Two Kerala girls reap a rich harvest of gold medals at UAS-B convocation

It was two girls hailing from Kerala who stole the show at the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru’s 50th convocation held on Saturday.

Amrutha Lakshmi M. from Malappuram and Dinta Sebastian from Kannur of Kerala emerged joint toppers for the University in the BSc-Agriculture course with a tally of seven gold medals each. While Ms. Lakshmi did her graduation from the GKVK campus of the University, Ms. Sebastian did it from the University’s Mandya campus. Both are now pursuing their master degrees.

Ms. Sebastian, who comes from a farming family, could have easily got a medical or engineering seat after her PU given her high percentage of marks. “But I particularly chose agricultural course as I had developed affection towards it since my parents are farmers,” she says.

Ms. Sebastian, who is now pursing a post-graduation course in food processing at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru, wants to be an entrepreneur in the field of fortified foods.

Ms. Lakshmi, who is pursuing post-graduation in pathology, is passionate about helping farmers by becoming a researcher in the field of pests and diseases. “One of the hurdles for farmers as well as the process of food production is pests and diseases. I want to be of some help in handling this problem,” she notes.

Mr. Ravi S. C., who got six gold medals in MSc Agricultural Economics and who is now pursuing a PhD course, knows the problems of farmers first hand as his parents are farmers in Kadur of Chickmagaluru. “The main problem is market instability. Some day I want to develop an agro-economic model that can handle this complex issue,” he says.

H.M. Vinay Kumar, who got four gold medals for his PhD in agricultural extension, feels that what farmers need is not subsidy, but appropriate farming technologies through effective agricultural extension network.

It was a double delight for Neetha Jayaram, who got two gold medals for her PhD in Genetics and plant breeding, as she had got four medals earlier for the MSc course too. She is the fourth member in her family after her father, a professor in the UAS-B, mother and husband, a researcher in the UAS-B’s Bengaluru Rural Krishi Vigyan Kendra, to get a PhD.

But she is not satisfied with this. “Inspired by my father, I chose agricultural course. But now I realise that you need to bring in policy changes to help farmers. We (agri scientists) do not have the power to bring policy changes. Hence I want to be a civil servant so that I will have some powers to incorporate whatever I have studied in the policy aspects to help farmers,” she says.