On Friday Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal is appointed by the government as the new vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). Dr. Gosal has served the university in various capacities, such as professor of biotechnology, head of the Department of Biotechnology; founder-director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology; director of Research; and member of the Board of Management.
According to Dr. Gosal who is an expert plant breeder, “This time need to focus on agriculture and turn it into a profitable occupation once again. Farmers need to be taken out of the wheat-paddy circle and increase their income.”
He has executed 20 externally funded research projects funded by various national and international organizations such as ICAR, DBT, DAC NATP, FAO/IAEA, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Gosal was among the 57 applicants who were ultimately selected by the three-panel. Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon was his predecessor who retired in July last year.
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is a state agricultural university in India located in the Ludhiana district of Punjab. It was established in 1962 and is the country's third-oldest agricultural university, after Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, and Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneshwar. It was formally inaugurated by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, on July 8, 1963.
PAU pioneered the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s. It was bifurcated in 2005 with the formation of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).