Promotions under career scheme approved

Ambika Sharma

The board of management, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, held a meeting to discuss crucial issues like finalisation of appointment of 17 assistant professors. Promotions under the career advancement scheme were approved. The appointments were eagerly awaited, given the large number of vacancies which had crept up after the superannuation of several faculty members in the recent past. VC Dr HC Sharma headed the meeting.

Convocation in March

The university’s eighth convocation will be held on March 6 where Director General, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Dr Trilochan Mahapatra will be the chief guest. As many as 800 BSc, MSc and PhD students from three colleges — College of Horticulture, College of Forestry on the main campus and College of Horticulture and Forestry, Neri, — will be conferred degrees.

Staff reshuffled

A rejig of the faculty was done by the Vice-Chancellor. Those serving on the main campus at Nauni were shifted to various outstation institutes like KVKs and RHR&TS while the staff serving in tribal areas were brought back to the main campus. As many as 15 faculty members were shifted. Rumours were that the faculty members enjoying proximity to the cohorts of the government managed to stay back on the main campus.

Interactive session

A group of 50 senior officers from National Defence College, New Delhi, visited the university for an interactive session. The group was led by faculty in charge Anwar Haleem from Indian Foreign Services and it comprised 10 officers from the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy and three from Bangladesh, Japan and Malaysia. They are undergoing a special course on “National Security and Strategic Studies”. The purpose of the visit was to study educational and agricultural development of the state and interact with the officials. Vice-Chancellor Dr Hari Chand Sharma welcomed the group members and apprised them of various activities under way on the campus. Director, Research, Dr KS Verma, presented an overview of research activities undertaken and told the guests that it was the lone university working on temperate fruit crops.

New librarian joins

Dr Narendra Sharma, professor and head, Department of Fruit Science, was appointed the new librarian of the university after SK Sood superannuated. Dr BS Thakur assumed charge as the head and professor, Department of Fruit Sciences, in place of Dr Sharma. Dr Sharma had earlier been elevated as the professor (fruit science) in 2003 and had joined as the professor and head of the Department of Fruit Science in 2014. He has guided 12 MSc, six PhD students and has about 110 publications to his credit in various national and international journals. He has also visited Japan, Italy, China and Hong Kong. During his tenure as head of the department, 20 projects worth Rs 9-10 crore were sanctioned from various agencies and the annual income of the department was raised to about Rs 93 lakh. As many as 90,000 fruit nursery plants were distributed to farmers during his tenure. Solar fencing was also done in an area of 55 hectares under his guidance which had fetched good results. His efforts in rain harvesting are also commendable as 20 water tanks of 1 lakh capacity each were established under his guidance. Clonal rootstocks of apple were also developed by him.