This is evident from the fact that many girls are making a beeline for admission to agricultural courses being offered at Khalsa College, the only institute that imparts education in this stream here. These girls are confident of harvesting rich dividends from the course.

Sources said while the trend had started more than four years ago, there had been a considerable rise in the number of women taking admission in the course in the past two years. J L Rambani, a professor in the department, said there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of girls in various agricultural courses in the past couple of years. He said at least 46 girls had taken admission to BSc and MSc courses in this academic year.

“The previous year saw not more than 40 girls taking admission to the course, but the response in the forthcoming session is overwhelming,” he said.

“This is because the field offers first-rate job opportunities in India, which is basically an agricultural economy. Besides, girls have proven their mettle in every field and will not be behind in this one too,” said Anuradha Sethi, a final-year BSc (Agriculture) student who hails from a non-agricultural family.

Navjot Kaur, a student of second-year BSc, said her interest in plants had inspired her take admissions in the stream. “I want to do research in this subject after graduating from here,” she said.

Daljit Singh, principal of Khalsa College, said in keeping with this trend, the college administration had decided to increase the number of seats, besides admissions to the stream would be conducted along with other disciplines. “Earlier, admissions to the Agriculture Department used to take place two months after other admissions,” he said.