G. B. Pant University of Agriculture, also known as Pantnagar University, is the first agricultural university of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It was inaugurated by

Jawahar Lal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20 ...

on 17 November 1960 as the "Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University" (UPAU). Later the name was changed to "Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology" in 1972 in memory of the first Chief Minister of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

, statesman and

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest orde ...

recipient

Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Govind Ballabh Pant (10 September 1887 – 7 March 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pant was a key figure in the movement for ...

. The University lies in the campus-town of Pantnagar in

Kichha Kichha is oldest tehseel of Udham Singh Nagar district. It is older than Rudrapur city. It has its own municipal board, located in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand, India. Geography Kichha is located at . The town has an average elevatio ...

Tehseel and in the district of

Udham Singh Nagar Udham Singh Nagar District (officially District of Udham Singh Nagar )is a district of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Rudrapur is the district headquarters. This district consists of nine Tehsils named Bajpur, Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Jaspu ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

. The university is regarded as the harbinger of

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

History

Pre-establishment groundwork (1949–1959)

The first Education Commission of India (1949) headed by

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

recommended setting up rural universities in India on American

land-grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

model.

(UP), under chief-ministership of

Govind Ballabh Pant Govind Ballabh Pant (10 September 1887 – 7 March 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pant was a key figure i ...

, took the first step and in 1954 invited an Indo- American team headed by Dr. K. R. Damle, the Vice-President of

ICAR ICAR may refer to: * ''I Car'' or HR 4102, a star in the Carina constellation * ''i Car'' or HD 79447, a star in the Carina constellation * ''ι Car'' or Iota Carinae (HD 80404), a star in the Carina constellation * Indian Council of Agricultural Re ...

, to consider an area around Tarai State farm in erstwhile

Nainital district Nainital district is a district in Kumaon division which is a part of Uttarakhand state in India. The headquarters is at Nainital. Nainital District is located in Kumaon Division, and is located in the lower Himalayas. Haldwani is the larges ...

as a possible site for a rural university. This area was actually a dense forest near Himalayan foothills and the government was using this area to rehabilitate

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

and other migrants from West Pakistan, in the aftermath of the partition of 1947. Encouraged by favourable view of the Damle team, two senior government officials- H S Sandhu and A N Jha visited United States to look for collaborations with US Universities. In consultation with

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

dean Dr H W Hannah, the government of state of Uttar Pradesh presented a proposal to the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1956 for establishing a Land-grant style university. Thereafter, a contract between the Government of India, the Technical Cooperation Mission and few US land grant universities, was signed to promote agricultural education in India. The US universities included the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th sta ...

, the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

, the

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

, the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

. The task of mentoring the proposed university in UP was assigned to the University of Illinois which signed a contract in 1959.

Initial years and development (1960–1972)

The University was dedicated to the Nation by the first Prime Minister of India

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

, on 17 November 1960. In the early Days, Illinois faculty served the university in designing its education system and putting in place an effective research and extension system. Six to eight Illinois faculty used to stay in Pantnagar at a time serving between 2 and 4-year terms for a period of 12 years. Dr. William Thompson, a team member on site at Pantnagar, shared that it was unusual for the project to start a university in a place with nothing. All buildings and facilities had to be constructed in the jungle there. In 1965, drastic upheaval of the university board of directors, which was spurred by lack of state government support for the institution, caused removal of the entire administrative and governance team of the university. D P Singh was named vice chancellor of the university with complete control over its affairs until a new board of directors was chosen. Under Singh's leadership, many necessary upgrades took place, and the university flourished. The University of Illinois left Pantnagar in 1972, when president

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

ordered Americans out of the near east. The UP Act XI-V of 1958– the founding legislative act was later amended under UP Universities Re-enactment and Amendment Act 1972 and the University was rechristened as Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology keeping in view the contributions of

. Pantnagar is a symbol of successful partnership between India and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. US greatly influenced the development of the university through its funding of several university programs. Many of the university's research activities were funded by the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the Indo-U.S. Technical Cooperation Programme, and the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(program

Public Law 480 In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 60 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly fro ...

