Eight agri experts among 2026 Padma award winners

On the eve of the 77th Republic Day, President Draupadi Murmu announced the conferment of 131 Padma awards recognising distinguished service across fields ranging from art and social work to science and medicine. The list, released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan, and 113 Padma Shri awardees.

The laureates include eight individuals dedicated to agriculture, animal husbandry, and crop sciences. While some are celebrated academicians who have helmed India’s premier agricultural universities, others are grassroots innovators working on the ground.

Ashok Kumar Singh is a plant geneticist and former director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), best known for his work developing high-yielding Basmati rice varieties. His research has focused on integrating molecular breeding with conventional methods to improve grain quality and disease resistance.

Gopalji Trivedi is an agricultural education veteran and former vice-chancellor of the Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University in Pusa, Bihar. He helped shape agricultural pedagogy in the region and championed the use of technology to empower farmers in Bihar’s unique agro-climatic zones.

K. Ramasamy is an agricultural scientist who served as the vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. He played an important role in modernising agricultural education in Tamil Nadu and served on various national committees for the ICAR and UGC.

Prem Lal Gautam is currently the chancellor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University and a noted geneticist and plant breeder. He previously served as the Deputy Director General (Crop Science) at ICAR and is credited with developing more than 12 improved crop varieties, including wheat and foxtail millet.

Jogesh Deuri is a sericulture expert and currently the Director of Sericulture for the Bodoland Territorial Council. He’s recognised for his work in promoting ‘Eri’ silk farming in Assam — a technique of ‘nonviolent’ silk breeding. He also helped modernise traditional rearing methods to generate incomes for rural youth and tribal communities in Kokrajhar district.

Shrirang Devaba Lad hails from Maharashtra and has been recognised for his service to agriculture in the State, likely representing the community of progressive farmers driving innovation at the field level.

The last two laureates, Rama Reddy Mamidi and Raghupat Singh, have been awarded posthumously. Mr. Reddy was a towering figure in the cooperative movement and founded the Co-operative Development Foundation and championed the Mulukanoor model to empower rural communities through democratically managed dairy and credit cooperatives in Telangana. Mr. Singh has been recognised for his contributions to grassroots agriculture in Uttar Pradesh.

Beyond agriculture, the ‘Science and Engineering’ category features a diverse group. A.E. Muthunayagam was an architect of ISRO’s liquid propulsion systems. Former DRDO scientist Chandramouli Gaddamanugu spent more than three decades leading the development of the Akash missile system. Juzer Vasi from IIT Bombay has been honored for his work in solar photovoltaics.

The list also includes IIT-Madras director and SHAKTI microprocessor developer V. Kamakoti; senior CSIR-CCMB scientist Kumarasamy Thangaraj, renowned for his work in population genetics; and Praveen Kumar, an IIT-Mandi researcher developing AI-based early-warning systems for landslides in the Himalaya. Rounding out the list are Krishnamurty Balasubramanian for his work in materials science at the Nonferrous Materials Technology Development Centre.

The sole woman on the ‘Science and Engineering’ list, Shubha V. Iyengar, has been feted for her work at the intersection of chemistry, materials science, and aeronautical engineering.