Bangalore: Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) president K.S. Puttannaiah on Saturday alleged that research activity has taken a back seat in the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Puttannaiah alleged that the university was diverting the funds released by the Government to various unproductive works.

This had resulted in shortage of funds for research and extension works leading to stagnation of farmer-oriented research activities, he said.

The UAS, which was once known for its vigorous research activities that helped improve the lives of farmers, had of late failed to make any break through in agricultural research, he said.

He threatened that the KRRS activists would launch an agitation in front of the university if steps were not taken to rectify the lapses and focus again on the research activities within 15 days.

Blaming Vice-Chancellor M.N. Sheelavanthar for the alleged lull in research activity, Mr Puttannaiah charged him with taking unilateral decisions. The Vice-Chancellor had failed to understand the problems and expectations of farmers coming under the jurisdiction of the university, he said. Talented scientists were not being considered for important posts despite having seniority. Instead juniors without proper experience had been considered for several key posts, he alleged. The scientists and research staff of the university were frustrated with such a trend, he said.

He referred to the episode in which the senior candidates who obtained Ph.D.s from the prestigious foreign universities had not been considered for the professors' posts just because their universities did not have the practice of awarding marks to the PhDs unlike the UAS.

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