). The establishment of this university brought about a revolution in agricultural education, research and extension. It paved the way for setting up of 41 other state agricultural universities in the country.

Role in ushering Green Revolution

Pantnagar University soon became a significant force in the development and transfer of High Yielding Variety seeds and related technology.Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University 163:14–19 and Charanjit Ahuja "One University That Actually Works" Indian Express, 9 March 1994, p.3 The Mexican wheat varieties, developed by

Norman Borlaug Norman Ernest Borlaug (; March 25, 1914September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug was awarded multiple ...

were tested in Pantnagar and locally adaptable selections, like Pantnagar Kalyan Sona and other improved varieties were released for farmers. The university utilised its of land to launch one of the largest seed production programs at that time, under the brand name Pantnagar Seeds, which became a household name in rural India. The contribution of the university was recognised by

, who described Pantnagar as "Harbinger of

Campus

The University campus at Pantnagar is spread in an area of which makes it the second largest university in the world, in terms of contiguous area. Before 2002, the university owned, out of which was transferred to State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand (

SIDCUL The State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) is a government of Uttarakhand enterprise which promotes industries and develops industrial infrastructure in the State. It also provides tax incentives for companies e ...

) for developing an Integrated Industrial estate, thus leaving with the university. Remaining land was transferred to other industries, railways, airport etc. The university campus is located at a distance of 250 km from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Udham Singh Nagar district Udham Singh Nagar District (officially District of Udham Singh Nagar )is a district of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Rudrapur is the district headquarters. This district consists of nine Tehsils named Bajpur, Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Jasp ...

. The nearby towns are Rudrapur (16 km),

Haldwani Haldwani ( Kumaoni: ''Haldvānī'') is the largest city of Kumaon. It is also the third most populous city and largest commercial market in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Haldwani is said to be the financial capital of Uttarakhand, having the ...

(25 km),

(13 km) and

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

(65 km). Two

National Highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all f ...

- NH 87 and

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The ...

highway touch the campus.

Pantnagar Airport Pantnagar Airport is a domestic airport serving Pantnagar, located in Udham Singh Nagar district in of Uttarakhand, India. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India. It is the nearest airport to the Kumaon division and is located in t ...

, operated by

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

is located in the campus, 2.5 km west of main administrative building. Two railway stations of North Eastern Railways- Pantnagar ( IR Code PBW) and Haldi Road ( IR Code HLDD) are located in the campus at a distance of 4 km (east) and 3 km (west) respectively from administrative building. University shuttle service, local

rickshaws A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

auto-rickshaws An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...

and matador vans connect various parts of the campus. Pantnagar is a purely residential university and comprises an independent

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

in itself. Population of Pantnagar, prior to establishment of Industrial estate was 35,820 (Census, 2001). Pantnagar is a part of Pantnagar-

assembly constituency. The 'Concentric semicircles' or the 'rising sun' plan of the campus-centre was a brainchild of Department of Architecture of Illinois University.

Administration and organization

In the Indian higher education system, Pantnagar is classified as a State Agricultural University. The university is in the jurisdiction of the state government. The governor of the state is the ex-officio chancellor of the university and appoints a

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

, who functions as a full-time

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the university. The vice-chancellor chairs a 13-member

board of management A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, which is the highest executive body of the university and oversees primarily financial and administrative matters and also ratifies recommendations of other councils of the university. The other councils are the Academic council, the Research council and the Extension education council. Governor of

Dr.

Baby Rani Maurya Baby Rani Maurya (born 15 August 1956) is an Indian politician, currently serving as a minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh since March 2022. She served as seventh governor of Uttarakhand from 26 August 2018 till September 2021, when sh ...

is the present Chancellor and Dr. Tej Pratap is VC of the university. The university is financed primarily from grant-in-aid of the state government and through grants received from the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or del ...

through

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

, besides income from student tuition fees, sponsored research, university farm, etc. Total allocated budget for the university in the year 2011–2012 stood at Rs 240 crores (~ US$50 million), which puts Pantnagar among top five agricultural universities in terms of financial resources. Recently, a high powered central government committee – the Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education (Yashpal Committee, 2009) — has recommended converting agricultural universities into general universities encompassing all branches of studies.

