For decades, the Chenab Valley comprising the mountainous districts of Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban has produced students who consistently excel in competitive examinations and professional fields. This track record of achievement is not accidental. It reflects a deeply rooted culture of learning and aspiration that persists despite, not because of, the educational infrastructure available locally.

Seventy-five years after independence, the gap between the region’s talent and its institutional capacity remains glaring. The Chenab Valley continues to function as a supplier of raw human potential to educational institutions elsewhere, while the basic framework for higher education and technical training at home remains incomplete.

Agriculture Without an Agricultural College

The Chenab Valley’s economy is built on agriculture and horticulture. Farmers here cultivate maize, rajma, walnuts, apples, and a range of temperate crops suited to the region’s varied altitudes and climate. Agriculture is not just an occupation it is the primary source of livelihood for a majority of households.

Yet the region has no campus of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Jammu). Students who wish to study agriculture, horticulture, or forestry must travel to Jammu or beyond. This is not merely an inconvenience. It means that formal agricultural education happens far removed from the very farms and conditions it is meant to serve.

A SKUAST-Jammu affiliated college in the Chenab Valley would serve two clear purposes. It would provide local students access to higher education in a field directly relevant to their surroundings. And it would allow research and extension services to reach farmers who currently have limited access to scientific expertise tailored........

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