Faculty Of Agriculture, Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi

About Faculty Of Agriculture, Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi

The Institute of Agricultural Sciences spare formally established in August 1980 had its inception as Institute of Agricultural Research, Banaras Hindu University in 1931 upon the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, of which, the illustrious founder of this university the late Mahamana Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya Ji was a member. At the time of its establishment, the Institute was one of the pioneers in starting postgraduate teaching and research programmes in Agriculture in India, the only other institution being at Lyalpur (now in Pakistan).

We were the first to have established an Institute of Agricultural Research offering M. Sc. & Ph. D. degrees. Subsequently, in 1945, undergraduate teaching started and the Institute of Agricultural Research was renamed as College of Agriculture and brought under the Faculty of Technology. In 1968 the College of Agriculture became an independent Faculty of Agriculture.Subsequently 6 departments viz. Plant Physiology, Agronomy, Genetics & Plant Breeding, Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Plant Pathology and Agricultural Economics were created in 1969. Departments of Horticulture and Entomology & Agricultural Zoology were added in 1971, and Extension Education, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Farm Engineering were created in 1981. With the opening of the Agricultural Universities in India on the pattern of the Land Grant Colleges in the U.S.A., greater emphasis was naturally placed in augmenting teaching, research and extension activities in the field of agriculture. There was thus, felt the need of reorganizing the Faculty of Agriculture into an Institute of Agricultural Sciences, so that apart from teaching, it could also meet the research and extension needs of the area comprising of eastern Uttar Pradesh. With these views, a joint Team of the ICAR and the UGC visited the university to assess the requirements of the Faculty, to raise its status to the Institute of Agricultual Sciences. On the recommendation of the aforesaid Visiting Team, the Institute of Agricultural Sciences was created in August 1980 with the following objectives in view.