Common entrance test for vets likely

The central government is working on a proposal to have a common national examination for all veterinary doctors across all states and Union territories on the lines of the National Eligibility Entrance Test for medical doctors.

At present, a common All India Pre-Veterinary Test and All India Common Entrance Examination is conducted by the Veterinary Council of India, but colleges such as Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University conduct their own entrance examination as part of the admission procedure.

In some states, entrance tests are conducted by the state education boards or separate authorities created for this purpose. A common entrance examination will bring uniformity to the entire process. The Centre is also working on a proposal to rank the 70 state and central agriculture universities on various performance parameters, which could be later tied on to the funds allocated to them. A project to rank the agriculture universities and have a common entrance examination for veterinary doctors is being pursued under the guidance of Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan.

The state agriculture universities (SAUs), numbering around 60, are within the administrative control of the state governments, but receive significant support from the central government as well. In the 11th Five-Year Plan (FY07 to FY12), only 21 per cent of the total allocation of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, about Rs 10,000 crore, was spent to support SAUs. A standing committee of Parliament, too, had suggested that central support to state agriculture universities should be stopped unless vacancies are filled.

India has 70 agriculture universities - two central agriculture universities, 60 state agriculture universities, four deemed universities and four universities with agriculture faculty.