NONGPOH:
The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on January 5 carried out a protest in front of the College of Agriculture at Kyrdemkulai and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) where Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar was present, to demand a Central Agricultural University.
The Central Agricultural University had been promised in 2010, but instead a College of Agriculture was set up in the year 2019. Angered by what is being seen as a betrayal, the union carried out at the protest with banners stating “We Want a Full-fledged Central Agricultural University”.
“This is a betrayal by the central government and the state government. They are playing with the sentiments of the citizens of the state of Meghalaya,” Donald V Thabah, general secretary KSU central executive council, said.
“In Meghalaya we have two College of Agriculture and these colleges are affiliated to the Central Agricultural University, and what we have noticed is that most of the Khasi students don’t get admission and only a few are admitted. When it comes to farmers, it seems that they have not got any benefit from this college. Where the Central Agricultural University, Imphal is concerned, it seems that most of the students and youth from Manipur will get admission and a job there. Hence, we need the Central Agricultural University here in Meghalaya as promised,” he said.
He also mentioned that 240 acres of land for the Central Agricultural University had been allotted, but instead they set up a College of Agriculture in the year 2019 which shocked the students and farmers of the state.
Thabah further said that on March 3, 2021, the union had met face-to-face with Tomar in Guwahati and had put forth the same demand and also directly submitted a second memorandum after emailing the minister the first.
“It has been two years since we submitted the memorandum to him, however, the government of India does not seem to care about us. After coming to know that he will be visiting the college here, we decided to take out a protest. Even if after this protest there is no resolution, we will continue our demand for a Central Agricultural University, and whenever a central government official comes to visit our state, we will carry out the protest till our demands are met,” Thabah added.