ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute

The journey of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), popularly known as Pusa Institute, began in 1905 at Pusa (Bihar) with the generous grant of 30,000 pounds from an American philanthropist, Mr. Henry Phipps. The institute was then known as Mr. Henry Phipps. The institute was then known as Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) which functioned with five departments, namely Agriculture, Cattle Breeding, Chemistry, Economic Botany and Mycology. Bacteriology unit was added in 1907. The name of ARI was changed to Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911 and, in 1919 it was renamed as Imperial Agricultural Research Institute. Following a devastating earth quake on 15th January 1934, the institute was shifted to Delhi on 29th July 1936. Post independence, the institute has been renamed as Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) To explore new frontiers of science and develop human resources to provide the leadership in technology development and policy guidance for vibrant and resilient agriculture, which should be productive, eco-friendly, sustainable, economically profitable and socially equitable. In order to accomplish this mission, the Institute has adopted the following mandates: Basic, strategic and anticipatory research in field and horticultural crops for enhanced productivity and quality. Research in frontier areas to develop resource use efficient integrated crop management technologies for the sustainable agricultural production system. Serve as a centre for academic excellence in the areas of post-graduate education and human resources development in agricultural science. Provide national leadership in agricultural research, education, extension and technology assessment and transfer by developing new concepts and approaches and serving as a national reference point for quality and standards. To provide leadership for Science-led sustainable and globally competitive agriculture for food, nutrition and livelihood security Emphasize utilization of plant genetic resources, including conservation of agriculturally important microbial, cyano-bacterial and insect resources, to produce efficient, productive and stable genotypes of crops, especially hybrids, and improve bioenergetics. Generate knowledge related to the processes of production and productivity of agricultural crops leading to the development of research philosophies, concepts, methodologies, materials and technologies. Develop and use systems approach, crop modeling, bio-indicators, nuclear tools, remote sensing and GIS to achieve a greater understanding of the production systems and to modify them to reduce the environmental and human health risk to make them more sustainable in the context of holistic ecological and socio-economic aspects. Pay greater attention to the problems of agriculture under unfavourable conditions and to the orphan commodities. Foster excellence in agriculture-related to basic and social sciences, strengthen synergism between traditional knowledge and modern science, and harness management sciences and communication systems for improving the overall efficiency. Develop capabilities in post-harvest technology, agro-processing, product development, value addition and utilization research on agricultural commodities, by-products, agricultural wastes and renewable energy resources. Concentrate on new and emerging cutting edge technologies such as molecular biology and biotechnology and develop inter-disciplinary centers of excellence with modern instrumentation and foster system research. ...view more