It was two girls from Kerala who stole the show at the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru’s 50th convocation held on Saturday.
Amrutha Lakshmi M. from Malappuram and Dinta Sebastian from Kannur of Kerala emerged joint toppers for the B.Sc.- Agriculture course, with a tally of seven gold medals each. While Ms. Lakshmi did her graduation at the GKVK campus, Ms. Sebastian was at the Mandya campus. Both are now pursuing their master’s.
Ms. Sebastian, who hails from a farming family, could have easily got a medical or engineering seat after her PU, given her high grades. “But, I chose agriculture as I had an affinity for it as my parents are farmers,” she says. She is now doing postgraduation in food processing at the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, and wants to be an entrepreneur in the field of fortified foods.
Ms. Lakshmi, who is pursuing postgraduation in pathology, is passionate about helping farmers. “One of the hurdles for farmers and the process of food production is pests and diseases. I want to be of some help in handling this problem,” she says.
Ravi S.C., who got six gold medals in M.Sc. Agricultural Economics, is now pursuing a Ph.D. He too knows the problems of farmers first hand as his parents are farmers in Kadur of Chikkamagaluru. “The main problem is market instability. Some day, I want to develop an agro-economic model that can handle this complex issue,” he says. H.M. Vinay Kumar, who got four gold medals for his Ph.D. in agricultural extension, feels that what farmers need is not subsidy, but appropriate farming technologies through effective agricultural extension network.
It was a double delight for Neetha Jayaram, who got two gold medals for her Ph.D. in genetics and plant-breeding, as she clinched four medals earlier for her M.Sc. She is the fourth member in her family after her father, a professor in the UAS-B, mother and husband, a researcher in the UAS-B’s Bengaluru Rural Krishi Vigyan Kendra, to get a doctorate. But, she is not satisfied with this. “I chose agricultural course as I was inspired by my father. But now I realise that you need to bring in policy changes to help farmers. We (agri scientists) do not have the power to do this. So, I want to be a civil servant so that I will have some powers to incorporate whatever I have studied in the policy aspects to help farmers,” she says.
