Professor Jeet Singh Sandhu, renowned agricultural scientist and research manager has been appointed as Hon' ble Vice Chancellor, SKNAU, Jobner. Born on 1st August 1955 at Sriganga Nagar, Rajasthan, Dr Sandhu graduated from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 1978 and obtained Master’s in 1982 and Ph.D. degree in 1985 in Plant Breeding from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.
Prior to this, Dr Sandhu served the Apex Agricultural Research organization of India, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi as Deputy Director General (crop Science) and Assistant Director General (Seeds). He also served as Agriculture Commissioner, Government of India in between above positions. Prof. Sandhu started his research carrier from premier agricultural institution, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, as Research Fellow since July 1985and worked there in various capacities as Assistant Plant Breeder, Pulse Breeder and Senior Pulse breeder cum Incharge, Pulses Section, and Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics.
He has also served as Incharge, Seed Production as Additional duty, Regional Research Station, PAU, Bathinda. He has developed 23 varieties of different pulse crops and published 229 research articles in scientific journal of national and international reputes. Prof. Sandhu also served the professional societies, as President, Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding, New Delhi, President & Vice president, Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development (ISPRD), Kanpur, Vice President, Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi and Chairman, Editorial board, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences.
He has Served as Chairman, Central Sub-Committee for crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops and Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee and a member of various important committees like PPVFRA, RCGM, GEAC, Saarc Regional Gene Bank and Board of Management of Agricultural Universities, India etc. Dr Sandhu was also Member of various Steering Committees of ACIAR, ICRISAT, IRRI, BISA and BRICS etc to develop the joint work plans and research strategies. He was also involved to develop various policy documents. He has visited more than dozen foreign countries being part of Indian delegations for International cooperation.
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi’ awarded Dr Sandhu with Fellowship for his outstanding scientific contribution in agriculture. He is also Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development (ISPRD), Kanpur and Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. Dr Sandhu is duly recognized for contributions, with awards and honors by the various other organizations like CGIAR’S King Baudouin Award 2002 and ICRISAT DOREEN MASHLER 2002 – PAU Team Award as national collaborator of ICRISAT, Plaque for best Research Worker and with a certificate for outstanding contribution in Research and Development by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and with ISPRD Recognition Award by the Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development, Kanpur.
Mr. Nate Blum
Chief Executive Officer, Sorghum United
Career Profile of
Mr. Nate Blum
Mr. Nate Blum serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Sorghum United, an International NGO serving to advance education and markets development for Sorghum
and adjacent small grains. Mr. Blum is passionate about the mission of Sorghum United
due to the solutions for food security, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and rural economic
disparity that these ancient grains represent. He is an expert on grain sorghum production and
marketing, with a focus on value-added agriculture processing for sorghum-based products. Mr. Blum has represented the sorghum and millets industry in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay,
Vietnam, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Jordan, Great Britain, Scotland, Australia, Japan,
the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Senegal, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Cambodia, and the United
Nations FAO. He has also worked with international stakeholders in regard to the United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, hosting an Independent Food Systems Summit
(August 2021). Mr. Blum served as the Executive Director of the Nebraska Grain Sorghum
Board and the Nebraska Sorghum Producers Association from 2019 to 2023. Mr. Blum served on the USDA Grains, Feed, and Oilseeds Ag Trade Advisory Committee
(ATAC). The ATAC advised trade policy to the office of the US Trade Representative. He is an
Alumnus of the University of Nebraska (Class of 2019), the Nebraska Leadership, Education,
Agriculture, Development (LEAD) Program (Class XXXVI), and served as the Vice president of
the Nebraska LEAD Alumni Association.
Mr. Blum received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska. He also
enjoys volunteering for local non-profits and organizing community events in his free time.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Mittal has been Vice Chancellor, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh; Vice Chancellor, Rajendra Agricultural University (now Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University), Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar; OSD (International Relations) and Assistant Director General (Education Quality Assurance & Reforms), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Dr. Mittal has also worked as Danida Visiting Scientist in Denmark, NSERC Visiting Fellow in Canada, and as additional charge as Head, BRICS Agricultural Research Platform, ICAR, New Delhi, and ADG (Education Planning & Development) and ADG (Technical Coordination), ICAR at different times. He established several new academic institutions, initiated several new programmes, did pioneering work in seed pathology and made significant policy level contributions in enhancement of quality of national agricultural education and international cooperation in agricultural research and education.
