Portrait
Prof. Balraj Singh is currently serving as Vice Chancellor at S.K.N. Agriculture University in Jobner, Rajasthan. He has held various leadership positions in the past, including as Vice-Chancellor at Agriculture University in Jodhpur, Director of ICAR-NRC on Seed Spices in Ajmer, and Project Coordinator of ICAR-AICRP on Honey Bees and Pollinators at ICAR-IARI in New Delhi. Throughout his 33-year career, Prof. Singh has gained extensive experience in research, teaching, HRD, and horticultural crop extension. He has also undergone international training in ""Leadership and Decision Making"" at the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA, and in Horticultural Crop Production under Climatic Constraints"" at the Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University in Rehovot, Israel. Prof. Singh was a member of the pioneering team that introduced Protected Cultivation Technology to India as part of an Indo-Israeli collaborative project. He has developed numerous low-cost and energy-efficient protected cultivation techniques that are suitable for various agro-climatic conditions, with the goal of assisting Indian farmers. Prof. Singh was also the Consortia Principal Investigator for a NAIP project funded by the World Bank, which was worth approximately 1.0 million USD and focused on Protected Cultivation of High Quality Vegetables and Cut Flowers: A Value Chain Approach. He has served as a resource person on various working groups formed by Indian states to implement Protected Cultivation and Hi-Tech Vegetable Farming. Prof. Singh's contributions have been widely recognized both nationally and internationally, and he has received several awards and honors. He is the founder secretary of the Indian Society for Protected Cultivation and the Vice President of the Indian Society of Seed Technology. Additionally, he is a Fellow member of the Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Technology; the Indian Society of Seed Technology; the Horticulture Society of India; the Indian Society of Seed Spices; and the President of the Society for Integrated Development of Agriculture at AU, Jodhpur, and SHRD in Ghaziabad.
He has provided guidance to numerous postgraduate and Ph.D. students at ICAR-IARI New Delhi. His extensive research experience is reflected in the publication of over 145 research papers in reputable national and international journals, as well as more than 36 book chapters published both nationally and internationally. Additionally, he has written over 125 technical and popular articles to disseminate technology among farmers and stakeholders. Prof. Singh is the author of the first Indian textbook on "Protected Cultivation of Vegetable Crops" and has also edited the book "Advances in Protected Cultivation," which was forwarded by the former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He has conducted over 50 national and international training programs for scientists, professionals, and farmers on various topics such as high-tech nursery raising in vegetables, advances in protected cultivation of vegetables, plant protection of horticultural crops under protected conditions, and seed production in vegetables. Prof. Singh's contributions include the identification and release of eight varieties of different vegetable and seed spice crops at the state and national levels, as well as the standardization of vegetable crop and seed production technologies under protected and open field conditions. Under his leadership, the ICAR-NRC on Seed Spices, Ajmer, achieved new heights in R&D and received ISO 9001:2008 accreditation for laboratory analysis, seed spice research and development, consultancy, training, and technology transfer to stakeholders. Prof. Singh's accomplishments have been recognized with the Dr. Kirti Singh Gold Medal by HSI and the Life Time Achievement Award by SHRD for his outstanding contributions to the field of Vegetable Sciences.
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