrative officers of the state government , faculty members of  Kamdhenu university etc participated actively and finally recommendations were prepared by taking in puts from different sessions. The governor was keen to know the recommendations hence asked the Deputy Director General (Animal Sciences),ICAR , Dr KML Pathak , the Vice Chancellor Dr UK Mishra and me to come in person for appraisal of the recommendations and meeting was fixed  in his office at 4.00 PM on 13rd May,2014 . In this personal discussion , it was clear that he was well aware that the state GDP can be enhanced many folds without Agriculture, by exporting iron ore , increasing steel production and electricity , a simple task by the state looking to its resources. But this increase in GDP will not touch life of the poor and for fulfilling  their expectations  it is important to increase livestock and fish production of the state where our marginal and landless farmers are involved. It is not sufficient merely to increase milk or fish production but equally important is its marketing which will require cold storage and transport of the produces to the stakeholders. In nut shell we need an integrated improvement in all these activities so that our poor and middle class can participate in  the growth of state prosperity .

And when we came out from his office , everyone of us was thinking alas if our other governors and chancellors may also start taking such  interest in alike activities.

A beginning has been made in Chhattisgarh state and it is necessary that all the stakeholders put all their efforts in achieving these goals so that our poorest of the poor may enjoy the fruits of development.
I was under dilemma whether I should post above facts on my blog though it may be important to emulate such actions by other policy makers. However, the dilemma vanished when I read following news in the Economic Times , Indore dated 16th June,2014  ' WELL DONE, GUV' ....."Governors are not known to help in calming frayed industrial nerves. But an exception was Chattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutta who along with SAIL chairman CS Verma visited a SAIL plant in the state that had witnessed a terrible accident. Tempers were naturally running high. Workers felt they were getting the rough end of it all. The guv stepped in and said even officers have been injured  and no one was in especially dangerous situation. Tempers cooled down almost immediately. Would that all our governors would prove to be equally useful."

He has resigned from Governor of Chhattisgarh on 19th June,2014 and  again broke first time the welfare custom  by disallowing his vehicle to be pulled by the staff. He donated a unique table  ,made of shells of the bombs which he captured while fighting Indo-Pak war in 1971 as Captain , to the Chief minister of Chattisgarh ; he was a force to construct a "Shaheed Udyan" in Raipur that pertains to the martyrs , belonging to the state.
Every one ,including university faculties love to take guidance from such custodians .

ENTERING INTO A NEW ERA BY MADHYA PRADESH UNIVERSITIES

  It is a matter of great pleasure that 24th general body meeting  of  IAAVP ( Indian Association for Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology ) ,held at Kerala Veterinary College , Mannuthy  on  7^th Feb 2014 has approved our  request and IAAVP executive council’s decision as communicated  by its secretary Professor SK Gupta, Hisar  to me on  26th March 2014 . Accordingly, it is resolved vide its Agenda no. 8 that hence forth the keynote address, delivered by an eminent Parasitologist , in the annual national conference of IAAVP will be termed as  DR SC DUTT MEMORIAL KEYNOTE ADDRESS/lecture . Obviously, this key note address will be available on the website of IAAVP, as and when it becomes operational though I will be glad to upload the same on my blog www. Indianparasitologists.blogspot.com  as soon as it becomes available . By this gesture, Dr SC Dutt will be remembered each year by the Parasitologists of the country and hopefully more and more young Parasitologists will read the book “Remembering DR SC Dutt :The Parasitologist “ to know more about this eminent scientist; perhaps, following lines of an anonymous poet are most suitable to late Professor SC Dutt   :

Where have they all gone, those simple men with great character,

those unsung heroes with fine minds, but little riches.

