Baldev Singh Dhillon is an internationally renowned agricultural scientist and had been the vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University from 2011 to 2021 in India.
Rajeev Kumar Varshney is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022. Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs– Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.
P. Ananda Kumar is an Indian plant molecular biologist and biotechnologist.
Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was an Indian-born Mexican scientist and winner of the 2014 World Food Prize. He was awarded this prize for his scientific research in developing 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries. This innovation has led to an increase in world wheat production – by more than 200 million tons – building upon the successes of the Green Revolution. The Government of India awarded him highest civilian awards Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2022).
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.
Vijaipal Singh in Narsan Kalan, Haridwar District of Uttarakhand State, India is an Agricultural scientist associated with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and is known for his contributions to the science of rice genetics and breeding. He is well known for his contributions in developing the most popular Basmati rice variety, Pusa Basmati 1121. A post graduate and a doctoral degree (PhD) holder in Agriculture Botany from Agra University, he started his career as a research assistant at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi in 1968 and retired as a professor at the Division of Genetics, IARI. Singh is credited with several articles published in peer reviewed journals. In recognition of his services to the nation, he was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Paramjit Khurana is an Indian scientist in Plant Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Genomics who is presently Professor in the Department of Plant Molecular Biology in the University of Delhi, Delhi. She has received many awards and published more than 125 scientific papers.
Sudhir Kumar Sopory is an Indian educationist, plant physiologist, scientist and former vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is known to be the first to purify a protein kinase C activity from plants and is credited with the identification of topoisomerase as a substrate of protein kinase C. He is an elected Fellow of several major Indian science academies and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and is a recipient of many honours, including the 1987 Shanti Swarup Bhatangar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to science and technology.
Swapan Kumar Datta is a (Professor) of rice biotechnology who focuses on genetic engineering of Indica rice. Datta has demonstrated the development of genetically engineered Indica rice from protoplast derived from haploid embryogenic cell suspension culture. Golden Indica Rice with enriched Provitamin A and Ferritin rice with high iron content were developed by his group with a vision to meet the challenges of malnutrition in developing countries. Datta has been named as one among the top 25 Indian scientists from all fields of science by India Today.
Virender Lal Chopra was an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), known to have contributed to the development of wheat production in India. He was the chancellor of Central University of Kerala, a Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal and a member of the Planning Commission of India. An elected fellow of several science academies such as Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, European Academy of Sciences and Arts and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), he was a recipient of a number of honors including Borlaug Award, FAO World Food Day Award and Om Prakash Bhasin Award. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1985, for his contributions to agricultural science.
Sushil Kumar was an Indian geneticist and academic, known for his Plant and microbial genetical genomics, especially the studies on Escherichia coli and Lambda phage as well as on the mutants of Rhizobium. He was a former director of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1981, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi is an Indian plant biologist and the former director of National Institute of Plant Genome Research. Known for his studies on plant genomics and biotechnology, Tyagi is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India as well as The World Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 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 1999.
Anil Grover is an Indian molecular biologist, professor and the head of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Delhi. He also heads the Anil Grover Lab of the department, serving as the principal investigator. Known for his research in the field of molecular biology of plants, Grover is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy as well as the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 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 2002.
Trilochan Mohapatra is an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, a government secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and the 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.
Tilak Raj Sharma is an Indian plant biologist, the Deputy Director General (CS) of ICAR and former executive director and chief executive officer of the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), and Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) respectively, both autonomous institutes under the Department of Biotechnology. Known for his studies in the fields of genomics and plant disease resistance, Sharma is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. 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 2007.
Debasis Chattopadhyay is an Indian plant molecular biologist, geneticist and a scientist at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR). Known for his studies in the fields of plant stress biology and genomics, Chattopadhyay is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science Academies namely the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. He is also an elected fellow of the West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology.
Alok Krishna Sinha is an Indian molecular biologist, biochemist, plant physiologist and a staff scientist Grade VII at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR). Known for his research on Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade in plants, he is a three-time Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India. 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 2013.
Manoj Prasad is an Indian plant geneticist, molecular biologist and working as a Senior Scientist and JC Bose National Fellow at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR). Known for his research on the stress biology of plants and virology, he is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian Virological Society and was a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. 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 2014.
Girdhar Kumar Pandey is an Indian molecular biologist, biochemist, biotechnologist, and a professor at the department of plant molecular biology of the South Campus of the University of Delhi. He is known for his studies on the signal transduction pathways in Arabidopsis (rockcress) and Oryza sativa (rice) and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 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 2015.
Dr Ashok Kumar Singh is an Indian scientist specializing in the field of Plant Genetics and Breeding. He is well known for his contribution to Basmati rice breeding. He is currently the director and vice-chancellor of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, a deemed to be university. Dr Singh is an alumnus of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi where he did his bachelor's degree and Masters Program in agriculture with specialisation in plant genetics and breeding. He received doctorate degree from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for his research on rice breeding.
