History
In 1955, the Government of India (GoI) decided to establish one veterinary college and one agricultural college in one of the southern states. Though the princely states of Hyderabad, Mysore, and Madras welcomed this proposal, they were not confident to establish the colleges by the stipulated date. Sri George Thomas, the then Secretary of Government (Food) of the former state of Travancore Cochin, took up the challenge to start both the agricultural college and veterinary college in the state.
Welcoming the decision of theTravancore Cochin administration’s to open both the colleges within the time frame, the Government of India sanctioned necessary financial support. Government Veterinary College was the original name of this institution. It started operations in Mannuthy on August 1st, 1955, with Rs. 48 lakh in central assistance. The College had to function under the direct administrative control of the Department of Animal Husbandry of the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin state Seventy acres of the 400-acre Government Estate were set aside as the college’s main campus. Of these 400 acres, 190 acres belonged to the State Poultry Farm and the District Livestock Farm, which are farms run by the Animal Husbandry Department and had a goat unit attached. These farms were vital resources that the newly established veterinary college could not function without.
In addition to these farms, the veterinary hospitals at Kokkalai in Thrissur town, which were previously run by the Animal Husbandry Department, were given to the veterinary college to act as a faculty for students’ clinical training. Dr. S.R. Chandran, a Disease Investigation Officer (ICAR Scheme) of the Department of Animal Husbandry, was appointed as the Special Officer to investigate the preliminary organisational work of the Veterinary College directly under the government by the Hon. Minister of Food, Sri A.A. Rahim, on his own initiative.
The Government Veterinary College at Mannuthy could officially open on August 1, 1955, thanks to the tireless efforts and fervour of the Chief Minister, Sri. P. B. K. Menon, Food Secretary, Sri. George Thomas, Director of Animal Husbandry, Dr. V. K. Madhava Menon, and Special Officer, Dr. S. R. Chandran.
History was made when the institution started operating under the direct administrative control of the Department of Animal Husbandry of the Government of State of Travancore-Cochin. With the formation of the State of Kerala on 1st November 1956, the college and the department of animal husbandry became institutions under the Government of Kerala and was affiliated to the University of Kerala.
Dr. S. R. Chandran, Special Officer’s individual energy and leadership skills played a critical role in guaranteeing the successful planning and implementation of all initiatives pertaining to college and hostel accommodations as well as the infrastructure development.
The main goals and objectives behind the establishment of the college were to train enough veterinarians to meet the demands of the State Animal Husbandry Department’s various developmental projects, start a postgraduate programme to produce specialists in various College disciplines, initiate field-oriented and problem-based research projects, and provide the most recent information to farmers and field veterinarians through technology transfer programmes.
Originally, the College was housed in a structure owned by the District Livestock Farm, Mannuthy, which is currently a part of the Poultry Science Department. Additionally, one semi-permanent lecture hall was built using a memo of expense. The tiny lab areas
Physiology and Biochemistry labs were created using the space that was available in the building. Two small rooms on the first floor of this structure served as the temporary locations for the principal’s room and the College office. Classes were conducted out of the surrounding open thatched shed, while an adjacent temporary cubicle served as the anatomy lab.
Dr. K.S. Nair, a former Principal of Madras Veterinary College, Joint Director of the Animal Husbandry Department in Madras, and Principal of Osmania Veterinary College in Hyderabad, was named the college’s first principal by the government. His extensive background in veterinary education served as the foundation for the College throughout its early years, and his guidance and commitment were greatly appreciated and essential to the Institution’s development along the correct route.
The Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, the finance minister in the Chairman’s chair, the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary, the Agriculture Secretary, and the Principals of Veterinary and Agriculture Colleges as members of a high-level committee oversaw the College as an independent entity under direct government control even though its budgetary provisions were part of the Animal Husbandry budget. This control made it possible to construct the structures and provide the College with facilities in an efficient manner.
Six teachers, including the principal, made up the core teaching staff when the college first started operating.
From a starting student body of seventy, the number of students was progressively raised until, by the end of 1958, there were 297 students enrolled, including 11 female students. The teaching staff was also progressively expanded, and by the end of 1958, there were 27 employees total—two professors, three junior professors, and twenty-two lecturers. The new college buildings were officially opened in November 1958. The primary structure was intended to be a small, two-story structure totaling 55,000 square feet, of which 20,000 square feet were designated for laboratories and roughly a fifth for lecture halls.
The College’s main structure and the Boy’s Hostel both had their foundation stones put in 1955. The State Architect, Sri. J.C. Alexander created the building designs. The Superintending Engineer Sri. S. Rajagopalan, the Executive Engineer Sri. Velayudhan Nair, and the Junior Engineer Sri. Balakrishnan Nair oversaw the construction.
Five composite departments, each comprising multiple disciplines, were approved by the government. Completed in 1957, the three-story Boys’ Hostel building faced Trichur-Palghat Road and was occupied for the academic year 1957–1958.
In November 1958, the building was inaugurated by Sri. E.M.S. Namboothiripad, the Kerala Chief Minister at the time, in the presence of Sri. C. Achutha Menon.
Out of the 70 students who were admitted in 1955, 39 had earned a bachelor’s degree by the end of 1959, with six of them receiving first division honours.
The College Cooperative Society was established in November 1959 as a cooperative venture between the faculty and students, with a share capital of Rs. 5000/-per share. Drs. G. Nirmalan, Radhakrishnan, Rappai, Padmanabha Iyer, and Gopinath became staff members of the college in 1960. Another noteworthy aspect of 1960 was the tremendous efforts made to establish endowments for deserving and underprivileged pupils. At the time, the institution had Rs. 5,000 invested in University Endownments from kind state residents in addition to an additional Rs. 2000 that was intended to be managed by the government from a comparable involvement from the public. Aside from this, the Municipality of Trichur awarded an amount of Rs. 100/-every year.
