Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said it's time to extend the reservation, provided to SC/ST communities, to the farming community.
He was addressing the gathering at the 10th convocation of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sciences University here.
"The Central and the state governments should extend reservation to the farmers or at least provide them with the resources and the facilities to bail them out of the crisis," he said.
The vice president expressed his happiness over girl students winning most of the gold medals up for grabs.
"Women are the torchbearers of the tradition. The rivers in the country are named after women. Women enjoyed prominent positions in Purana. Now, they are growing in stature in politics following the reservation in panchayats," Venkaiah Naidu said.
There is no dearth of talent in India. The Indians living in foreign should return home and serve the country, he said and advised the youths to strive for plugging the gap between the urban and rural areas through development.
Ashwini Ashok, the BVSc student of Hassan Veterinary Sciences College, emerged as the golden girl, bagging a haul of 11 gold medals. Ramkumar of Bidar Veterinary Sciences College bagged eight gold medals while H N Basavaprabhu of Dairy Sciences College, Bengaluru, won five gold medals.
Degrees were awarded to 447 students, including 309 graduates, at the convocation.
Animal Husbandry Minister Venkatrao Nadagouda, District Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, Vice Chancellor H D Narayanaswamy, Registrar Shivshankar Usturgi among others were present.