Dear Colleagues,
The year 2022 has been a very productive year for the AAU fraternity. Our optimism has been reinforced by the inauguration of the College of Horticulture & FSR at Lokopur, Nalbari by Hon’ble Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on 6th December 2022. Accreditation of our university with a satisfactory score of 3.20 (A grade) out of 4 by ICAR was another happy occasion. Launching of the Open Distance Learning programme, Web-GIS Portal, Rice Doctor App and Wildlife Centre were other positive steps taken in the last year. Launching the brand name ‘AAU Select’ to bring all the AAU products under the aegis of this brand was a worthy initiative taken in 2022. The rice variety ‘Labanya’ has become the pioneering AAU product to be marketed through the online platform in 2022. Five rice varieties and four varieties of other crops have been notified by the CVRC. In veterinary, three technologies viz. AAU VET MUMB, AAU VET Dog Loaf and AAU VET Chicken Powder have been transferred to private parties on royalty-sharing agreements along with technology fees. The university in its endeavour of going ‘green’ has a plan to establish a 1MW rooftop Solar Power Plant. The Administrative Building, Central Library and a few other buildings have started utilising solar power since November,2022. Celebration of centenary year of RARS, Titabar, Platinum Jubilee year of the College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Sciences and Goiden Jubilee year of College of Community Science reminds us to look back with pride on the rich heritage and legacy of these establishments. Last year our students brought laurels by giving the AAU the best team tag in the National Integration Camp at NSIT, New Delhi. AAU students have also excelled in various competitive examinations including excellence in yoga and meditation. The inauguration of the cricket stadium with financial aid from ACA was another delightful development of last year.
The university has some ambitious plans for 2023. The university understands that society needs job creators rather than job seekers. The university has a vision of motivating a percentage of its graduates to become entrepreneurs and an initiative in this direction has already been initiated. As a starter, twenty-five faculty members had been sent to the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad for capacity building on entrepreneurship development. Another 50 will attend the same programme in 2023. The trained faculty members will act as intermediaries in building competitiveness, motivation, and personality development of the students. Phase-wise, promising students will also be sent for getting real-place exposure to entrepreneurship and will be encouraged to set up their start-ups. The ambitious Ecotourism Project will start functioning in February 2023. Products which attained the GI tag under AAU will be brought under AAU Select brand and these products will be brought under business promotional mode through corpus revolving fund. As a trial run, 5000 gamusa will be marketed under the AAU Select brand by April 2023. Multi-disciplinary research programme for development of technologies for natural farming practices, provisioning the laboratories and field with adequate equipment and required infrastructure, renovating buildings and residences of the research stations of the university, implementation of NEP-2020 are some of the plans on the agenda for 2023.
Dear colleagues, we must gather ourselves and do our duty with dedication and single-minded devotion to be among those whose deeds and achievements matter. Let us take the pledge to make 2023 not merely a year but the watershed year for Assam Agricultural University through our deeds and our achievements.
I wish the New Year 2023 becomes a healthy, happy and fulfilling year for all of us.
(Bidyut C. Deka)
