Hyderabad: Agriculture engineers from JNTUH are volunteering to bring about improvement in farm and irrigation sector. They are putting in hard work in scientific farming and making a career out of it. These qualified youth yearn to become instruments of change and growth in the agriculture sector.
They do this by helping farmers adapt to new farming methods which bring far better yield than traditional methods. However, these youth have not been able to land a proper job at a time when farming needs a thorough overhaul with modern tools, methods and techniques.
“Where do we go from here? Why does the government seem unbothered?” These questions are beginning to haunt the agricultural engineers
The graduates, however, are continuing to volunteer in agriculture-related works without giving up for three years now, all the while gaining useful exposure in the field. The downer has been that neither the state agricultural department nor private organisations have shown interest in hiring them.
As of now, the talent is going unrecognised and optimal use of their knowledge unrealised. “Where do we go from here? Why does the government seem unbothered?” These questions are beginning to haunt the agricultural engineers. To be clear, not all of the agricultural engineers have completed B.Tech agricultural engineering in JNTUH affiliated colleges.
But a majority of them have. Yet, they are neither employed nor can they pursue higher education. Reason: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is not recognised by the prestigious JNTUH. Hence their four years degree certificate is not considered good enough by the agriculture industry, both government and private.
Despite several representations to the state government, the problem persists for the past three years.
According to the records, about 1,400 agriculture engineering graduates have passed from JNTUH and its affiliated colleges. These colleges only have AICTE recognition but are not ICAR certified. Without ICAR certification, they are unable to apply for jobs. After volunteering services for projects for years, they are now desperately waiting for new opportunities.
B Vijay Kumar, an agriculture student said, “We all have the skill set necessary to work in agricultural departments where the contribution of agriculture engineers helps increase yields and profits for farmers. How are we to blame if the university hasn’t applied for and got ICAR recognition. We have worked for water forum management, rainwater harvesting through the tranches system and as volunteers for Khadar Valli programmes to gain experience.”
Another student Prashanth, who is also the president of Telangana Agricultural Students’ Association, said, “We studied crop water requirements, tank irrigation system, micro-irrigation, etc. Agriculture engineers are very capable of handling lift irrigation water. It is unfair to not consider us just because our degree is not ICAR certified.”
The students have written to Telangana Chief Minister’s Office, but haven’t received any response. They even wrote to TRS working president KTR on Twitter, and await a positive response.