ASRB Chaired by the IAS?

The agricultural science fraternity, including students, faculty, and scientists, observed a “Black Day” on 20 December 2018 against the decision of the central government to make Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers eligible for the position of chairperson of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB). The ASRB plays a key role in the recruitment of scientists across the 102 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutions spread throughout India. It is the sole authority for recruiting and promoting all the scientists in ICAR system, which is comprised by about 5,000 scientists and about 150 research management positions.

The ICAR scientists are known for their scientific temper and contributions to the scientific progress of the country in terms of the number of technologies developed, and the number of crop varieties developed and diffused to the remotest parts of the country. They are indirectly involved in the strengthening of 60 state agricultural universities promoted by state governments, by conducting basic research like the development of the genetic base, maintaining biodiversity, maintaining state-of-the-art biotechnological labs, etc. The research outputs of this basic research were, in turn, used by the state agricultural universities for developing location-specific technologies and crop varieties suited to local conditions.