Following the college’s founding, the Animal Husbandry department moved the District Livestock Farm, Poultry Farm, and Goat Farm—all of which were already located on campus—to the college. A pig breeding farm was established in the campus between 1961 and 1962. Subsequently, the Animal Husbandry Department moved the District Veterinary Hospital, Kokalai, the District Livestock Farm (now known as the Livestock Research Station), Thiruvizhamkunnnu, and the Dry Stock Farm (now known as the Cattle Breeding Farm), Thuburmuzhi, to the College to enhance research activities and better student training facilities. The availability of the livestock, poultry, goat, and pig farms on campus, which could provide facilities for academic training and research, made this college special. The 225 acres that make up the college site are divided between the buildings for the college and hostel, residential areas, farms, grazing and fodder lands, and play areas.
Constructed concurrently were courts for tennis, basketball, and volleyball as well as a stadium for sporting events. In 1961, the college changed its name to Kerala Veterinary College and Research Institute to better represent its dual roles as a primary academic institution and a place for research.
A well-known figure in veterinary education, Dr. M. N. Menon, was appointed as the principal of the college. Dr. Menon’s extraordinary vision and insight, along with his fundamental conviction that the advancement of Veterinary Science and the development of Animal Husbandry were inseparable, led to the great leaps this College made in the disciplines of fundamental and practical research.
Eighty applicants who had passed the pre-university examination were chosen in 1960 to be admitted to the pre-veterinary course. As a result, these students had to complete two years of university study following matriculation before being allowed to enrol in a professional programme.
To prevent employment saturation, it was also recommended at the time that the yearly rate of intake be lowered from 80 to 60 by 1965.
With only two brief breaks for lunch and recreation, the well-stocked College library had over 3,000 books available for use in 1961. The library was open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. By this point, the status of the teaching faculty had also improved, and the College’s rolls in 1961 included two veterinary surgeons, one physical director, nine senior lecturers, fifteen junior lecturers, two house surgeons, and one officer responsible for cattle sterility. The former dean additionally stressed in his editorial in the 1961 College Magazine that the Cattle Sterility
Officer provided insight into the high standards of achievement that were in vogue at the time as a Fellow of the Royal College of Sweden.
Dr. M.N. Menon left in 1961 to become the State Animal Husbandry Department’s Director. At a goodbye banquet held on August 18, 1961, the institution he fostered formally bid him farewell. That year, an ambulatory clinic began operations under the direction of Dr. C.T. Peter, the new principal, and the commissioning of a Regional Nutrition Research Laboratory was scheduled.
Additionally, all the animal husbandry units on the Mannuthy campus came under the principal’s complete supervision in 1961. Moreover, a brand-new veterinary hospital opened in the campus.
A nine-month postgraduate training programme for the officers of the Department of Animal Husbandry was initiated in 1962. Dr. V. Padmanabhan became the Vice Principal in 1962. He resigned from this position in 1963 to become the Indian Co-Director of the Indo-Swiss Dairy Project. As a result, in 1963, Dr. K.J. Simon became the Vice Principal.
In 1964, the college was elevated to the rank of a Research Institute. The postgraduate course was officially opened on August 2, 1964, by Sri. A.M. Thomas, the Government of India’s Minister for Food and Agriculture. The meeting that followed was also attended by Dr. M.N. Menon.
In 1964, a student farming group was founded at the recommendation of Dr. K.J. Simon. On September 19, 1964, Sri. K.K. Nambiar, the Secretary for Agriculture, officially opened the club. The college provided Rs. 200 as part of this project to help the club with its expenses, with the understanding that it would be reimbursed it in equal monthly instalments of Rs. 50. For its first project, the group bought two pairs of piglets and twenty White Leghorn pullets for their activities.
Not to be overlooked are the hostels’ facilities and services. The committee of elected student representatives oversaw the management of two messes operated by the hostel in 1961. Additionally, the hostel had a visiting physician named Dr. Sukumaran, who left in 1961 and was replaced by Drs. Antony Alapaddan and K.T. Antony in 1962 and 1963, respectively. On September 16, 1962, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs installed a telephone line in the hostel, which was considered a luxury at that time.
The College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences was detached from the University of Kerala and affiliated to the University of Calicut on its formation in August 1968.
In the following ten years, from 1970 to 1971, the college had a name board erected and its name was written on the buses that passed through Mannuthy. In the years 1970–71, a direction board to the Veterinary College was installed at Trichur’s Civil Hospital Junction.
New structures were built and put into service for the Pig Farm (1961) and the Small Animal Breeding Station (now known as KAU Press), which was established in 1966 to produce experimental laboratory animals.
Dr. K.K. Iya, Deputy Director General, Animal Sciences, ICAR, formally opened the Nutrition Laboratory’s two-storey structure in 1967. It was situated in an excellent location and is an exclusive facility. (Later, KAU also transformed this structure into the University Headquarters and then it’s Directorate of Extension).
On the recommendations of the second National Education Commission, headed by Dr. D.S.Kothari (the then Chairman of the University Grants Commission), one agricultural university each should be established in each state to boost agricultural education and research. Accordingly, the Kerala Agricultural University was established on 24 February 1971 and started functioning from 1st February 1972. According to the provisions of the KAU Act of 1971, the College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences and the animal husbandry research stations were brought under the Kerala Agricultural University.