HISTORY OF VETERINARY COUNCIL OF INDIA
Veterinary Council of India is a statutory body established under the Indian Veterinary Council Act 1984. It receives 100 % grants–in–aid from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India to meet the cost of running the offices of the Council. Central government vide Gazette notification dated 2nd August, 1989, first constituted the Veterinary Council of India by nominating the Members of the Council as per provisions of section 3 of the Act.
VCI is charged with the responsibilities of making provision for the regulation of veterinary practice and for that purpose, regulate the standards of veterinary education, preparation and maintenance of an Indian Veterinary Practitioners’ Register, Electoral Roll for election of members under section 3(3)(g), recommend for recognition or withdrawal of recognition of veterinary qualifications to the central government and matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto.
Indian literature reveals that a veterinary cult existed on the Indian subcontinent as far back as 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. In the post-Vedic period, the teaching of veterinary medicine was included in the curricula of medical schools. There is evidence of the existence of veterinary hospitals and dispensaries under the rule of Chandra Gupta Maurya (300– 298 BC) and King Ashoka (237–232 BC). Veterinarians were called salihotriya, after the famous horse medicine authority Salihotra, in ancient times.Salutri as a designation of veterinarians is derived from salihotriya. It may be said that formal veterinary education in India began in 1862 with the establishment of an army veterinary school in Pune. The first civil veterinary school was started in Babugarh (Hapur), in Uttar Pradesh, in 1877. These schools had the limited objective of training Indians to serve as assistants in remount depots and on military farms. Subsequently, the first veterinary college was started at Lahore, now in Pakistan, in 1882. The establishment of a veterinary research laboratory in India was recommended in 1885 and actually took place in 1889 at Pune. (In 1983 this laboratory was moved to Mukteshwar in the Kumaun Hills of Uttar Pradesh because the congested surroundings of Pune made it unsuitable for working with the highly virulent disease rinderpest.) The Bombay Veterinary College was founded in 1886. As a consequence of frequent famines and cattle plagues, several commissions were appointed toward, the end of the nineteenth century, to address the question of controlling and preventing cattle plague and maintaining the health of bullocks. On their recommendation, a civil veterinary department was established in 1881. With the expansion of the activities of civil veterinary departments in several states, veterinary colleges arose in different centers: for example, Calcutta in 1893 and Madras in 1903. These veterinary colleges awarded a diploma based on the adoption of the program of study developed by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London. The curriculum was based primarily on equine practice. In 1928 the Royal Commission on Agriculture in the Indian Subcontinent recommended a fourfold increase in the employment of veterinary assistant surgeons to cope with the enormous animal disease problems. They suggested that degree program in India be developed, modeled on higher education for veterinary surgeons in England, and recommended that one of the existing colleges be upgraded with central assistance to introduce degree-level education. The Madras Veterinary College took the lead, and in 1936, with the concurrence of Madras University, the Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree program began. Subsequently veterinary degree programs were started in other states, including at Patna, Mathura, Bangalore, Trichur, Hyderabad, Tirupathi, Ludhiana, and Anand. The curriculum of the BVSc course adopted in most of the veterinary colleges, with certain variations, was that recommended by the FAO/WHO. With the independence of India, various teams reviewed agricultural education and research. The Agriculture Review Committee, which consisted of eminent scientists from India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, recommended the reorganization of agricultural and veterinary education in India. Based on their report, a series of agricultural universities were established beginning in 1960. The Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University was the first of these, established at Pantnagar in 1960; other states followed. In certain states implementation was either slow or half-hearted, and the universities did not always get the full support of their state governments. This stunted the growth of these universities, leading to inadequate progress in the field of veterinary education and research. The agricultural universities were mostly headed by vice chancellors who were agriculture graduates, and because of a lack of vision they never devoted the necessary attention to developing veterinary science and fisheries. Financial support to these universities by the state governments was reduced, and the budget allotted by the authorities to veterinary and fisheries faculties was, and remains, both meager and disproportionate to the gross national product contributed by these sectors. The deterioration of veterinary and fisheries education under an agricultural universities set-up led to the establishment of separate universities for veterinary and animal sciences, including Fisheries, at Tamil Nadu in Madras in 1989; at Calcutta in West Bengal in 1995; and, most recently, in the state of Maharashtra in 2001. More veterinary universities are in the offing in the near future in many other states.
In 1950 World veterinary association passed a resolution to regulate veterinary education & practice, a veterinary council must be established in every country. From here the demand for establishment of a veterinary council started getting momentum in India.
In 1951 the demand for establishment of a veterinary council in India was put in front of the then Central Minister for Agriculture & Cooperation Mr M K Munshi at all India veterinary Doctors meet held at Bombay. Mr Munshi accepted the demand of vets and promised to do the needful.
In 1954 the interim veterinary council was formed by Government. This interim council was functional until 1963. Due to some controversial provisions, this council lost the confidence and support of the vets of the country. As a result, when the term of this interim veterinary council was over, it was not reconstituted and declined.