Dr. Mittal has been the President of the Indian Association of Agricultural Universities, New Delhi; President of the IMS, Kolkata and ISMPP, Udaipur; Fellow of six scientific societies (IPS, ISMPP, IMS, ISST, ISNS, ISEPSA); Member of the ISTA Forest Tree Seed and Shrub Committee, ISTA Tree Seed Pathology Working Group, Switzerland, and American Phytopathological Society, USA; recipient of the Man of the Year-1998 award by the ABI, USA; Prof. H.K. Barua Memorial Lecture Award (2006) by the IMS, Kolkata; National Education Award 2015 for Outstanding Contribution to Education by the ABP News; Prof. S.S. Chahal Life Time Achievement Award- 2019 by the ISMPP, Udaipur; Rajesh Pilot Memorial Award- 2019 and Hukum Singh Memorial Award- 2020 by Hi-Tech Horticultural Society; Honorary Fellow-2019 by the U.P. Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lucknow; Member and Senior Consultant, TAAS, New Delhi; Lifetime Achievement Award- 2021 of Advance Research Institute For Development of Social Science, Meerut, and acted as Chairman/Member/Member Secretary of several academic and administrative committees of ICAR, ICAR institutes, international delegations, agricultural universities, search-cum-selection of Vice Chancellors and others.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Mittal was born on September 19, 1955 in Muzaffarnagar, UP and did graduation and post-graduation from Meerut University, Ph.D. from HNBG Central University, Srinagar and post- doctoral research at F.R.I. & Colleges, Dehradun. Present Address: A-422, T-4, Ashiana Upvan, Ahinsa Khand II, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, 201014, UP; email: rakumittal@gmail.com, Mob.: 9473193264.
Dr. Ashok Alur
Vice Chancellor at KODAGU University
Career Profile of
Dr. Ashok Alur
Received PhD in Agriculture from UAS-Dharwad, India. Has more than 20 years of experience in Agriculture, Higher Education, International Cooperation, Natural Resources Management, farmers Institutions etc. Held different positions in Swiss Agency for Development-Cooperation, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics & University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot (Karnataka, India ) & also served as Vice Chancellor (at Anantapur-Andhra Pradesh-India).Currently serves as the Director-Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations. Received many prestigious awards including, Honors from ICRISAT for his contributions to reduce poverty, malnutrition, environmental-degradation, Honorary Recognition(FCRI-Thailand), Honorary-Credential(China), Honors from Government of Mozambique & Swaziland, SarvottamSeva-Award,ScienceCommunicators-Award and Independence Day Honors from Government of Karnataka. He has served as Honorary Expert for the Food Security Programs of Mozambique & Swaziland, member on Regional-Committee of UNDP-GEF, Israel Technology Committee and many other committees.
Dr. A. S. Baloda
Director, RARI, Durgapura
Career Profile of
Dr. A. S. Baloda
Dr. A. S. Baloda, is a Director in RARI, Durgapura
Dr. Surendra Gankoktra(IAS)
Former Chairman of State Food Commission, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
Career Profile of
Dr. Surendra Gankoktra(IAS)
Dr. Surender Ghonkrokta has 40 years rich experience of working with Govt. of India, state
governments and academic institutions where he led multiple food & nutrition security, safety and
quality programs. Currently, he is Head of the Committee on Vegan Standards / Export Promotion,
and a member of Evaluation Committee on Organic Farming, APEDA, Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Govt. of India. He is also nominated by Govt. of India as governing body member of Sports
Authority of India.
He was the Chairman of State Food Commission, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, where he was actively
involved for implementation of Food Security Act. and regularly advising to the Chief Minister and
state government agencies for effective implementation of food and nutrition security programs. As
Managing Director & Commissioner of Food & Civil Supplies Department, Govt. of Delhi, he
implemented public food distribution program for the Delhi state. He worked as Director of Education
Department, Govt. of Delhi, wherein he played an important role in improving the nutritional status
of the Mid-Day-Meal program. He worked as Member Secretary of Delhi Pollution Control Board and
Drug Controller of Govt. of Delhi. During the tenure with FSSAI as Director (Enforcement), he laid down
the standards of many food articles and regulated their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and
import. For some time, he worked as Secretary with the Department of Science & Technology, Govt.
of Arunachal Pradesh.
Besides his diversified senior position roles with Govt. of India and state governments, he was actively
involved in academics during his initial career as Food Technologist and Asst. Professor with Himachal
Pradesh Agriculture University where he spent substantial time in research & training. He was the
president of Association of Food Scientists & Technologist of India, CFTRI, and recently an Adjunct
Professor of Food Science & Technology at Pondicherry Central University.
