540 conferred degrees during agricultural varsity convocation

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, held its annual convocation on Saturday, celebrating academic excellence and innovation.

Governor of Punjab and Chancellor of the university, Gulab Chand Kataria, was the chief guest at the event. He was accompanied by Vivek Pratap Singh, Secretary to Governor, and PAU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr Satbir Singh Gosal.

The university auditorium was filled with grandeur as faculty and students donned ceremonial robes and gathered for the momentous occasion. Today, 147 PhD and 393 MSc degrees were awarded to students. In addition to this, 70 students and 17 teachers were given awards in different categories.

Governor Kataria lauded the PAU for setting an exemplary precedent by acknowledging faculty achievements during a student convocation, emphasising that teachers were the true architects of society and shaped future generations. He highlighted how, throughout Indian history, teachers (gurus) had been revered and how it was a practice that universities should follow in the present times.

In his address, the Governor hailed the PAU as a sacred institution built on the vision, hard work, and perseverance of its scientists and farmers, who revolutionised Indian agriculture. Recalling the dark decade of the 1960s, he emphasised how India, once dependent on imported wheat from the US, transformed into a food-secure nation, thanks to the PAU’s pioneering role in the Green Revolution. From being an importer, India now exported wheat and rice globally, with Punjab contributing nearly 60 per cent of the country’s wheat and 70 per cent of its rice production.

Drawing parallels to Punjab’s legacy of excellence beyond agriculture, the Governor highlighted how Punjabis had consistently led in the armed forces, defending the nation with their valour. Similarly, he recalled the Paris Olympics, where Punjab’s hockey players played a key role in securing India’s historic win. He commended the PAU’s sustainable agricultural advancements, including crop residue management, precision farming, AI-driven innovations, and developing short-duration and water-efficient crop varieties. He also urged the agricultural community to diversify into dairy farming, sericulture, and herbal cultivation, emphasising the growing global demand for Ayurvedic medicinal plants as a potential export opportunity.

Governor Kataria urged the graduates to look beyond conventional jobs and become “Ambassadors of Agriculture,” advocating multi-crop production, reduced cultivation time, and research on organic alternatives to pesticides.

He reiterated that with over 60 per cent of India’s population dependent on agriculture, the country could not progress without modernising and sustaining this sector.

In his convocation report, the VC provided a comprehensive overview of the PAU’s academic achievements, infrastructural developments, and groundbreaking research initiatives over the past few years. He highlighted the university’s strides in modernising agricultural education and expanding state-of-the-art facilities to support innovation. Dr Gosal emphasised the PAU’s unwavering commitment to excellence, ensuring that the institution remained at the forefront of agricultural advancements, sustainability, and farmer-centric solutions.