The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ext ...

. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was originally located in Pusa,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

as the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911. It was then renamed as the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in 1919 and following a major earthquake in Pusa, it was relocated to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

in 1936. The current institute in Delhi is financed and administered by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The IARI was responsible for the research leading to the " Green Revolution in India" of the 1970s.

History

The institute was established in 1905 at Pusa,

, with the financial assistance of Henry Phipps, Jr., an American philanthropist. Phipps was a family friend of Lady Curzon, the daughter of an American millionaire, and the wife of

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

, the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

. Phipps stayed as a guest of the Curzons during his visit to India. More importantly, Phipps left behind with them a donation of £30,000, which was used to establish the institute. He laid the foundation stone of the Agricultural Research Institute and college on 1 April 1905. The institute was originally called the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI). Its name was changed to the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911, and to the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in 1919. A reason for establishing it in Pusa in northern Bihar was the proximity to the indigo plantations which were in need of revival after the German synthesis of aniline in 1899. One of the first scientists to be deputed to the institute was the English chemist John Walter Leather in 1892. However, the institute was damaged during the devastating Bihar earthquake of 15 January 1934. The Secretary of State approved the transfer in July, 1934. The Standing Finance Committee of the Union Assembly finally announced on 25 August 1934 in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, ...

, the decision to shift the institute to New Delhi at the approximate cost of . to a place that is now called Pusa in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

. B. Viswanath was the director at that time. He also happened to be first Indian director of IARI. The new campus at New Delhi was inaugurated on 29 July 1936, while the new building of the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research was inaugurated by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow on 7 November 1936.

Post-independence: 1947–present

Post-independence, the institute was renamed the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, and in 1950 the Shimla sub-station of institute developed Rust-resistant varieties of wheat, including Pusa 718, 737, 745, and 760. In 1958, it was recognized as a " deemed university" under the UGC act of 1956 of Parliament and since then it has awarded MSc and PhD degrees. What remained of the institute at the original location was downgraded to an agricultural research station until 1970, when the

Government of Bihar The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a ju ...

established the

Rajendra Agricultural University Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, formerly known as Rajendra Agricultural University, is a public central agriculture university and is recognised as Institute of National Importance by government of India. It is located in ...

at the location.

Campus

The campus is spread over , 8 km west of New Delhi Railway Station. This was initially outside Delhi, but over the decades the city has grown much beyond the campus.

Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute is an institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with the mandate for developing new techniques for the design of agricultural experiments as well as to analyze data ...

is affiliated with and is located in the campus of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

Schools at IARI

* School of Crop Improvement * School of Plant Protection * School of Basic Sciences * School of Natural Resource Management * School of Social Sciences * School of Horticultural Science

References

External links