Cash nut

Guwahati, July 30: The betel nut has come to mean more than a hospitable offering to guests at Dibrugarh University, where it will now be used to generate revenue.

The university is planting tamul, as it is called in Assam, on its campus, as part of an ambitious project to mobilise internal resources.

Vice-chancellor K.K. Deka told The Telegraph that the sale of betel nuts is expected to fetch a good amount of money for the university.

He said its importance could be gauged from the fact that it is traditionally offered after meals or tea.

In Upper Assam, guests are invited to wedding receptions by offering betel nuts and leaves.

During Rongali Bihu, husori players are offered betel nuts and leaves in households to solicit their blessings.

“We have planted high yielding betel nut saplings along the boundary of the campus. In the first phase, the university has planted 1,500 saplings this year. More will be planted next year. The university will also plant betel leaf (paan). Once the trees start growing and bearing fruit, we will draw a market strategy to sell them,” Deka said.

Dispur recently told the state universities not to look to the state government for funds to carry out each and every development activity. They were told to generate their own income through various schemes.

Deka said besides generating income, the betel nut trees would help to make the university campus greener.

“The university has taken various steps to generate its own income for development work. Since 2002, we are engaged in tea cultivation in the vacant plots. The university has cultivated tea on 420 bighas of land, which is generating a good amount of revenue,” he said.

The vice-chancellor added that the university has begun timber cultivation. “The university has been able to earn around Rs 5 crore on its own in the last few years. Income earned from the schemes was deposited in the bank and the university could earn interest upto Rs 2.5 crore through such deposits,” he said.

Deka said his university has also been able to earn monetary incentive from the University Grants Commission for being able to generate revenue by mobilising its various resources.

Dibrugarh University was set up in 1965. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university with limited residential facilities, situated at Rajabheta, nearly 5km to the south of Dibrugarh.