Students should try to become job providers, not job seekers: Governor says at 46th Foundation Day of BAU

Ranchi: Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar has urged the students to gird up their loins for becoming job providers rather than job seekers.
Addressing the 46th Foundation Day ceremony of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) on Friday, he said agriculture is not only a livelihood but the very basis of the country’s prosperity. The road to viksit Bharat passes through the farm sector.
Gangwar said the contribution of BAU scientists will be assessed not through the number of research papers published and scientific seminars/ workshops/ training programmes attended and technologies perfected but on the basis of increased farm production, income, pleasure and comfort of farmers. They should continuously make assessments about how much the technologies developed by them have reached the farmers field and what has been its impact Gangwar added.
Dr Sujay Rakshit, Director, Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi stressed on reducing the application of chemical fertilizers and promoting organic farming. Since tribal communities are closer to nature, increasing the area under natural farming is easier in Jharkhand as compared to other states. Emphasizing judicious and optimum use of available water resources, he said it is essential for increasing cropping intensity in Jharkhand which is hardly 120 percent as compared to the national average of 140 percent.
Welcoming the guests, BAU Vice Chancellor Dr SC Dubey said BAU produced over five thousand quintal of quality seeds of different varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and produced about 8 lakh quality planting material of fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal & aromatic plants last year. The university is working with hardly 15 percent regular teachers of sanctioned strength which is a challenge for accreditation of colleges and improving ICAR ranking of BAU.

Director Students’ Welfare Dr BK Agrawal proposed a vote of thanks while Shashi Singh anchored the event.
Six retired teachers and non teaching staff of BAU- Dr CSP Singh, Dr BN Prasad, Dr KD Singh, Mahendra Thakur, NC Mishra and Balku Nayak were felicitated for their lifetime contribution to the institution.
Book titled ‘Plant Breeding & Genetics Questionnaire’ penned by Dr Niraj Kumar of BAU, Ranchi and Dr Shreya Sen of BAU, Bhagalpur, ‘Thesis abstracts of Genetics & Plant Breeding’ compiled by Dr Manigopa Chakraborty and others and BAU Annual Report (2025-26) were released on this occasion.
Five progressive farmers- Birendra Kumar (Unta, Chatra), Ashok Kumar (Meral, Garhwa), Uday Singh (Satbarba, Palamu), Dinesh Oraon (Bhandra, Lohardaga) and Kirtiman Nath (Kolebira, Simdega) were awarded for innovative practices in seed production, natural farming, fish farming, organic vegetable production and honey production respectively.
In essay competitions organised separately for teachers, non teaching staff, PG and UG students, Dr Amit Kumar Jha, Shalini Singh. Balram Kumar and Prachi Sharma bagged first prize in their respective categories.
Abhishek Kumar Yadav among boys and Srishti Pandit among girls received first prize in archery competition.