Jammu, Aug. 5 -- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday lauded the agricultural scientists, faculty and students in driving innovation and called for farmer-centric research to build self-reliant Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the 9th convocation ceremony of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) here, Abdullah applauded the outstanding performance of girl students securing 252 out of 446 degrees, seven of eight gold medals, and 32 of 35 merit certificates.

"This is an absolute pleasure to see so many girls receiving gold medals, a shining example of women excelling in agri-education and research," he said.

"Earlier, there was a time when out of 10 students, only one used to be a girl but the ratio ha...