New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Delhi, and the students of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) on Monday urged Union Minister of State (MoS) for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kailash Choudary, to extend the fellowship for the fourth year students in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The student's body, along with few scholars from the IARI, met Choudhary and submitted a memorandum requesting the minister to approve an extension of the fellowship provided to the students of IARI. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, commonly known as Pusa Institute, is the country's premier institute for agricultural research and education. It has the status of a 'deemed-to-be-university' under the UGC Act of 1956, and awards M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in various agricultural disciplines. The ABVP said that the lockdown and the prevailing Covid-19 situation had created barriers to research and lab works, hindering the completion of research projects. "Many students may need a year to complete their research projects as they missed the cropping season due to the lockdown," Siddharth Yadav, state secretary, ABVP-Delhi, said. "As a consequence of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation, the students of IARI are unable to complete their committed research work within the stipulated time period. Most of the students have faced problems such as loss of cropping season, spoilage of microbial culture/samples, outsourcing problems such as non-availability of chemicals, technical assistance etc. "Many students may have to restart their work from scratch and hence need at least one more year to complete the research work that they have undertaken," Yadav explained. Meanwhile, the students' body informed that the minister assured them that he will discuss the matter with the DG, IARI. "The research work in the field of agriculture depends on the availability of labs and hence has suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is thus the responsibility of the government to ensure that these problems are addressed, and students are given necessary respite at the earliest. The discussion with the MoS was fruitful and we received a positive response. We look forward to quick redressal of the problems brought to the ministry's notice by ABVP," Yadav added. /IANS