US scientists are trying to develop wheat strains resistant to a fungus that has spread from Africa to Iran, and is likely to show up soon in India and Pakistan. The 'Ug99' fungus, also known as 'stem
rust', is likely to spread world-wide, either through windblown spores or carried inadvertently by people
A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop,Karen Kaplan,The Times, June 14, 2009

After the initial discussions, I paid a visit to his farm and realised that though the basic infrastructure such as cement tanks were ready, he lacked the technical skill,” says Dr. Tun Tun.Accordingly Dr. Tun Tun prepared a detailed project. “More than my technical inputs, the dedication and strong determination in Mr. Bipin’s attitude made his enterprise a success,” says Dr. Tun Tun. With an initial capital of Rs. 30,000, Mr. Bipin started rearing fish fries in half acre ground area and got a net income of Rs.50,000 in a year.
Timely application of technical skill can provide a windfall
by M.J.Prabhu, The Hindu, 05 February, 2009
To be implemented in 46 farm universities, including four in Karnataka, from 2009 academic session, the new syllabi and its implementation plan will be discussed threadbare at a meeting of the agricultural university vice chancellors on February 16 and 17.“New areas of specialisations like the World Trade Organisation-related issues, climate change and biotechnology have been introduced,” S P Tiwari, deputy director general (education) at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) told Deccan Herald. The new syllabi on 83 PG courses, to come into effect in July, is based on a 20-month long exercise involving 1000 farm scientists.A 2500-page report spelling out the details was submitted to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
Farm universities to have new PG syllabi
by , The Deccan Herald, 11 February, 2009
Agricultural scientists cannot go on patting their backs for the success of green revolution to justify their failure to meet the challenges of the post green revolution era. They have been lauded enough for their role in the great saga of green revolution. Many of them, who led the team effort in the past, have been decorated and awarded. It is now time to hold others accountable for the great lapse, for their failure to save thousands of farmers from sure death. If the spate of farmers? suicides doesn?t motivate the scientific community to re-orient its research priorities, isn?t it time to question the need for massive annual expenditure on maintaining the white elephant ? ICAR? Why should the tax-payers? hard-earned money be used for funding research activities which can be better undertaken by private companies? After all, if other ?temples? of modern India can be disinvested, what is so sacrosanct about ICAR?
Reorienting priorities : Agricultural research in the country a colossal failure
by Devinder Sharma, Deccan Herald, 11 July, 2003
The \'green revolution\' has\' increased the total food production in the country from 55 million tonnes of food grains during the fifties to 209 million tonnes in recent years. Both basic and applied agricultural research are responsible for this endeavour. Agricultural Universities, State Department of Agriculture, ICAR and other private agencies have got themselves involved in this process. Most of the agricultural research till date has however concentrated on improving cereals, while oil seeds and pulses have not received much attention.
High yields
by S M Shanthaveerabhadraiah, The Deccan Herald, 04 November, 2003
These reforms are, indeed, badly needed. For,the Indian Council for AgriculturalResearch (ICAR) that controls, directlyor indirectly, the entire public sectoragricultural research and educationnetwork is not only slipping into thehands of bureaucrats but its professionalism is also under threat.
Research under threat
by Surinder Sud, The Business Standard, 24 August, 2004
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) is celebrating its centenary this year. But it actually came into beingnearry 208 years ago, in 1797, as a horse breeding station of the East India Company at a remote Bihar village called Pusa, located on the bank of River Gandak. The company needed well- bred horses for its officers to. move about but the avian breeders went a step further and began working on horse fodder, too. They introduced the oats crop for this purpose in 1807.
From horse breeding to satellite imagery
by Surinder Sud, The Business Standard, 18 March, 2005
The jinn of the insect-killer Bt gene is now out and cannot be reined in. Ways and means are now available for farmers to use Bt toxin to protect their crops from boll-worms without using the controversial transgenic seeds that are being developed by multinational companies at huge costs and being frowned upon by the green lobby. Indeed, farmers can now by-pass the fastidious Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which, for fear of environmental activists, is delaying granting permission to the genetically modified (GM) seeds containing this toxin-producing gene obtained from omnipresent soil bacteria Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). The Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed a simple contraption to enable farmers to produce Bt toxin on their own.
Gene-based pest control
by Surinder Sud, The Business Standard, 01 July, 2003
WHILE the importance of agricultural research in paving the way for a second green revolution is well known, agriculture today suffers from lack of funds and low productivity. Not only is the investment intensity in agricultural research and education (R&E) low, the share of states in R&E funding has been falling. Though private sector participation in the share of funding has increased dramatically and this is good news for agricultural research, much greater public-private participation is required for the benefits to be widespread. Investment intensity in R&E in India, or more simply the amount spent in research as a proportion of the sector\'s GDP, stands at 0.34%, among the lowest when compared to other developing countries.
Agri research needs a leg up
by Vidhika Sehgazl, The Economic Times, 08 May, 2006
ENSURING food and nutrition security of more than a billion people is a great challenge for India today. It requires increased production of grains, pulses, oil-seeds, vegetables, fruits, milk, poultry, fish and meat, making the produce available to the people at affordable prices, and seeing that the food consumed is absorbed and assimilated by the population. The first step, of course, is to produce more food, despite dwindling re-sources. As India has gone global, there is also the threat to Indian farmers, especially after the removal on 1 April 2001 of most of the quantitative restrictions on imports on agricultural products and consumer goods, from large-scale imports of food grains and processed foods of all kinds, at prices they cannot match.
Mapping agricultural research in India: A profile based on CAB Abstracts 1998
by Subbiah Arunachalam and K. Umarani, Current Science, 01 June, 2006