Academics

Colleges

Pantnagar is a non-affiliating university and its academic activities are organized through its nine constituent colleges (faculties),which run large undergraduate (UG) programs. All Masters and PhD students are part of College of Post Graduate Studies, however they have strong association with one of the other colleges as per their

academic major An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conc ...

. Prior to 2012, the university also had two off-campus colleges namely, 'College of Forestry and Hill Agriculture, Ranichauri' (founded 1991) and 'Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali College of Horticulture, Bharsar' (founded 2002). However, recently, through an act of

Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the winter capital, and Bhararisain, the su ...

these colleges have been transferred to newly incorporated

Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture & Forestry, formerly Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, is a state agricultural university located in North Indian state of Uttarakhand. The University has two ...

. Distributed among colleges and other units of the university, there are 763 teachers and officers, 59 technical personnel, 631 administrative personnel and 1425 class III employees, amounting to a total staff strength of 2878 against a students strength of 2800–3000, which makes teacher taught ratio of about 1:6 and student-staff ratio about 1:1.

List of colleges

∗ ''Counted in associated College''
** ''Participating faculty from various departments''

Education system

The university shifted from a trimester to a semester system in the 1980s to reduce the workload on students. There are 200–210 net instructional days per year, which is highest in India.There is continuous evaluation system in semester through well known Hourlies i.e One hour exam (two in each semester) besides final examination at the end of semester. The minimum duration of all UG programs of the university is 8 semesters (4 years), except BVSc&AH (10 semesters, 5-year). All the UG programs are infused with extensive practical training and include one semester of compulsory

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

work experience Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal ...

. All Masters programs are of 4 semester (2 years), except

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

(6 semester/ 3 years). Normal duration for PhD is 6 semesters. The university follows a credit based GPA system for evaluation. In 1998, it shifted from the US style 5-point and

letter grade Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numb ...

system to a 10-point GPA based system, for easy conversion to

percentages In mathematics, a percentage (from la, per centum, "by a hundred") is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of 100. It is often denoted using the percent sign, "%", although the abbreviations "pct.", "pct" and sometimes "pc" are also u ...

, which are more commonly used in India. The university follows 100% internal evaluation on continuous basis. A course has typically 2 pre-final exams (popularly called as "hourlies"), 1 lab final exam and 1 semester-end final exam, totalling 4 evaluation cycles per semester. Typically, a UG student registers for 8 courses in a semester, leading to 8*4= 32 exams i.e. on an average basis, 1 exam on every fourth working day. Since its inception, Pantnagar University is known for its academic rigour for keeping its students always busy.

Rankings

The ''

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...

'' of 2019 ranked G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology 137 among

BRICS BRICS is an acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The first four were initially grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the te ...

nations.

Research

Being an Agriculture and Technology university, the main focus of research is on agriculture and engineering. Research is coordinated by a Directorate of Experiment Station and carried out through ~70 subject-matter departments spread across colleges, 14 specialised research centres located in the campus, 7 dedicated off-campus research stations and 10 off-campus horticultural research-cum-extension centres. So far, the university has released 211

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, many of which played important role in

. The work of the university in introducing

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

as a crop in India is well known. As

has been declared an 'Organic state', the present thrust of research is on

Organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

and

Biological pest control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also i ...

. The university has developed a pregnancy diagnostic kit for cattle and its

Salmonellosis Salmonellosis, more commonly known as food poisoning is a symptomatic infection caused by bacteria of the ''Salmonella'' type. It is also a food-borne disease and are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by a ...

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

for poultry is in advanced trials. In 1991, engineers of the university developed a 'Zero-till Ferti seed drill' for

No-till farming No-till farming (also known as zero tillage or direct drilling) is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certai ...

along with National Agro Industries Ludhiana Punjab, which has been immensely popular in

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

and other areas of Indo-gangetic plains.

