Dr. A K Singh is the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He holds an M.Sc. from Banaras Hindu University and a PhD. His subject areas are Genetics and Plant Breeding. Dr. Singh has published ten papers in different journals and books. Furthermore, he also has five patents pending on plant breeding. He has been awarded the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award and The Bharat Ratna by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. He is also a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy.

Indian Agricultural Research Institute

You have held key positions in educational institutes throughout your career. What are the key factors that keep you connected to the education sector?

My profession involves both teaching and research. I have been with IARI as a rice breeder for nearly 30 years and have been actively involved in teaching genetics and plant breeding. I have served in various capacities starting as scientist, senior scientist, principal scientists, professor and head of the prestigious Division of Genetics at the institute. I had professional education at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and IARI, New Delhi, two leading educational institutes from India. Key factors that keep me connected to education is that I enjoy teaching and it’s my passion as it is one of the most noble professions to serve the society. Many of my students whom I guided for their PhD and Master’s degrees, are occupying important positions in academia and Civil Services doing outstanding service to the people and the nation, that makes me feel proud. In addition, the Basmati rice varieties developed by my team are grown in 2 million ha area, earning Rs. 38000/- crores of foreign exchange annually, bringing a smile to the face of millions of Basmati rice farmers, which brings great satisfaction to me as breeder of these varieties.

As the Director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute what is your leadership philosophy and how would you describe your unique leadership style?

My leadership philosophy has been focused on the comprehensive development of IARI in all major mandated areas, research, education and extension. I believe in inclusive leadership which prioritises institutions over individuals. Creating an enabling environment for researchers and teachers is top of my priority. My priority has been on providing an enabling environment, where every personnel at all levels can participate in the overall development of the institute. In addition , harnessing the potential of an alumni network, CSR funds from industry, multi-institutional collaboration, public-private partnership and capitalising on the strength of the Indian diaspora in building IARI strength in teaching, research and transfer of technology have been my priorities. 

What do you see as Indian Agricultural Research Institute greatest strengths?

Robust Infrastructure, Global Networking, Rich Heritage, History and Legacy: Replete with Role Models, Skilled, Trained and Self-motivated Human Resource Quality of the students being admitted. Strong driving force for pursuing excellence: serving and empowering farmers for the prosperity of the nation.

How does the curriculum ensure the integration of industry best practices to provide students with the most relevant and up-to-date knowledge and skills?

Arranging Guest lectures from the industry experts.

Arranging industry visits for the students under different courses.

Involving industry experts during revision of course syllabi.

Development of Joint Research projects with industries under various schemes including PM Doctoral Fellowship scheme.

Creating provision for the appointment of Professor of Practice / Adjunct Professor from the industries in the institute as per the UGC and ICAR recommendations.

Internship of students in the industries to complete a part of their thesis work in the industry environment to imbibe their culture and to apprise themselves with the needs of the industries.

Contract research, collaborative research, technology licensing are the other avenues for engaging industry partnership.

Could you share insights on how your institute actively promotes inclusivity and creates a welcoming environment for students from diverse racial and economic backgrounds?

Inclusivity is built in IARI character. IARI is an institution which in true sense is representative of Mini India having faculty and students from all over the country. This brings multi-cultural, multi-linguistic and regional diversity in IARI, which we greatly respect.
The students are selected for admission based on national level examination so we get fair representation of all states.
Flexibility and adaptability of teachers during the implementation of course curricula, timetables and activities to fit the needs, abilities, strengths and interests of the specific set of students.
Capacity building of staff and students for addressing, knowledge gaps, deficiencies and diversity.
Developing tailor-made lectures as per the needs of the students.
Conducting refresher courses for the handholding and upskilling of the needy students.
Celebration of festivals from different religions with same zeal, fervour and enthusiasm.
Giving equal opportunities to all irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion and gender.
Organising lectures to promote Gender equity. 

As a leader what do you consider your primary roles and responsibilities towards the Institution and its students?

With an aim to work on the vision, mission and mandates of IARI, my role is to encourage strong networking among intra and inter-institutional teams and stakeholders to create an enabling environment towards achieving organisational goals. 

IARI being a deemed university and students being important stakeholders, my job as a leader is to effectively address the interests of students holistically. The recent NIRF ranking as number 1 for IARI is based on the overall performance of the Institute of which students are integral part. 

On one hand, Institute provides platforms for students for their education, research and other co-curricular activities, students in turn bring laurels to the Institute by bringing prestigious awards like Jawahar Lal Nehru Best PhD thesis in research, qualifying for prestigious fellowships in education sector and winning trophies in sports and other extra co-curricular activities etc. 

I have been trying my level best to harness funds for creating many state of the art facilities, which would benefit students as well as faculty. Few facilities created are Phenomics, Discovery centre, Formulations and analysis centre, Regional Honey facility, Innovation centre, international Hostels etc.

In your perspective, what should be the institution's top priority over the next decade in order to further its mission and its impact on education?

IARI occupies the flagship position in Agriculture and allied sector as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023. Our top priority is to align with the NEP-2020 as a multidisciplinary education and research university (MERU) while integrating the disciplines representing frontier area of science and technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Machine Learning, robotics, use of drone, precision farming and genome editing in research as well as teaching. Towards this, we have already started undergraduate programs including B.Sc. and B.Tech. in four streams viz., Agriculture, Community Science, Biotechnology and Agricultural Engineering to start with, and we are planning to scale up with more programs in the near future. We have identified hubs and outreach campuses to offer various educational streams, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. We are also starting new post graduate programs such as sandwich and dual degree in association with international institutions. To this effect, MoUs are signed with international universities and institutes of excellence through ICAR’s broader framework under its education division. Currently, we have fellowships finalised between Western Sydney University in Australia and discussions of finalising programs with University of Western Australia is progressing. I am confident that IARI has great potential to scale it up effortlessly, because of its past experience in setting up of two international campuses under Govt. of India’s bilateral program which culminated in ACARE in Myanmar and ANASTU in Afghanistan. Under this program, IARI has been in the forefront in providing well equipped laboratories as well as development of the course curriculum of these institutions and provided mentoring and training of the teachers and students. Our aim is to have IARI ranked in Global Ranking.