PUNE: As many as 200 students, who have enrolled for M.Sc Agriculture, have gone on an indefinite strike from Tuesday at Maharashtra Council of Agricultural and Educational Research (MCAER) office in Pune demanding rollback of government resolution of January 22, 2019, which demerits their course from the professional course list. Besides this, they are also demanding reduction in the hiked fees.

Students from the four agricultural universities viz Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, Rahuri, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani, Dr Babasaheb Sawant Konkan Agricultural University, Dapoli, and Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University, Akola, have gone on strike.

Mahesh Bhosale, a student from College of Agriculture, Parbhani, said, “The government resolution of January 22 has excluded our course from the professional list. This would affect our employability.”

The students of first year MSc course too have taken part in the protest and want MCAER to mediate in the issue and give them a permanent solution.

Abhijeet Rathod, a student from College of Agriculture, Pune, said, “MCAER is a body, which conducts the entrance exam for the admission for post-graduate course. We will not call off our strike till we get a written assurance.”

Another student, Nitin More, from College of Agriculture, Kolhapur, said, “Till 2018, many students from economically backward class got scholarships but after the GR was issued, there were no scholarships for the students.”

More further said, “Because there was no scholarship in the non-professional course, many students from the economically backward class have been facing a crisis.”

Though we had given a letter in this regard to as many as 57 MLAs from the State and met with seven ministers, there has been no solution till yet, said More.

Akash Garad, another student of College of Agriculture, Parbhani, said, “We will sit on strike till the State government accepts our demands to include the course in the professional list.”