CIMMYT The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known - even in English - by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT for ''Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo'') is a non-profit research-for-development organization that develops im ...

CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

has described zero tillage technology based on the Pantnagar

seed drill A seed drill is a device used in agriculture that sows seeds for crops by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth while being dragged by a tractor. This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly. The seed drill sow ...

as the most widely adopted resource conserving technology in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, till date.

Extension

Extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ext ...

is one of the three mandates of the university. University organises informal

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. ...

programs for rural people for achieving better diffusion of innovation. The university reaches out to a wider clientele through short term training programs at its campuses, Farmer Field Schools,

Participatory technology development Participatory technology development (PTD) is an approach to learning and innovation that is used in international development as part of projects and programmes relating to sustainable agriculture. The approach involves collaboration between resear ...

programs, radio and television broadcast,

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popu ...

based narrowcasting, print media, Farmer's fairs, and other innovative communication technologies. The university maintains a State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute and a network of 11 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (Farm Science Centres, KVKs) located in various districts.

Student life

Residential life

Pantnagar is a residential university.

Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or share ...

accommodation is compulsory, except for the wards of university employees who live in the campus. In the Pantnagar campus, there are 23 hostels (called bhawans), including seven for girls, two for married couples and one for working women. The older hostels are named after important personalities of India:

Mohandas K. Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966 and 6th Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. He promoted the White Re ...

, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (''née'' Chattopadhyay; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist, feminist and poet. A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important person in Ind ...

Kasturba Gandhi Kasturbai Mohandas Gandhi (, born Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She married Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, in 1883. With her husband and her eldest so ...

, Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya,

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swara ...

(I and II) and

Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...

with the exception of a hostel named Silver Jublee, which commemorates 25 years of the university. Gandhi Park, Pantangar

The names of newly constructed bhawans are inspired from the various geographical regions of the

—

Gangotri Gangotri is a town and a ''Nagar Panchayat'' (municipality) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirat ...

Yamunotri Yamunotri, also Jamnotri, is the source of the Yamuna River and the seat of the Goddess Yamuna in Hinduism. It is situated at an altitude of in the Garhwal Himalayas and located approximately North of Uttarkashi, the headquarters of the Utt ...

, Shivalik, Mandakini,

Bhagirathi The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hind ...

Alaknanda The Alaknanda is a Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In hydrology, the Alaknanda is considered the source ...

etc. — with an exception of a new hostel named 'Golden Jublee', commemorating 50 years of the university. Most of older hostels are along the 'third arc' as per the original 'concentric semicircles' campus plan, while newer ones are on radial roads or other parts of the campus. There are two guest houses, Lambert's Square and International Guest House, which has a hostel wing for foreign students and an attached Farmer's Hostel. The hostels have student-managed or, in few cases, outsourced

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or sch ...

-style food services. All the faculty members and employees stay in bungalows and apartments on campus. Two Market Namely Chhoti (small) and Bari (big) markets are also present in the campus.

Extracurricular activities

Most of the students' activities are organised through college-level professional societies, like the Agriculture Society, the Engineering Society, the Management Society, etc. These societies organise popular fests, fairs, cultural nights, treasure hunts and competitions year round. Apart from these, there are departmental societies, hostel societies and other organisations like the Vivekanand Swadhyay Mandal, Sanskritic Chetna Parishad, etc. which organise popular student activities. The Pantnagar Chapter of

SPIC MACAY ''Spic'' (also spelled ''spick'') is an ethnic slur used in the United States for people from Latin American countries and states. Etymology Some sources from the United States believe that the word ''spic'' is a play on a Spanish-accented pro ...

regularly organises classical

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

concerts by renowned artistes
CHETNA
Student Wing is an extension of CHETNA NGO (Delhi) working for upliftment of underprivileged and poor children in the campus and nearby areas. The university also has a team of students and working staff of the university called E-Cell, that tries to aware students about entrepreneurial skills by organising workshops and inviting a lot of experts. This team also works for providing internships and jobs to the students. The university National Cadet Corps (NCC) chapter organises basic military training and adventure sports for student-cadets. The Remount & Veterinary (R&V) core is a

