KAMDHENU UNIVERSITY, GANDHINAGAR

Kamdhenu University is a public agricultural state university situated in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, focusing on veterinary, dairy, fisheries and allied sciences. Its origins trace back to 1984, when Verghese Kurien, then Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Agricultural University, first proposed a veterinary university with a focus on dairy production, though the idea was ignored after his resignation. A second proposal came from the Government of Gujarat in 1996–97, but no action followed. The university was finally established through the Kamdhenu University Act, 2009, with support from Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat. However, it began functioning only in 2014, when M. C. Varshneya was appointed as its first Vice-Chancellor. Initially, the university was assigned only two colleges, both dedicated to dairy sciences, despite its broader mandate covering veterinary and animal sciences. In 2017, efforts were made to transfer veterinary and fishery science colleges from other universities to gain ICAR accreditation, which faced opposition. N. H. Kelawala was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 2018, and in September 2020, the Gujarat government passed a bill to transfer 11 colleges to the university.