Need and justification for establishing the new college

Chengalpattu District-a glance

Chengalpattu district in Tamil Nadu was separated from Kanchipuram district on 29/11/2019. Originally it was known as Chingleput and subsequently changed as Chengalpattu. The city is believed to have been named after a lilly called “Chenkazhuneer poo” which is found abundantly in this region on the palar river. Chengalpatttu town is the head quarters of the District which is located 56 kms away from the state capital Chennai on the National Highway 45. It has two largest cities like Pallavaram and Tambaram. This is also called as the Gateway of Chennai for the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The total area of the district is 2945 Sq. km. with a population of 2556423. Tamil is the official language of this district as in case of any other district of the state. It falls under the Lok sabha constituency Kanchipuram and there is one Legislative assembly constituency namely Chengalpattu. There are 3 revenue divisions, 16 panchayats, 8 municipalities, 8 panchayat unions, 12 town panchayats and 359 rural village panchayats in the district. The soil is predominantly sandy, alluvial and to little extent clay. The major crops grown in the district are paddy, sugar cane, pulses, vegetables and millets. Bay of Bengal is the boundary of the district in the east direction. The period from November to February in pleasant with a climate full of warm days and cool nights. Summer affects from middle of March and the temperature rise upto 38 – 40o c. during peak summer. The average temperature ranges from 22o c. during January to 38o c. during May – June. Summer rains are spare and the first monsoon southwest monsoon sets in June and continues upto September. The north east monsoon sets in October and continues up to December to January. The average rainfall of the district is about 1300 – 1400 mm annually. The district was formally ruled by the kings of Vijayanagaram and after the defeat by the deccan sulthanites at battle of Khalikota in 1565 it was ruled by deccan sultans. The fortress at Chengalpattu was built by the Vijayanagar kings in the 16th century. Mahabalipuram, the icon of Pallavas architecture and sculpture has a seashore temple which is a world famous tourist spot. Chengalpattu district has a government medical college at Chengalpattu town which is a landmark for the town. The chengalpattu government hospital is the largest Government hospital in this district. A Principle court of the district and Dr. Ambedhkar law college are also function in this town.

Need for an Agriculture College in Chengalpattu District

Chengalpattu district being adjacent to the state capital Chennai district has a huge floating population in addition to the permanent residence of the district. It has got a number of Engineering colleges, Arts and Science colleges and one deemed to be University besides Bharath University. There is a national level institution on ocean technology in this district. Being adjacent to the state capital, the district is the victim of forcible conversion of the agricultural land for industrial and residential purposes. Due to this, the cultivated area is shrinking considerably. There is a pressure on the local farmers to go for continuous cultivation of their limited land not only to generate income but also to meet the food demand of the local population. Due to a high monsoon rainfall, about 70 to 80 per cent of the cultivated lands are always put under mono-cropping like paddy. There is a huge demand for other agricultural produces like vegetables, fruits etc. not only for the local population but also for the urbanites in the state capital. The agriculture activities in the district need special attention due to pressure in land for various expansion programme. Additional technical manpower is needed for the agriculture field in this district.

Social relevance of Agricultural Education

Chengalpattu district is located at 12o 41’ N and 79o 58’ E and it has an average elevation of about 6 m. The farmers in the district are only adopting the traditional practices of crop cultivation throwing a vast opportunity to introduce newer technologies for crop cultivation in this area. New technologies like SRI for paddy, protected cultivation like polyhouse and green house cultivation, improving the activities of allied farming like fishery, dairying, sheep rearing are need of the hour to better utilize the available agricultural resources in this district besides improving the income of the farmers. Further the agricultural diversity that can be introduced in the district by cultivating more of minor millets, pulses during the non monsoon period and introducing different cropping system, agri horticultural sytem and agro forestry cultivation will ensure the livelihood opportunity of the farmers of this district. All these calls for a technology intervention which can be offered by the agricultural faculty established by Bharath University. The establishment of this faculty will help the students, seeking for higher studies in the local area with agricultural background and provide them technical knowledge which they can use for their entrepreneurship after completion of their degree; therefore the establishment of the faculty in this district is highly justified.

Vision

1.To search new area of knowledge and transform Agricultural education as a tool for making Agriculture a suitable industry for the benefit of the farmers and the country as a whole.

2.To be the leading centre to provide students – responsive education, farmers centered training and services to develop Agriculture as an industry.

3.To provide leading education with knowledge and life enhancing programme and produce graduates to serve the State and nation by advancing, sharing and applying knowledge acquired by them.

Mission

1.To impart a technical education in Agriculture & related areas. The faculty creates, integrate and share the knowledge to meet the objectives.

2.To develop well qualified human resources in Agriculture and Allied fields.

3.To generate newer technologies to provide food and nutritional security by using crop improvement and genetic engineering techniques in Agricultural research.

4.To transfer technology to farmers and farming community and other stake holders through well defined extension education and programme especially the marginal farmers and rural people.

Goal

1.To develop a holistic approach in educating the students with a view to make them fit to face any agrarian problems.

2.To develop technology through research which will be easily available to all groups of farmers at an affordable cost.

3.To remodel the extension activities and redefine the approach to help the farmers by creating an atmosphere which is farmers friendly.

4.To establish national and international contacts to bring newer technologies in Agricultural research and benefit the farmers.

5.To inculcate leadership quality in the students with a whole person concept and make them fit to face any challenge.

6.To develop curriculum which will meet the challenges of the changing trend in the field of Agriculture at the institution and farmers level.

7.To become a leader and path finder in searching new fields/avenue in Agricultural education.

8.To evaluate and fine tune the academic and practical instructions to up grade the technical competency of the students.

Strategy

1.To establish an institution which will be an ultimate destination for an excellent and need based education in the field of Agricultural science.

2.To develop research and development based system of education and deliverables to benefit the farmers and the country as a whole.

3.To establish state of art facilities to impart excellent education to the students

4.To establish interface between various stake holders like industry, corporates at national and international level and make deliverables from such interfaces.

Objectives

1.To establish a learning centre to graduate students and mould them as a leader to meet the changing demand in the field of Agriculture.

2.To inculcate the skill of adoption to new technologies by the students and transform Agriculture as an enterprise with commercial outlook.

3.To transform the basic concept of agriculture from an age old profession to business oriented profession.