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

regiment of NCC, which trains students for professional

equestrianism Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

(horse riding). Pantnagar is among very few universities in India to have a full-fledged Air Squadron under NCC Air Wing, which promotes aviation and airmanship among students through its activities organised in the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

near the university campus. All undergraduate students of Pantnagar take part in

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

, which fetches them two credits towards their degrees in form of a mandatory

National Service Scheme The National Service Scheme (NSS) is an Indian government sector public service program conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India. Popularly known as NSS, the scheme was launched in Gandhiji's Centenary ...

course involving 240 hours/10 days of social service. Students also take part in

liberal education A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free (Latin: ''liber'') human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment ...

courses offered by the university like dance, music,

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, Indian cultural heritage, personality development, English

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...

, Indian languages (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

), foreign languages (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

), etc. Stevenson stadium is the hub of sports activities, which are organised through 17

sport clubs A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

Notable alumni

Vinay Mohan Kwatra Vinay Mohan Kwatra is an Indian diplomat of IFS cadre serving as the 34th and the current Foreign Secretary of India since May 2022, succeeding Harsh Vardhan Shringla. Previously, he has served as the Ambassador of India to France and Nepal. ...

, 34th Foreign Secretary of India from May 2022 * Islam A. Siddiqui, former Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the

Office of the United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting American trade policy. Part of the Executive Office of the President, it is headed by the ...

* Rajinder Kumar Malhotra, Indian business professional & Chairman of the Modi Group. Completed his Masters in Plant Pathology in 1971 *

Vineet Nayar Vineet Nayar (born 1962) is an Indian business executive, author and philanthropist. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of HCL Technologies (2007–13), Founder Chairman & CEO of Sampark Foundation and author of a critically acclaimed m ...

, former

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

HCL Technologies HCLTech (formerly Hindustan Computers Limited or HCL Technologies) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Noida.It emerged as an independent company in 1991 when HCL entered into ...

Baba Sehgal Harjeet Singh "Baba" Sehgal, is an Indian rapper. He was widely acclaimed to be the first Indian rapper. He is also involved in various other areas of the entertainment industry, and works in several different languages' media. He was a contesta ...

Indian pop Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema, such as the music of Bollywood, which tends to be more popular. Indian pop is closely linked to Bolly ...

singer *

Sankar Datta Dr. Sankar Datta (born February 17, 1958), is an Indian academic and professional development worker. He has been engaged in rural livelihood promotion and support activities for more than three decades since the early 1980s. Most of his field ...

, renowned academician * Anita Singh Rajput MLA (BJP) UP Assembly *

Shantanu Gupta Shantanu Gupta is an Indian author and political analyst. He is also the founder of The Ramayana School. Gupta has authored six books including '' Bharatiya Janata Party: Past, Present and Future''— Story of World's Largest Political Party ...

, Author and Political Analyst * Akhil Chandra Banerjea, virologist, N-BIOS laureate *

Sudhanshu Vrati Sudhanshu Vrati (born 19 March 1960) is an Indian immunologist, microbiologist and the director of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology. Known for his studies in the fields of RNA virus replication and vaccine development, Vrati is an elected f ...

, vaccinologist, N-BIOS laureate *Bhuwan Chandra,

Chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

and General Manager of

Indian Overseas Bank Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is an Indian public sector bank based in Chennai. It has about 3,214 domestic branches, about 4 foreign branches and representative office. Founded in February 1937 by M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar with twin objec ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Agricultural universities and colleges in India Universities in Uttarakhand Education in Udham Singh Nagar district Pantnagar Educational institutions established in 1960 1960 establishments in Uttar Pradesh

History

Pre-establishment groundwork (1949–1959)

Initial years and development (1960–1972)

Role in ushering Green Revolution

Campus

Administration and organization

Academics

Colleges

List of colleges

Education system

Rankings

Research

Extension

Student life

Residential life

Extracurricular activities

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links