Former President of India and veteran nuclear scientist APJ Abdul Kalam will be the chief guest of the fifth convocation of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) on May 19. The student friendly leader will spend around one and half hour in the ceremony. The autonomous state university will confer an honorary degree of ‘Doctor of Science’ to Father of Green Revolution in India Dr MS Swaminathan on the occasion.
“Kalam was earlier scheduled to visit here in the morning on Tuesday but he has some engagements. He will be coming to Ranchi exclusively to attend the university convocation,” said BAU Vice Chancellor (VC) George John during a media interaction on Saturday.
“The 35 year old BAU has organized only four convocations till 2010. The fifth convocation is being held after a long gap. It should not have happened. Convocation is a festival. Students passing out from the university as alumnus are ambassadors of BAU. Infact, it is their responsibility to provide financial support to the university after passing,” the VC added.
All together 635 students have passed their Graduate, Master’s and PhD examinations in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Forestry, Biotechnology and Agri-Business Management since the last convocation on February 20, 2010 out of which four pass outs were issued degrees in special circumstances. The remaining 631 persons will be awarded degrees during the upcoming convocation. Till May 15, 424 such pass outs have applied for their degrees.
According to the VC, Governor of Jharkhand who is also the Chancellor of State Universities is scheduled to participate. Since the new Governor Draupadi Murmu will take the oath on May 18 and the former Governor Syed Ahmed has left, John said Governor House officials have assured that either the Governor or an officer will surely attend the function.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Agriculture Minister Randhir Kumar Singh will also be present on the occasion.
Sources maintained as per the updated information, Swaminathan will probably not participate. On behalf of him, a representative may receive the honourary degree, said sources.
Apart from the convocation, the premiere state agriculture university has decided to re-launch the Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) in its Veterinary College from the ongoing session. The course was stopped by Veterinary Council of India (VCI) two years back due to lack of regularized teachers compared to the large student strength.
“Around 40 students will be enrolled in the first year in August after joint entrance exam and counselling of which some seats are reserved for students under ICR quota. As far as the teachers are concerned, VCI has told us to fulfill certain norms. Permanent faculty members will be hired through JPSC. In such circumstances, we had proposed the outgoing Chancellor and Chief Secretary to allow us to hire 20 interim teachers for a period of six or eight months,” said VC George John.
The teaching recruitment will commence by June or July. John pointed that the salaries of these teachers would be given by BAU for two or three months and then by the state government. “We may recruit Teaching Assistants as per VCI norms and invite retired teachers for the course,” he said.