Other name | ICAR |
---|---|
Motto in English | Agrisearch with a human touch |
Type | Registered society |
Established | 16 July 1929 |
Budget | ₹7,800 crore (US$930 million) (2018–2019) [1] |
President | Minister of Agriculture, Government of India |
Director | Himanshu Pathak |
Location | , India |
Campus | Urban |
Website | icar |
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. [2] The Union Minister of Agriculture serves as its president. [3] [4] It is the largest network of agricultural research and education institutes in the world. [5]
The committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education (Yashpal Committee, 2009) has recommended setting up of a constitutional body – the National Commission for Higher Education and Research – which would be a unified supreme body to regulate all branches of higher education including agricultural education. [6] Presently, regulation of agricultural education is the mandate of ICAR, Veterinary Council of India (Veterinary sub-discipline) and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (Forestry sub-discipline). [7] A number of natural resource management institutes of India also come under the ICAR. [8]
ICAR provides accreditation to agriculture universities, colleges and programmes, through its accreditation unit, National Agricultural Education Accreditation Board (NAEAB). [16] The board was established in 1996 and given its current name in 2017. [17] The accreditation serves only as a badge of quality assurance. It is not mandatory, is not a form of affiliation or recognition and does not give approval to open an institute or a program. [18] As of 1 April 2021 [update] , NAEAB lists only 39 accredited institutes. [19]
While ICAR accreditation is voluntary, [18] since 2016–17 it is linked with the release of grants for education quality assurance for State Agricultural Universities. [17] It is also used by some institutes as an affiliation or admission requirements. In September 2021, Goa University has reinstated affiliation to a college, after previously cancelling the affiliation because the college was not accredited by NAEAB. [20] In 2022, students were not accepted to master's degree at Rajiv Gandhi University because their B.Sc. in Agriculture degree was from an unaccredited private university. [21]
As of January 2020 [update] , ICAR has following institutions: [22]
Indian Council of Agricultural Research's headquarters is in New Delhi.
All India Entrance Exam for Agriculture (CUET) conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) is an entrance exam for admission into the agricultural universities recognized by ICAR.
Exam | AIEEA (UG) | AIEEA (PG) | AICE(JRF/SRF) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Registered Applicants | Appeared Applicants | Registered Applicants | Appeared Applicants | Registered Applicants | Appeared Applicants | Reference(s) |
2019 | 236,931 | 31,486 | 8,374 | [23] | |||
2020 | 197,837 | 139,365 | 28,830 | 19,946 | 14,080 | 9,518 | [24] |
2021 | 144,848 | 122,993 | 22,912 | 20,811 | 10,046 | 8,919 | [25] |
2022 | 89,413 | 61,051 | 20,650 | 18,332 | 13,096 | 11,001 | [26] [27] |
The Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) conducts all India competitive examination Agricultural Research Service (ARS), to recruit posts in the ARS of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
ICAR presents the following awards: [28]
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu whose Headquarters is situated in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
The Annamalai University is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. The university also provides more than 500 courses through distance education. With over 32,480 students residing on campus, it is one of the largest teaching, and residential universities in Asia, and is among the most reputed and ranked universities in India including the rankings from NIRF, QS World University Rankings, Times University Rankings, CWTS Leiden Ranking, India Today Magazine, India Today MDRA, AISHE, ARIIA, SCImago Institutions Rankings.
Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute, is a government-aided university in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. It operates as an autonomous Christian minority institution under the 'Sam Higginbottom Educational and Charitable Society, Allahabad'.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, formerly the Ministry of Agriculture, is a branch of the Government of India and the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The three broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is headed by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare which is currently held by Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje are the Ministers of State. Sharad Pawar, serving from 22 May 2004 to 26 May 2014, has held the office of Minister of Agriculture for the longest continuous period till date.
Lovely Professional University (LPU) is a private university located in Chaheru, Phagwara, Punjab, India. The university was established in 2005 by Lovely International Trust, through the Lovely Professional University Act, 2005 and started operation in 2006.
The Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), formerly the Directorate of Rice Research, is a rice research institute located in Rajendranagar near Hyderabad, Telangana.
Agricultural Universities (AUs) are mostly public universities in India that are engaged in teaching, research and extension in agriculture and related disciplines. In India, agricultural education has evolved into a large and distinct domain, often separately from other areas of higher education. Many of these universities are member of a registered society, the Indian Agricultural Universities Association. Indian Council of Agricultural Research is the main regulatory authority of agricultural education in India, while the disciplines of veterinary medicine and forestry are regulated by the Veterinary Council of India and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education respectively. Based on the statutes establishing these universities, agricultural universities in India can be grouped into various types.
Ebrahimali Abubacker Siddiq is an Indian agricultural scientist, whose research in genetics and plant breeding is reported to have assisted in the development of various high-yielding rice varieties such as dwarf basmati and hybrid rice. The government of India honoured Siddiq in 2011 with the fourth-highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Narinder Singh Randhawa (1927–1996) was an Indian agricultural scientist, writer and the director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He was the president of the Indian Society of Soil Science during 1980–81 term and was a recipient of National Citizen Award and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1989, for his contributions to agricultural science.
ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibers (ICAR-CRIJAF), established in 1953 as Jute Agricultural Research Institute (JARI), is the only research institute on jute & allied fibres crops in India and is a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an Autonomous Body under Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. This institute is located in Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India.
Trilochan Mohapatra is an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, former government secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and former director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Known for his studies in the fields of molecular genetics and genomics, Mohapatra is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2003.
A Krishi Vigyan Kendra is an agricultural extension center in India. The centres are associated with a local agricultural university, and serve as links between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and farmers to apply agricultural research in a practical, localized setting. All KVKs fall under the jurisdiction of one of the 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARIs) throughout India.
In India, the Open Access movement started in May 2004, when two workshops were organized by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. In 2006, the National Knowledge Commission in its recommendations proposed that "access to knowledge is the most fundamental way of increasing the opportunities and reach of individuals and groups". In 2011, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) began requiring that its grantees provide open access to funded research, the Open Access India forum formulated a draft policy on Open Access for India. The Shodhganga, a digital repository for theses, was also established in 2011 with the aim of promoting and preserving academic research. The University Grants Commission (UGC) made it mandatory for scholars to deposit their theses in Shodhganga, as per the Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M. Phil./Ph.D. Degrees Regulations, 2016. Currently, the Directory of Open Access Journals lists 326 open access journals published in India, of which 233 have no fees.
Bihar Animal Sciences University (BASU) is a state agricultural university located at Patna, Bihar, India. It has jurisdiction over the field of veterinary and animal sciences in Bihar.
Subbanna Ayyappan is an Indian aquaculture scientist hailing from the Karnataka State who has held several key positions in various Govt organisations related to agricultural science. He was the Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary to Government, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) during Jan 2010 – Feb 2016. He was also the Chancellor of Central Agricultural University, Manipur. He was instrumental in bringing about the Blue Revolution in India. He was the first non-crop scientist to head the ICAR.
S Prakash Tiwari is an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a former Deputy Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He was Vice-Chancellor of Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, and Director of National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad. He is also a former director of National Research Centre on Soybean, Indore.
Punyavrat Suvimalendu Pandey is an Indian academic, agricultural scientist and vice-chancellor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Samastipur.