Indian agriculture student bags Rs 1.3 crore scholarship from Australian University

A Master’s student from Punjab-based Lovely Professional University (LPU) reportedly bagged a fully-paid scholarship of Rs 1.3 crore to pursue a PhD in plant sciences at Australian National University (ANU). Sumant Bindal is currently pursuing his Masters in Science in the field of agriculture specifically genetics and plant breeding. LPU said that Bindal secured the ‘biggest scholarship ever’ bagged by an agriculture student in India. 

The Jalandhar-based university reportedly informed that Bindal would be doing research on the identification of signalling pathways activated by resistant genes against Fusarium wilt in tomato. Further, his research will focus on how to make tomatoes completely resistant to Fusarium wilt, a plant fungus that infects tomatoes worldwide, and has reportedly caused nearly 45 per cent yield loss to tomato crop in India in the past. 

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‘Brightest student’ 

While speaking to a media outlet, Bindal expressed his happiness on being awarded and said that he is very excited to receive the scholarship. He called the Australian national University his ‘dream destination’ and added that it is the leading research institutions in the world. LPU Chancellor, Ashok Mittal reportedly said that Bindal is one of the brightest students at the university. While calling it a ‘moment of great pride’, Mittal added that the university hopes to see more students following Bindal’s footsteps in the future.

According to reports, last year, Bindal also got an opportunity to intern at the globally renowned World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan. His internship then was also fully funded by the Taiwan government. The LPU student was reportedly one of the 15 Masters’ student from across the world who was chosen for the fellowship. 

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