Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (IAS-BHU, IAS) is one of India's premier agricultural colleges located in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state. It is one of the three institutes of the Banaras Hindu University.

History

IAS was established in 1931 on the recommendation of the British Raj's Royal Commission on Agriculture as the Institute of Agricultural Research of the BHU. It was one of two oldest

agricultural science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...

institutes in the Indian subcontinent, and the first institute to begin Masters and Doctoral programs in the field. Undergraduate programs were introduced in 1945, and the institute was renamed as the College of Agriculture. It was renamed as the Faculty of Agriculture in 1968. In 1969, the college was re-organized into 6 departments,

Plant Physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...

Agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

, Genetics &

Plant Breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cro ...

, Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Plant Pathology and

Agricultural Economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

. The areas of study and research were gradually expanded to include Horticulture,

Entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

& Agricultural Zoology,

Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

& Dairy Farming, Farm Engineering, etc. In 1980, with expanded focus and investment in agricultural education & research from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the college was re-organized as an independent Institute of Agricultural Sciences affiliated with the BHU.

Infrastructure

IAS is located on the main campus of BHU on the southern outskirts of Varanasi. It has a farm on the main campus. The institute manages a dairy for research and study purposes with capacity of about 400 animals. IAS also has a horticultural unit for development, study and research of flowering plants and a specialized unit for medicinal plants. IAS also manages the

Krishi Vigyan Kendra A Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK; ) is an agricultural extension center in India. The centres are associated with a local agricultural university, and serve as links between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and farmers to apply agricultural r ...

(KVK) (Agricultural Science Centre) on the south campus of BHU in Barkachha, Mirzapur district about southwest of Varanasi. KVK manages over of farms for research and community education purposes. In addition to the main Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library of BHU, IAS students and staff also have access to the Institute Library that has specialized collections of journals, periodicals and volumes related to

Notable alumni

* Saket Kushwaha, Vice Chancellor

Rajiv Gandhi University Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) (formerly Arunachal University) is the oldest university in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is located at Rono Hills in Doimukh town, about nine miles from the state capital, Itanagar. The foundation ston ...

, former Vice Chancellor of Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Professor at Banaras Hindu University *B.B. Pattanaik, Managing Director Central Warehousing Corporation, former Joint Commissioner (Storage & Research) in the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.

Emerging Alumni

Apart from aforementioned notable alumni, there are others who have started making their mark in respective fields. The likes of those include: * Soumyajit Das, Manager -Broker Relations at Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited * Archana Suman, Officer - Credit Worthiness and Risk Evaluation at Union Bank Of India

References

External links

* Banaras Hindu University Agricultural universities and colleges in Uttar Pradesh Universities and colleges in Varanasi Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in India {{India-agri-stub