Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research (RIVER) (formerly Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, RAGACOVAS: French: Collège Rajiv Gandhi des sciences vétérinaires et animales) is a veterinary college in

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

(formerly Pondicherry),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Founded in 1994 in accordance to the standards of

Veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

education in India, set by the

Veterinary Council of India The Veterinary Council of India (VCI) is a statutory body which regulates veterinary practice in India. Established under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India in 1984, and based in New Delhi, the council is governed by the India ...

, the college is affiliated to the

Pondicherry University Pondicherry University, also known as PU, is a collegiate public central university located in Kalapet, Pondicherry in Union Territory of Puducherry, India. It was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985 by the Department of Higher Edu ...

. It is an educational institute for imparting undergraduate and masters specializations in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry, as well as having a veterinary hospital/clinic providing veterinary health care in the region.

History

The college was inaugurated on the auspicious day of Vijayadasami that fell on 14 October 1994 at a rented building at Ponlait, Kurumbapet,

and christened as the Pondicherry Veterinary College. The first batch intake of the college was 30. The campus is spread out at two locations, with classrooms at the Ponlait campus and laboratory facilities at the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus. Pondicherry Veterinary College was rechristened as the Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, named after

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

, in a state function presided over by

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

. In due time, a full-fledged campus was established adjoining the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus at Kurumbapet, Puducherry. In 2013, RAGACOVAS was renamed as RIVER (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research). The clinical training facility was established after a veterinary hospital run by the

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 ...

Department of Puducherry State Government was taken over by the college to establish a full-fledged teaching hospital for imparting veterinary clinical training to the students. This college, also known as RAGACOVAS, was recognized by the

on 25 November 1999 and the first batch of students passed out with 25 veterinary graduates and their Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (B.V.Sc and A.H.) degrees recognized by and included under the first schedule of the Indian Veterinary Council (IVC) act. The college has 56 faculty members mentoring and educating students in 18 academic departments. RAGACOVAS also offers higher education training through Masters in Veterinary Science (M.V.Sc.) programs.

Campus location

The campus is spread across three locations. The main campus adjoining the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus on the Thirukanur Road, at Kurumbapet which is 6 km from the

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

bus station and the railway station. The campus can be reached by buses from Pondicherry to Thirukkanur. The main campus houses Campus A and B. Campus A consists of the administrative block, departments, central library, herbal garden, mini-zoo and the livestock farm. Campus B consists of the ICAR block, student hostels, dean's quarters, faculty and non-teaching staff quarters, playground, gymnasium/badminton Court and basketball court. The teaching hospital campus is in the industrial estate at Mettupalayam. The campus can also be reached through Vazhudhavoor Road.

Academics

There are 18 departments: * Department of

Veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

Anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and

Histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

* Department of

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

* Department of

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

* Department of

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

and

Toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...

* Department of Veterinary Parasitology * Department of

Veterinary Pathology Veterinary pathologists are veterinarians who specialize in the diagnosis of diseases through the examination of animal tissue and body fluids. Like medical pathology, veterinary pathology is divided into two branches, anatomical pathology an ...

* Department of

Microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

* Department of

Public Health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

* Department of Animal

Nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

* Department of Animal

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

Breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and ra ...

* Department of

Livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

Production and Management * Department of

Products Technology * Department of Animal Reproduction

Gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

and

Obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

* Department of

Veterinary Surgery Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/urogenital/ ...

and

Radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

* Department of Clinical

Veterinary Medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

, Ethics and Jurisprudence * Department of Veterinary

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

and

Preventive Medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

* Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry

Extension Education 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 ...

* Department of Avian Production and Management

Deans

* 1994 to 1999: Dr. R. Sabarinathan Nair * 1999 to August 2008: Dr. G. Butchaih * August 2008 to June 2009: Dr. P.V. Sreenivasiah, interim in-charge

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

) * July 2009 to June 2010 Dr. M. Dominic Savio Jegam, interim in-charge

) * July 2011 to 2014: Dr. T.P. Thilagan * June2014-Nov2017: Dr. B. Ramesh Kumar, Ph.D. (Veterinary Surgery) * May 2022 – Present : Dr.Sejian Veerasamy MVSc., PhD., Post-Doc (USA & Australia) Edited by Dr.Aaqib

Admission procedure and education system

B.V.Sc and A.H.

B.V.Sc and A.H. stands for Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry and is a

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

equivalent. Presently, RIVER admits a total of 60 students; 30 students from the Union Territory of Puducherry through Joint Entrance Test (JET) conducted by Centralized Admission Committee CENTAC, Government of Puducherry; five seats are allotted through an All-India Common Entrance test conducted by the Veterinary Council of India; five seats are allotted to students from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

; five seats for the students from

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

; and five

NRI NRI or Nri may refer to : * Kingdom of Nri, an Igbo kingdom that flourished between the 10th century and early 20th century * National Radio Institute, a now defunct post-secondary vocational correspondence school * National Resources Inventory * N ...

seats admitted through an entrance test conducted by RAGACOVAS. Total intake for an academic year is 55 to 60. The education is through a semester system spanning ten semesters (4.5 years) followed by a compulsory rotatory internship for a period of six months.

M.V.Sc.

M.V.Sc. (Master of Veterinary Sciences) admission is available for eight academic specializations and is through an entrance test. The masters programme is offered in the departments of

Veterinary pathology Veterinary pathologists are veterinarians who specialize in the diagnosis of diseases through the examination of animal tissue and body fluids. Like medical pathology, veterinary pathology is divided into two branches, anatomical pathology an ...

, Veterinary

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 * E ...

Products Technology, Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, and Veterinary Clinical Medicine. In each department two seats are given to the candidates belonging to the union territory of

and one seat for the candidates from other states. A fellowship amount or Rs.3000/-is supposed to be given to the candidates belonging to the state of Puducherry and the candidates belonging to the other states.But they won't give the amount until someone writes letters and requests

Campus life

Students from all across India study at RAGACOVAS. The day scholars are mostly students who hail from Puducherry; students from other states and districts of Puducherry board at hostels. The campus has separate hostels for men and women. The campus provides indoor and outdoor recreation facilities. There is a basketball court, an indoor shuttle badminton court, and a gymnasium. Bus services transport students from across the town to the campus.

Landmarks

* First veterinary college in India to adopt the course curriculum advocated by the Veterinary Council of India, as per minimum standards of veterinary education in India. * Recognized by the Veterinary Council of India in 1999. * Masters in Veterinary Science initiated in January 2005. * 24 May 2006: added to the

American Veterinary Medical Association The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), founded in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 99,500 veterinarians in the US. The AVMA provides information resources, continuing education opportunities, publicatio ...

list of veterinary colleges of the world. * Review on landless livestock farming by women in Southern states of India published at

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Alumni activities

RAGACOVAS alumni interact through a website.

References

External links

RAGACOVAS
Official website

Collaboration project that addresses issues that concern livelihood security of livestock dependent women self-help groups
Laporteragacovas
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128104428/http://www.laporteragacovas.com/ , date=28 November 2007 Alumni website Veterinary schools in India Universities and colleges in Puducherry

History

Campus location

Academics

Deans

Admission procedure and education system

B.V.Sc and A.H.

M.V.Sc.

Campus life

Landmarks

Alumni activities

See also

References

External links