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 7th
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 28th 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 .
In this gloomy background , it is heartening to read a news in 28th 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 .
