Students146; protests take root

Like fields lying fallow, Punjab agriculture students8217; protests over employment are currently in limbo. After a week of daily demonstra...

Like fields lying fallow, Punjab agriculture students8217; protests over employment are currently in limbo. After a week of daily demonstrations, the Punjab Agricultural Students8217; Association PASA, which was spearheading the agitation for government jobs and better pay, is in 8216;8216;positive8217;8217; talks with State Agriculture Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

8216;8216;The dialogue has been positive so far. Now we are waiting and watching for the outcome. If nothing happens, we will resume the stir again,8217;8217; says PASA spokesperson Gurbir Singh.

As it happens, agriculture students in the state have been waiting and watching for a long time. For the past six years, farming graduates 8212; numbering some 2000 across three colleges in the state 8212; have been denied public sector employment, while the private sector, they claim, neither pays them enough nor offers any job security.

8216;8216;We all know it8217;s only the toppers who8217;ll find takers in the job market,8217;8217; says a despondent Aman, an MSc student of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University. 8216;8216;That8217;s partly the reason why we are adding on the degrees,8217;8217; adds classmate Mandeep.

Not everyone shares in PAU her optimism. Says Navtej Singh, convener of the Punjab Agricultural University Students8217; Association, 8216;8216;There is no synchronisation in demand and supply. On one hand, the colleges will keep churning out graduates, on the other, they will not find employment. That is why the agriculture-centric state is losing its best farm experts.8217;8217;

Adds Gurbir Singh, an MSc student who8217;s planning to do his doctorate simply to defer job-hunting, 8216;8216;We know the government has its own problems and cannot absorb all of us. But even the private sector 8212; which has been roped in by the government itself to do a rescue act 8212; is exploiting our desperation. To employ someone with a Master8217;s degree, they8217;re paying only Rs 3,400.8217;8217;

8216;8216;I know my students are facing a bad situation,8217;8217; admits PAU V-C K S Aulakh. 8216;8216;We have asked them to fill up the vacancies in the agriculture and horticulture departments, but nothing has happened till date. I also know the private sector in underpaying our graduates, but as an institution, there8217;s little we can do.8217;8217;

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According to Kirpa Shankar Saroj, MD of the Punjab Agro-Foods Corporation and in-charge of contract farming in the state, private sector pays were low in comparison to fixed government scales. 8216;8216;But the scope for getting ahead is far better here. And so far as employment is concerned, our extension agencies like Mahindra Subhlabh, DCM Shriram Escorts are taking them on to strengthen their field staff.8217;8217;