Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research (RIVER) (formerly Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, RAGACOVAS) is a veterinary college in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry),

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Founded in 1994 in accordance to the standards of

Veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

education in India, set by the Veterinary Council of India, the college is affiliated to the Pondicherry University. It is an educational institute for imparting undergraduate and masters specializations in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry, as well as having a veterinary hospital/clinic providing veterinary health care in the region.

History

The college was inaugurated on the auspicious day of Vijayadasami that fell on 14 October 1994 at a rented building at Ponlait, Kurumbapet, Puducherry and christened as the Pondicherry Veterinary College. The first batch intake of the college was 30. The campus is spread out at two locations, with classrooms at the Ponlait campus and laboratory facilities at the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus. Pondicherry Veterinary College was rechristened as the Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, named after Rajiv Gandhi, in a state function presided over by Sonia Gandhi. In due time, a full-fledged campus was established adjoining the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus at Kurumbapet, Puducherry. In 2013, RAGACOVAS was renamed as RIVER (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research). The clinical training facility was established after a veterinary hospital run by the

Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

Department of Puducherry State Government was taken over by the college to establish a full-fledged teaching hospital for imparting veterinary clinical training to the students. This college, also known as RAGACOVAS, was recognized by the Veterinary Council of India on 25 November 1999 and the first batch of students passed out with 25 veterinary graduates and their Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (B.V.Sc and A.H.) degrees recognized by and included under the first schedule of the Indian Veterinary Council (IVC) act. The college has 56 faculty members mentoring and educating students in 18 academic departments. RAGACOVAS also offers higher education training through Masters in Veterinary Science (M.V.Sc.) programs.

Campus location

The campus is spread across three locations. The main campus adjoining the Krishi Vignan Kendra campus on the Thirukanur Road, at Kurumbapet which is 6 km from the

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

bus station and the railway station. The campus can be reached by buses from Pondicherry to Thirukkanur. The main campus houses Campus A and B. Campus A consists of the administrative block, departments, central library, herbal garden, mini-zoo and the livestock farm. Campus B consists of the ICAR block, student hostels, dean's quarters, faculty and non-teaching staff quarters, playground, gymnasium/badminton Court and basketball court. The teaching hospital campus is in the industrial estate at Mettupalayam. The campus can also be reached through Vazhudhavoor Road.

Academics

There are 18 departments: * Department of Veterinary

Anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

Histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

* Department of Veterinary

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

* Department of Veterinary

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

* Department of Veterinary

Pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

and

Toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

* Department of Veterinary Parasitology * Department of Veterinary Pathology * Department of Veterinary

Microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

* Department of Veterinary

Public Health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

* Department of Animal

Nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

* Department of Animal

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and Breeding * Department of

Livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

Production and Management * Department of

Products Technology * Department of Animal Reproduction

Gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

and

Obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a su ...

* Department of Veterinary Surgery and

Radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...

* Department of Clinical

Veterinary Medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

, Ethics and Jurisprudence * Department of Veterinary

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

and Preventive Medicine * Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education * Department of Avian Production and Management

Deans

* 1994 to 1999: Dr. R. Sabarinathan Nair * 1999 to August 2008: Dr. G. Butchaih * August 2008 to June 2009: Dr. P.V. Sreenivasiah, interim in-charge dean) * July 2009 to June 2010 Dr. M. Dominic Savio Jegam, interim in-charge dean) * July 2011 to 2014: Dr. T.P. Thilagan * June2014-Nov2017: Dr. B. Ramesh Kumar, Ph.D. (Veterinary Surgery) * May 2022 – April 2025 : Dr.Sejian Veerasamy MVSc., PhD., Post-Doc (USA & Australia)

Admission procedure and education system

B.V.Sc and A.H.

B.V.Sc and A.H. stands for Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry and is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine equivalent. Presently, RIVER admits a total of 60 students; 30 students from the Union Territory of Puducherry through Joint Entrance Test (JET) conducted by Centralized Admission Committee CENTAC, Government of Puducherry; five seats are allotted through an All-India Common Entrance test conducted by the Veterinary Council of India; five seats are allotted to students from Goa; five seats for the students from

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

; and five NRI seats admitted through an entrance test conducted by RAGACOVAS. Total intake for an academic year is 55 to 60. The education is through a semester system spanning ten semesters (4.5 years) followed by a compulsory rotatory internship for a period of six months.

M.V.Sc.

M.V.Sc. (Master of Veterinary Sciences) admission is available for eight academic specializations and is through an entrance test. The masters programme is offered in the departments of Veterinary

, Veterinary pathology, Veterinary

Extension,

Products Technology, Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, and Veterinary Clinical Medicine. In each department two seats are given to the candidates belonging to the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

of Puducherry and one seat for the candidates from other states. A fellowship amount or Rs.3000/-is supposed to be given to the candidates belonging to the state of Puducherry and the candidates belonging to the other states.

Campus life

Students from all across India study at RAGACOVAS. The day scholars are mostly students who hail from Puducherry; students from other states and districts of Puducherry board at hostels. The campus has separate hostels for men and women. The campus provides indoor and outdoor recreation facilities. There is a basketball court, an indoor shuttle badminton court, and a gymnasium. Bus services transport students from across the town to the campus.

Landmarks

* First veterinary college in India to adopt the course curriculum advocated by the Veterinary Council of India, as per minimum standards of veterinary education in India. * Recognized by the Veterinary Council of India in 1999. * Masters in Veterinary Science initiated in January 2005. * 24 May 2006: added to the

American Veterinary Medical Association The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is an American not-for-profit association founded in 1863 that represents more than 105,000 veterinarians. The AVMA provides information resources, continuing education opportunities, publicat ...

list of veterinary colleges of the world. * Review on landless livestock farming by women in Southern states of India published at

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

Alumni activities

RAGACOVAS alumni interact through a website.

References

External links

RAGACOVAS
Official website

Collaboration project that addresses issues that concern livelihood security of livestock dependent women self-help groups
Laporteragacovas
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128104428/http://www.laporteragacovas.com/ , date=28 November 2007 Alumni website Veterinary schools in India Universities and colleges in Puducherry

History

Campus location

Academics

Deans

Admission procedure and education system

B.V.Sc and A.H.

M.V.Sc.

Campus life

Landmarks

Alumni activities

See also

References

External links