Nearly 225 engineering students belonging to nine groups who had participated in farming at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), Basar, in Nirmal district since December last year were in focus on day 2 of the three-day Antahpragnya 2020, touted as India’s biggest technical festival.
The students had cultivated a 1.5 acre plot in the university with spinach and their effort has become part of the campus farming competition on Saturday. The campus farmers, as the students have come to be known, are inspired by Mahesh Babu-starrer Maharishi in which he opts for weekend farming despite being a techie. “This way, the students will be integrated with the community at large,” observed Antahpragnya convenor Swapnil Jangale as he talked of the unique experiment in making engineering students learn agriculture.
The students belong to mechanical, civil, metallurgical, chemical, electrical and computer science branches. They cumulatively spent 1,080 man hours on farming.
The second day of the festival also saw Secretary, Telangana Residential Education Society, R.S. Praveen Kumar delivering a lecture to students. He suggested students to pursue their passion, instead of considering IAS or IPS as a career option.