Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
| Photo Credit:
ANI
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), popularly known as the Pusa Institute, has discontinued its undergraduate course, which was launched two years ago under an academic hub model at various ICAR research institutions. However, 120 seats will be retained at IARI’s Assam and Jharkhand centers.
This decision comes after Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan publicly expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the undergraduate program was hampering high-level research. During the ICAR Annual General Meeting in June, Chouhan objected to IARI conducting undergraduate courses at ICAR institutions through the academic hub model. He questioned the approval of such a decision, emphasising that ICAR scientists’ primary role is research. The initiative to establish off-campus IARI centres was taken when Narendra Singh Tomar was the agriculture minister.
The IARI academic council approved Chouhan’s decision as ICAR President on July 16, and the communication was sent to all concerned centres on July 30, sources confirmed.
“The UG programs at IARI, New Delhi, across all four streams (Agriculture, Community Science, Agricultural Engineering, and Biotechnology), and at all academic hubs, except IARI-Assam and IARI-Jharkhand, shall be discontinued from the academic session 2025-26,” stated the communication from Joint Director P.K. Jain.
Only 120 undergraduate seats in the agriculture stream (60 seats each for IARI-Assam and IARI-Jharkhand campuses) will be offered for admission in 2025-26. However, the number of seats at these campuses may be adjusted in the future based on available faculty and facilities.
Furthermore, the academic council decided to allow these hub institutes to offer joint diploma and vocational courses in collaboration with IARI to utilise existing facilities.
Current undergraduate batches at these hubs will remain unaffected and will continue until all students complete their degrees. An IARI Director-appointed committee will periodically monitor the progress of academic programs at the hubs. The academic council also decided that IARI should request ICAR to allow tie-ups between the hubs and state agricultural universities for the ongoing undergraduate batches.
New Research Initiatives
According to the minutes of the July 16 meeting, IARI also decided to introduce “Student Research Partners (SRP)“ for postgraduate and Ph.D. research work starting from 2025-26.
Twenty per cent (or as decided by the Academic Council) of the total postgraduate and Ph.D. students at IARI will be allotted to SRPs to complete research work on mutually agreed problems.
“Students will be allotted discipline-wise in SRPs by the Board of Studies (BoS) across the 26 disciplines at IARI, New Delhi, and ICAR’s National Institute For Plant Biotechnology (NIPB), Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), and National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR),” the document stated.
For Ph.D. students in SRPs, the Guide (Chair) will be from IARI, and the Co-guide (Co-chair) will be from the partnering institute, as per UGC guidelines. For M.Sc. students, the guide may be from the partner institute.
IARI has also been directed to include Ranchi-based Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (IIAB), Raipur-based National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management (NIASM) and Baramati-based National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (NIBSM) as the off campuses for academic purpose and take necessary steps as a temporary measure and the Directors of these institutes have been urged to pursue with ICAR and UGC for their recognition as Deemed to be Universities. The facilities available in these institutes should be utilised for offering Diploma, Certificate courses, in collaboration with IARI.
Published on August 1, 2025