Prof. Dr. E. G. Rajan
Founder President of Pentagram Research Centre (P) Ltd., Hyderabad, India
Career Profile of
Prof. Dr. E. G. Rajan
Prof. Dr. E. G. Rajan B.Sc., D.M.I.T., M.E., PhD, FIE is the Founder President of Pentagram Research Centre (P) Ltd., Hyderabad, India. He is an Electronics Engineer and a Professor of Signal Processing having about 44 years of experience in teaching, research and administration. He has a number of publications to his credit. He has been a professional member of ACM and an editor of the journal of AMSE, Royal Academy of Doctors, Barcelona, Spain. He received his Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering, (Signal and Image Processing), from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, U.P., M.E. degree in Applied Electronics, from Madras University, the then famous DMIT in Electronics Engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet, Madras and B.Sc degree in Physics from Madras University.
His contribution to the state-of-the-art of Electronic Warfare and Support Measures has been well recognized in the Government and industrial sectors. He was a noted teacher in the department of Electrical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He received Distinguished Scientist and Man of the Millennium Award from Who is Who Bibliographical Records, Cambridge, 2000. He authored many books like, Symbolic Computing Signal and Image Processing, Electronic Order of Battle Records of Military Radars, Computers and Information Technology and Foundations of Information Technology. He is the father of a novel paradigm Symbolic Computing in the Framework of Markov’s Constructive Mathematical Logic. His contribution to Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, Modeling and Simulation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning could be seen in his research publications. Two of his sixty five Ph.D scholars were involved in the design of digital circuits using organic molecules and some of them are working in the area of Big Data Analytics pertaining to Genome Data Base, Crime Prediction Support System, Biometrics Data Base, Medical Data Bases like MRI and CT Scan imageries of Breast Cancer, Geospatial Data Bases like Multispectral Satellite imageries and Subsurface Three Dimensional Radargrams obtained using Ground Penetrating Radars.
He has brought out more than 25 original patentable concepts. One such concept is Codon Space, which advocates the theory of Life Forms as Subspaces of the Information Space called Codon Space. Another concept is a Mathematical Transform, which goes by his name as Rajan Transform. On November 15, 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Gold Medal for his life time achievement in Teaching, Research, Industrial Development and Corporate Social Responsibility. He has been a Special Invitee of Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Elected Member, International Federation of Systems Research, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria, He was honored with a citation Veda Vedi Vibhushana by H. H. Swami Ramdev during the second National Conference on Vedic Sciences, Arshadhara 2013 held at the Mythic Society, Bengaluru on 28th December 2013.
He was invited to address at many conferences, departments, organizations and universities like National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad; RCI / DRDL, Hyderabad; University of Hyderabad; University of Maryland @ College Park; Florida State University, Tallahassee; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge; Pennsylvania State University @ State College; Loisiana State University, Baton Rouge, University of Southwestern Louisiana, La Fayette, University of Southern California, Russian Academy of Sciences, Syberia, Kepler University, Austria, University of Aegean, Greece, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Police Academy, Hyderabad, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, Tapar University, Patiala, Chandigarh University, Punjab, to name a few. He has chaired ten international conferences and offered keynote lectures and workshops both in India and abroad. He is also advisor for an NRI funded organization in the USA which deals with funding projects related to aviation, space, energy, health, education, agriculture and security.
S. MURALIDHARAN
Chief Technology Officer & Founder Member,Personalitree Academy Ltd.,New Delhi
Career Profile of
S. MURALIDHARAN
Mr Muralidharan is a highly qualified and experienced person with diversified exposure with various large corporates, PSU's and Govt. by heading various projects in the capacity of President, Advisors and Executive Director and addressed very important issues like human rights,international affairs,child labour etc.
He was Chief Technology Officer & Founder Member, Personalitree Academy Ltd., New Delhi (incubated the project to promote softskills online varsity with the VC funding from various top-notch Industrialists in the country). Major clients, include, PSUs – GAIL, MTNL, LIC, BPCL, HPCL, IFFCO, Citi Bank, HDFC, Godrej, TISCO, EID Parry, Wipro, Netvarsity, etc., and Educational Institutions: BITS, Pilani, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorky, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Army Public Schools, DPS, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Embedded 6 courses as curriculum for M.Sc. IT courses in six universities in Andhra Pradesh under the guidance of Andhra Pradesh Council for Higher Education, etc.
