in ,

J&K’s horticulture degree holders write to LG Sinha: Save our careers

ZT Team Report

Srinagar, Feb 6: Horticulture degree holders of Jammu & Kashmir have expressed their deep disappointment about the recently-announced job qualification criteria for some government recruitments and have appealed Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, to address their distress.

While the union of the degree holders has written an open letter to the LG, a group of degree holders are presently in Jammu seeking appointment with the LG’s office to bring to him notice their dire situation.

Pertinently, Ziraat Times had earlier highlighted the case of anomalies between skill sets required for certain state-sector jobs and the inability of the state recruitment system to recognize the skills that Horticulture Degree holders possess.

“It is a case of public policy unable to recognize the overall picture. You have public universities with government-approved curriculum structure, designed to fill the needs of the government departments. And then you announce recruitment eligibility for those jobs which are at variance with the degree structure which you yourself have created”, a senior official at SKUAST-Kashmir told Ziraat Times.

Here is the full text of the memorandum written to the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, by the J&K Horticulture Graduates Union:

His Excellency Shri Manoj Sinha
The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir

May it please your Excellency,

We, the below-mentioned, humbly want to convey our concern to your goodself regarding the issues related to the Unemployed Horticulture Graduates of UT of J&K which need your immediate kind attention as under

That our UT J&K has more than 3.5 lacs hectare of land under fruit crops which comprises 2nd largest in the whole world from area wise point of view. Sir, it is surprising and also disgusting to state here that not more than 350 persons (technical as well as non-technical) in total are working in the said department as a whole to cater to the multifarious and fast growing problems being presently faced by the fruit growers community in the UT and the same is highly inadequate, in-appropriate and discriminatory as compared to the the strength of other departments of J&K Govt. Moreover, there is a vast gap of technical knowhow between the lab and the land.

That as your excellency may be knowing that from past 15 years SAU of J&K (SKUAST-K & SKUAST-J), besides being involved in research and extension activities in horticulture sector, are also developing human resources in UG and PG programmes in Horticulture sector of the UT. The undergraduate B.Sc. Horticulture programme is a 4 years professional degree as per ICAR programme and, till date 1300 student have been admitted with almost 700 pass-outs and the remaining 600 students are still in pursuit of their degree programme. This technical human resource can well be used to bridge the gap between the Lab and the Land. Otherwise, it is impossible for the department as there is already conversion of traditional fruit growing land to new improved production technology. This conversion can only be made successful with the involvement of technical staff.

That Whenever and where-ever the word horticulture pops up anywhere, most of the people of the state restrict and limit this amazing and vast science to the apple production only which is far from being true.

That Just for the basic knowledge of the common masses, the Horticulture stream/sector comprises of four main branches at the least vis:

(a) Fruit science and cultivation

(b) Vegetable science and cultivation

(c) Flower science and cultivation and

(d) The post-harvest management of all these crops combined.

The sole purpose of mentioning the branches of horticulture is to make the people think about and imagine the huge number of people directly and indirectly involved and linked to and depending on the field of horticulture.

5. That Sir, horticulture as a science thus is very important for a region like Jammu and Kashmir. But to the surprise of many, horticulture was not taught in Jammu and Kashmir as a separate science up to as recently as 2007 for the reasons still not clear. However, horticulture graduation takes 4 important years of a person, 3 years of academics followed by one year of internship. The number of horticulture graduates has been piling up since then and has reached a total of around 600 but they have been left dismayed and disappointed as even in the fields that require their education and services, their degrees hold no value.

6. That this is no exaggeration but most people including government officials and leaders don’t even know that Horticulture is taught as a separate science and a degree in horticulture named as BS.c (Hons) Horticulture, as specific as that, exists. Imagine the trauma that one is in when he/she is told that his/her degree holds no value and that he/ she should go on to do business after spending 4, 6 or even 10 years in securing a particular degree.

7. That Sir, if a person who studies the science of what is termed as the backbone of the economy of our state is not even acknowledged as a horticulture graduate, what options does he/she have?

8. That sir, Horticulture department appoints Horticulture Development Officers (HDO) through JKPSC was meant for Horticulture graduates as other departmental posts of state but still horticulture graduates find no place in these notification and department hasn’t been able to recruit a single horticulture graduate.

9. That sir, for the posts of Senior Horticulture technician (under notification no: 01 of 2021 dated 03-02-2021) still horticulture graduates have to compete with those candidates who are irrelevant to the subject.

10. That sir, same applies to posts of Assistant Floriculture Officer (AFO) in BPE and Floriculture Department, AFO posts are categorically posts of Horticulture graduates as it falls in the 4 main branches of Horticulture should also have B.Sc. Horticulture as eligibility but still horticulture graduates have to compete with those candidates who are irrelevant to the subject.

11. That Sir, for the posts of grading and marketing officer in Horticulture Planning and marketing Department which are categorically meant for B.Sc. Horticulture but still horticulture graduates have to compete with those candidates who are irrelevant to the subject.

12. That since the abrogation of the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 05, 2019, optimism regarding the development of the state was high but nothing is visible on the ground. We were hopeful that we would be given a chance to be a part of the team tasked with crafting the “Naya Kashmir” by the rejuvenation and overhaul of the paralyzed department of horticulture, but to no avail as we feel it is still doom and gloom. Nevertheless, the accelerated recruitment process that your administration has initiated shows us a light across a long and very dark tunnel, only if we could at least be assured that we exist as students before being seen as employed or unemployed.

13. That consequent upon the above the the above-mentioned unfortunate state of affairs, the Ph.D scholars, MS.c scholars and the undergraduates of horticulture are beginning to develop suicidal tendencies as a sign of exhaustion and emptiness after seeing what their seniors in the same field have gone through. A rise of depression cases among the unemployed educated youth of the UT, particularly the unemployed horticulture graduates, is a cause of worry and must be taken seriously before it takes a serious or ugly turn.

In the premises, it is hoped that your able, honest and sympathetic administration would put an end to our dark days of fading hope in seeing all our colleagues giving a shot at recruitment in their relevant fields of horticulture sector/stream in the department so that we can heave a sigh of relief during these days of our destitution, disappointment and depression as there’s a saying “tables turn, bridges burn and we live and learn”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Loading…

0

As ‘chakka jaam’ begins, farmer leaders ask protesters to be peaceful

Apni Party clinches Srinagar DDC chairperson seat