Jorhat, June 19: The Assam Agricultural University (AAU) here, declared the best institute of its kind in the country, has won the Sardar Patel Outstanding Institute Award, 2014.
"We are happy that this prestigious award has been conferred on the university as it is a recognition of our academic, scholastic and research work as well as the campus ambience which promotes excellence in every sphere," AAU vice-chancellor K.M. Bujarbaruah said.
He said it was a major achievement for the university, which was non-accredited when he took charge in 2009. He added that the achievement was made possible because of the people. "I acknowledge the full contribution of a very motivated workforce and am thankful to the farmers, funding agencies, faculty, the state government and the Centre for standing behind us," he said.
The award, instituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), comprises a citation and Rs 10 lakh. It will be given away by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Varanasi on July 15 in the presence of Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and heads and faculty of other universities.
The award comes in the midst of a controversy in which Governor P.B. Acharya, acting in his capacity as the chancellor of the university, had ordered an inquiry into alleged irregularities by Bujarbaruah, resulting in a strike by the staff and students, who threw a protective wall around the vice-chancellor. The order was later quashed by Gauhati High Court.
The university is the only agriculture university in the Northeast.
Ranjit Kumar Saud, deputy director of the extension education department of the university, said apart from the contribution of the employees, it was the dynamic leadership of the vice-chancellor which had enabled AAU to bag the award.
"The greatest achievement under Bujarbaruah was getting the university accredited and facilitating its elevation to the fifth position among the agricultural universities of the country, according to a ranking by Careers360 magazine. Earlier, it was at the bottom of the list," Saud said.
"The university had gone to seed with a double-digit deficit running into crores when the present vice-chancellor took over. The staff did not get regular salaries. About Rs 10 crore from the general provident fund (GPF) and Rs 2.5 crore from seed fund was used to pay salaries. Besides, around Rs 30 crore given by the ICAR for research was diverted, resulting in an MoU with the government of Assam restricting appointments and cutting down of posts," he said.
"From a demoralised lot of teachers who did not have proper laboratory facilities and incentives to a vibrant university thriving in all areas, the credit goes to the vice-chancellor," Saud said.
The award has been given based on the university's performance in the past five years.
During this period, more than 200 appointments were made, infrastructure was created for three old colleges - home science in Jorhat, a second veterinary college in North Lakhimpur and Fishery College in Nagaon - and a new agriculture college in Dhubri.