He was Information Technology Consultant for monitoring funds for various projects from Germany as per Indo - German Agreement of both Indian and German Governments routed through Indo-German Social Service Society, New Delhi, to various stakeholders in the country. He was Head of Information and Technology, India International Centre, New Delhi (Involved in various Government of India initiatives and was part of initial strategic team to create a few statutory organizations in the country.
Dr. Ravin Jhunjhunwala
PhD in Management, Partnered with the Australian NTS (Nutri-Tech Solutions) group
Career Profile of
Dr. Ravin Jhunjhunwala
Dr. Ravin Jhunjhunwala, an accomplished entrepreneur with a list of accolades including an honorary PhD in Management, inherited a thirdgeneration domestic family business and turned it into a multinational corporation with a presence in over twenty countries. The ORIND Group grew into a global brand in the refractory industry because of Dr Jhunjhunwala’s innovative ideas and indefatigable nature. Due to his expansive outlook and relentless efforts, Orind China was the first wholly-owned Indian establishment in China which was celebrated as a legendary achievement. Since the conclusion of the Orind chapter, Dr Jhunjhunwala decided to venture into an ecologically sound enterprise and in 2015, Nutrition Bio System (NBS) Group was born with its headquarters in Singapore. In addition to providing cultivators with a wide range of top-quality organic fertilizers and plant supplements, for the retail and the wholesale markets. NBS Group is one of the key sellers of organic neem oil concentrate, an effective organic pest control additive, in India and S.E. Asia. At NBS, growers and cultivators can find solutions for plant troubles that are brought on by elements out of their control such as pest infestations and diseases. NBS provides onsite consultation and has conducted successful yield projects in India, Malaysia, and Singapore where the client has increased the size and output using NBS range of products.
Currently, NBS supplies to a few of the large retail florists in Singapore and has a strong hold in the organic fertilizer segment in popular e-commerce sites viz. Lazada and Shopee. NBS is also one of the suppliers to the National Parks Board at Singapore for the maintenance of the Gardens by the Bay.
Dr. Jhunjhunwala has partnered with the Australian NTS (Nutri-Tech Solutions) group to propagate the concept of Nutrition Farming in India and other Asian countries. His vision is to revolutionize the current farming methods and promote safe plantations without the application of toxic chemicals commonly found in fertilizers and pesticides which would be detrimental to the health of the final consumer. To make this dream a reality, Dr Jhunjhunwala is involved with several gamechanging projects in the agriculture and landscape industry and will continue to pursue new avenues that will facilitate sustainable growth without compromising exhaustible resources for the generations to come. Recently he published his first book “WHAT NOT TO DO TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS”.
Graeme Sait is the CEO and C0-founder of Nutri-Tech Solutions (NTS) which was founded 22 years ago with the aim of highlighting and researching the links between soil health and human health. They termed this approach as “Nutrition Farming”. More recently, the focus has extended to include the profound relationship between soil health and planetary health.
Graeme Sait has developed over 200 problem-solving solutions, including microbial inoculums, liquid fertilisers and humates.
He is also an author/educator responsible for over 300 published articles and a popular book, "Nutrition Rules". Graeme Sait has also developed an internationally acclaimed, education programme spearheaded by the Four-Day, NTS Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture. This course has been delivered to over 20,000 farmers and consultants on four continents. These seminars are often described as "life changing" and "inspirational".
Graeme Sait has trained the growers from a 540 store, supermarket chain in South Africa (Woolworths) to facilitate their recent “Farming for The Future” initiative, where all food produced in their chain utilises Nutrition Farming® Principles.
Mr. Upendra Vats
Adviser at India Millet Initiative
Career Profile of
Mr. Upendra Vats
Performed at Asst, Deputy and General Manager in APEDA with proven business development and trade facilitation. Being part of Team and later developed professional teams to complete
tasks assigned and stakeholder management. Entrepreneurial leader with demonstrated ability to build productive relationships across multiple levels of organisation. .
Focused on deadline-oriented with capacity to execute and complete multiple projects in high-stress environments.Meticulous leader and strategic planner with demonstrated
ability to improve workflow efficiency and productivity across multiple levels of organisation. Worked in different Product sectors in Agri sector and administrative and Budget planning
. Implementation of Regulations of Horti Pack Houses, Peanut Units , Livestock Products and Organic Products of India.
