Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) rejoices New Year’s eve for bagging three projects from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India to augment research facilities, under prestigious "Fund for Improvement of Science & Technology Infrastructure in Universities and Higher Educational Institutions” (FIST) program-2011. The School of Animal Biotechnology and the Departments of the Veterinary Microbiology and Veterinary Gynaecology & Obstetrics have been identified for the support in Level-1 category based on the recommendations of the FIST advisory board. The presentations for this competitive grant were made in the month of September 2011 at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. The FIST scheme is open to all branches of Science including Basic, Engineering, Medical and Applied sciences. Under the Level -1 grant, the DST has identified 35 departments/schools from across the country of which 8.6 % have been garnered by GADVASU alone. And of the four projects which have been allotted to Veterinary and Animal Science Colleges/Universities, 75 % have been won by GADVASU. Dr. V.K. Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU and Dr. S.N.S. Randhawa, Director of Research, GADVASU, lauded the efforts and congratulated Dr. G.S. Brah, Director, School of Animal Biotechnology ; Dr. N.S. Sharma, Head, Department of Veterinary Microbiology ; and Dr. V.K. Gandotra, Head, Department of Veterinary Gynaecology & Obstetrics for this outstanding achievement. Dr Randhawa revealed that the total sanctioned amount for the three project is 185 lakhs which will be utilized for purchase of the high end equipments, , setting up of the state of art computer , networking and bioinformatics lab ; renovation of the existing labs , and purchase of books. In addition to this the DST will be providing support for maintenance of the equipment and labs.
It is worth noting that GADVASU is one of the youngest Veterinary and Animal Sciences Universities of the country but during it’s five year existence it has come to be recognized due to its fast growth in various fields of activity including establishing new colleges/schools, winning large number of extra mural funded projects , and translating the new technologies to the livestock farmers/end users.