Alas, times have changed , there are many making loud noises,

some with much riches, but few with Sense and substance---Anon

Why we were compelled to write to IAAVP for shifting Dr SC Dutt memorial lectures from Jabalpur Veterinary College  to IAAVP ? Whether such step was smooth and commendable ? In fact , it was not . This DR SC Dutt memorial lectures were started by the Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science and AH ,JNKVV, Jabalpur in 1996 ; and with all our efforts it can not be made an annual event . When a separate MP University of Veterinary sciences was established in the premises of Veterinary College ,Jabalpur in 2009, I  , in consultation with the present Professor and Head Parasitology DR Girdhar Das , submitted a proposal ,with great hope, to its Vice Chancellor Dr G P Mishra  to sanction funds for delivering these lectures every year and instead of an eminent Parasitologist any distinguished scientist may be invited to deliver DR SC Dutt memorial lecture where he can discuss not only Parasitology but any latest scientific matter . However, this proposal was not finalized and the last Dr SC Dutt memorial lecture was delivered  by Dr M Hafeez, former Vice Chancellor, Andhra Pradesh Veterinary University Tirupati  on 22nd Nov 2011- a gap of seven years from previous lecture ,delivered by Dr JR Rao, IVRI, Izatnagar in  2004 . Ironically, this lecture in 2011, like previous ones, was delivered not from university or college funds but from other funds . There were again problems in arranging the lectures in subsequent years.

This is a sad commentary on our universities. We fail to understand why these universities are not encouraging academic activities like delivering lectures by eminent scientists/professors/policy makers etc for the benefit of our students and faculty . This highlights how our universities are not ready to spare even a meager fund  for  such activities though posing their all efforts for advancement of academics.  
  

This no-concern for academic and research activities is more glaring in the state Agriculture university – Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya,(JNKVV) Jabalpur  which was established long back in 1964 and was  Asia’s biggest Agriculture University . Despite such distinction, this Agriculture university has no consistent policy for promoting academic activities and is notorious  to change its rules and regulations as per its conveniences ; and there is no one to look into the matter, genuinely . This university is not caring for its eminent scientists as may be clear by following simple example :

In its whole history of existence since 1964 till date , the only one national fellowship, a highly distinguished national award equivalent to professor’s post of Indian Council of Agriculture Research, New Delhi was awarded to the Associate Professor (who accepted the award ,after resigning Professor’s post from HAU, Hisar) of  the Department of Parasitology ,College of Veterinary Science and AH, Jabalpur in January,1995 for five years. For implementing the national fellowship , the Vice Chancellor, JNKVV and others , signed a MOU and the university has never raised any questions  on any clause of MOU during the tenure. However, at the time of retirement of the national fellow- ten years after implementation of the scheme ie 2005 , the university raised the questions  on pay fixation and national fellow has to take shelter of the high court. There again, JNKVV has not hesitated to submit contradictory documents in the writ petition and writ appeal , ignoring its own signed MOU , and there was no one who can question such activities of the university. This has resulted in no settlement of pay of the national fellow even when he has attained 70 years of age ; as of now , during national fellow period he was neither employee of JNKVV nor of ICAR –is it not ridiculous ?. Noticing the attitude of the university , no one has dared to apply to national fellowship or any such award thus depriving the university from finances , fame and big research achievements (though in the past, JNKVV has awarded two advance increments for best research papers or in-service gold medals ). How our universities are treating even its eminent scientists/professors  can be visualized from this example and also by visiting  universities websites (Aug 2013 post-websites of our premier institutes ) where there is no mention about outstanding research achievements, patents made or books published , awards won etc by its own scientists/teachers though you may surf all other nonsense on these websites .

In this gloomy  background , it is heartening to read a news in 28^th March,2014 news paper (Dainik Bhaskar)  that the M.P. Higher Education department has accepted UGC 2009 regulations and has directed all Madhya Pradesh universities to formulate research policies which can solve  regional problems (it is already inscribed in technical universities). They are also emphasizing to patent the innovations, awarding the outstanding works and even to make international collaboration with foreign universities. This state policy suggests as if MP universities are entering into a new era where a true research environment will be created and the faculty will be encouraged to undertake new innovations. However, present scenario of research environment and how eminent scientists are treated by the universities with no one to look after their genuine problems make us skeptic about the whole program –whether really a change will occur in the atmosphere of the university or it will remain a rhetoric, a foul cry, only time will tell .