Question : Recruitment of Scientists

(a) whether the standard of young scientists passing out from Agriculture Universities located in different States of the country is quite poor;

(b) if so, whether the Government is likely to issue guidelines to the States to upgrade the standard of the said scientists, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether there has been shortage of agricultural scientists in the country, if so, whether research work is being affected by the shortage of the said scientists;

(d) whether the Government proposes to take any steps to meet the shortage of the said scientists, if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be implemented; and

(e) whether the Government has taken steps to improvise the recruitment process of the scientists, if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
(DR. SANJEEV KUMAR BALYAN)

(a) & (b): No, Madam. In view the need for further upgrading the standard of Scientists and Higher Agricultural Education in the country and to make them more competitive at the World level, however, DARE/ICAR is giving due focus on imparting quality training to the faculty of various State Agricultural Universities and improving the syllabus of the UG & PG Degree programmes. For improving educational standards and assuring an acceptable institutional quality, the accreditation of AUs and their constituent colleges is being done at regular intervals. National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad imparts quality training to the faculty of Agricultural Universities across the country including young scientist to improve their knowledge base and to impart newer skills in the areas of Agricultural Research and Education. The curriculum of Agriculture education is also revised at regular intervals to make it more relevant and farmers friendly. In this regard, the major issues addressed through various Deans Committees include; defining UG & PG degree for general market needs and for specialized jobs and uniformity, restructuring UG practical for increased practical and practice contents, guidelines for assessing the training needs and performance of teaching faculty, reforms in Governance in SAUs and developing a model DPR for establishment of Colleges. In addition, Student READY programme encompassing skill development, experiential learning, rural awareness and in-plant training has been developed as a component of UG course curriculum.

(c) No, Madam.

(d) Recruitment of ICAR Scientists is a continuous process. All possible steps are being taken to fill vacant position of Agricultural Scientists on priority basis through Agricultural Scientists’ Recruitment Board (ASRB). During the last 18 months more than 1000 different scientific posts of different levels have been filled up/advertised for recruitment. In this regard, it is mentioned that selection for 833 scientific posts including entry level Scientists and other higher scientific posts have been made by ASRB in last 18 months upto October, 2015. In addition to this, 150 scientific posts of different levels have also been advertised by the ASRB during the same period. In the overall scientific cadre’s sanctioned strength of 6313, less than 10% of posts are vacant. It is normal that less than 10% of total posts of an organization remain vacant due to death, retirements on superannuation, resignations, inter-organizational movement etc.

(e) Improvisation is ongoing process and the same is being done in the recruitment process of scientists also. The ASRB has started taking online preliminary examination from Agricultural Research Services Examination-2014 onwards. A permanent committee named as committee on Agricultural Research Services is in existence in the ICAR to look into the issues of Agricultural Scientists and the recommendations of the committee are being implemented from time to time.

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