BENGALURU: Coming from a family of farmers,
Raghuveer M is no stranger to hard work. The youngster who lost his father at a tender age has been shouldering the responsibility of his underprivileged family and depending on scholarships for financial support. His efforts bore fruit on Monday when he bagged 11
gold
medals at the
University of Agricultural Sciences
(UAS) convocation ceremony.
“The love for every subject helped me achieve this success,“ said Raghuveer, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture.
“I took up agricultural sciences because my father was a farmer. I had seen him struggle in the fields and wanted to come to the aid of farmers. I want to be a scientist and conduct research on varieties of seeds and saplings,“ added Raghuveer who's preparing for a career in the
Agricultural Research Service
(ARS).
Students from various degree programmes won 116 gold medals, including 35 university gold medals, three undergraduate and five postgraduate campus gold medals and 73 donor's gold medals at the 51st convocation ceremony. Fifteen boys shared 38 gold medals and 33 girls won 78 medals. In all, 953 students were conferred degrees - 646 bachelor's, 234 master's and 73 doctoral.
In PhD programmes, six girls and five boys were awarded 10 university merit gold medals and eight donor's gold medals. In PG degree pro grammes, eight boys and 17 girls bagged 19 university merit gold medals and 36 donor's medals. In UG programmes, 2 boys and 10 girls won 38 gold medals -6 university merit gold medals, 3 campus gold medals and 29 donor's medals.
“In 10 years, youngsters will lose interest in agriculture. How do we attract them?Empowering them is the only way to ensure sustained support for the field. They have to explore the area of entrepreneurship, which will give them far more returns than anything else. Youngsters should carry out research as well, which will make agriculture more successful as an occupation,“ said T
Mohapatra
, secretary, department of agricultural research and education and director general, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.