History of the formation of Veterinary Council of India

Pashu Sandesh, 19th July 2020

With the declaration of the final list of 92 eligible candidates for the VCI elections, the contest is now out in open. Each Candidate would now be imagining to see his or her name in the coveted list of the elected candidates. But what is the History of the Council they are vying to be a part of? Let's explore the History.

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 18^th 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 4^th May 1985 part II section 3 subsection (1).

At last the Central government’s Ministry of Agriculture through its gazette notification dated 2^nd 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

1. Dr S N Sharma, Haryana
2. Dr J Mohanty, Orrisa
3. Dr G Kutty, Kerala
4. Dr Ramjanam, UP
5. DR R Kathuama Mizoram

Dean Vet College 

6. Dr J M Nigam, Palampur
7. Dr P R Jatkar, Bikaner
8. Dr K S Johar, Jabalpur
9. -

ICAR

10. Dr R M Achary

Animal Husbandry commissioner

11. Dr A K Chatterji

Animal husbandry department

12. Dr J S Uppal 

Indian Veterinary Association

13. Dr Abdul Rehman

Veterinary Practitioners

14. Dr A P G Kurup
15. Dr R P S Tyagi
16. Dr A Ahamed
17. Dr C M Singh
18. Dr  P B Kundu
19. Dr A S Baghle
20. Dr N Thombi 
21. Dr Z Methew
22. Dr K Raghunathan
23. -
24. -

President SVC

25. Dr H S Sinha

President State Vet Asso.

26. Dr M M Gole

Secretary

27. Dr V Ram Kumar

The first meeting of the veterinary council of India was convened by Animal Husbandry Commissioner, GOI on 12^th 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.

(Courtesy: Dr V Ram Kumar, Dr R. Somvanshi)