In 1976 National Agriculture Commission recommended for the establishment of a veterinary council of India.
In 1977 on the basis of recommendations of the National Agriculture Commission, central Ministry for Agriculture and Cooperation prepared a draft bill for the establishment of VCI.
In 1981 this bill was presented in Raj Sabha which referred it to a Joint Parliament Committee(JPC). JPC travelled across the country for two years and collected the views of different stack holders and finely in 1984 JPC kept the amended bill in the statute book.
In 1984 Indian Veterinary council bill was passed by both the houses of the parliament.
On 18th August 1984 Indian Veterinary Council Act received the assent of the president and was published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part II Section I on 21 August 1984.
As per section 64 of the VCI Act, the government of India framed the rules for election/nomination of the members of the Veterinary Council of India. These rules were published in the Gazette of India No. 18 dated 4th May 1985 part II section 3 subsection (1).
At last the Central government’s Ministry of Agriculture through its gazette notification dated 2nd August 1989, constituted the veterinary council of India by nominating the members of the council as per the provisions of section 3 of the Indian Veterinary Council act 1984.
Members of first VCI
Director of Animal Husbandry
- Dr S N Sharma, Haryana
- Dr J Mohanty, Orrisa
- Dr G Kutty, Kerala
- Dr Ramjanam, UP
- DR R Kathuama Mizoram
Dean Vet College
- Dr J M Nigam, Palampur
- Dr P R Jatkar, Bikaner
- Dr K S Johar, Jabalpur
- –
ICAR
- Dr R M Achary
Animal Husbandry commissioner
- Dr A K Chatterji
Animal husbandry department
- Dr J S Uppal
Indian Veterinary Association
- Dr Abdul Rehman
Veterinary Practitioners
- Dr A P G Kurup
- Dr R P S Tyagi
- Dr A Ahamed
- Dr C M Singh
- Dr P B Kundu
- Dr A S Baghle
- Dr N Thombi
- Dr Z Methew
- Dr K Raghunathan
- –
- –
President SVC
- Dr H S Sinha
President State Vet Asso.
- Dr M M Gole
Secretary
- Dr V Ram Kumar
The first meeting of the veterinary council of India was convened by Animal Husbandry Commissioner, GOI on 12th January 1990. In this meeting Dr C M Singh was unanimously elected as president and Dr R P S Tiyagi was unanimously elected as vice president.
The first election for members of VCI was held in the year 1999 after the compilation of the Indian veterinary Practitioners register( IVPR).
Dr A K Chatterji commissioner animal husbandry GOI, Dr R M Acharya Deputy Director General (AH) ICAR and Indian Veterinary Association (IVA) played a major role in the formation of Veterinary Council of India.
The Story behind VCI emblem
Veterinary Council of India (VCI) came into existence in 1984 and while being a part of the council very few people know the story behind the making of the emblem they proudly carry as a mark of their apex body and profession. In this edition of our series of stories in the run-up to the VCI elections, we bring out some interesting fact behind the making of the emblem of the VCI.
When the Veterinary Council was formed in 1984, then there was a need for the emblem which would aptly represent the Council and the Veterinary profession as a whole. Dr CM Singh the founder President of VCI entrusted this task to the first secretary Dr Ram Kumar. Some idea was provided by Dr CM Singh as the inspiration came from the fact that the World’s first Veterinary Hospital was established by Samrat Ashoka, the great Mauryan emperor following his change of heart and the embrace of Buddhism which has the core philosophy of compassion and love for all Living beings as its foundation. It was this compassion and empathy adopted by Ashoka which probably laid the foundation for the “One Health” concept believing in Healthy Animal Healthy Human idea which is even more relevant in the time of corona crises.
Dr Ram Kumar searched the archives with great pain and visited the National Museum for the suitable prop for the emblem. He chose the image of the Bull which was found on a pillar from Ashoka’s period and excavated from the Rampur in Bihar. The Pillar which was earlier part of the Calcutta museum can now be seen at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. As per the Archaeologists, the bull was not only the symbol of prosperity but also depicted vigour (virile form) & fertility.
Having found the symbol the next task was to decide upon the sacred sentence to be written on the logo which would depict the Council in one sentence. To go with the symbol a Pali Script from IX Rock Edict from Ashoka period was chosen which read on the fourth line ‘Panesu Saymo’. Ashoka’s adoption of Buddhism gave a new meaning to animal care. Animals, till then were considered a mere object of benefit, utility or status. Ashokan tenets started describing animals as co-existent of the planet. A part of his dictum was ‘Panesu Saymo’ the nears Sanskrit version of which should be ‘Sarveshu Praneshu Samyamah’ meaning “Kindness to Animals”. The Pali script is adopted as such in the emblem which is highlighted in the following picture.
The ‘V’ in the emblem stands for ‘Veterinary Science’ which encompasses animal health and husbandry. The snake and the pole represent the treatment of disease and protection from suffering. The pole and serpent, therefore, has become a symbol of cure from evil, disease and death.
(Courtesy: Dr V Ram Kumar, Dr R. Somvanshi)
