In the sun-drenched fields of India’s Basmati belt, where golden grains sway under vast skies, 63-year-old Dr Ashok Kumar Singh — recently named for the Padma Shri, the Government of India’s prestigious civilian award — carries a title he wears with quiet humility: the “Basmati King.”

Farmers do not crown him with jewels, but with stories of transformed lives — children studying in top schools, families thriving with dignity, and fields yielding rice that fetches billions in exports.

His varieties blanket 2.5 million hectares across the GI-tagged Basmati zone, producing 10 million tonnes of milled rice annually. Of this, six million tonnes are exported, earning $6 billion (Rs 51,000 crore) — nearly 12% of India’s agri-export foreign exchange — while putting smiles on millions of farmers’ faces.

For over three decades at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Dr Singh dedicated himself to Basmati rice breeding, choosing service at home over lucrative opportunities abroad. His work is more than science — it represents dignity for millions, enabling education, healthcare, and everyday joy.

Farmers regard him as family, sharing both sorrows and celebrations.

“I feel humble,” reflects the distinguished plant breeder and former Director of ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, who retired in June 2024. Today, he remains deeply engaged in agricultural discourse as an Emeritus Scientist at ICAR.

Born in Barahat village in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, to peasant roots, Singh’s story echoes the soil’s grit. His father, Late Shri Kedar Nath Singh, an innovator with only a seventh-grade education, believed deeply that education uplifts society.

In the 1970s, young Ashok witnessed bullocks trampling wheat heaps, grains emerging intact from dung that impoverished villagers washed repeatedly to make chapatis — a visceral memory of inefficiency and hunger.

“All this had an early imprint on my mind to become an agricultural scientist,” Singh recalls.

Cycling 25 km daily to attend agricultural high school and intermediate college, he balanced studies with farm chores: tilling fields, feeding livestock, milking cows and buffaloes, and cleaning sheds.

He secured fourth rank in the UP Board examinations.

Bachelor’s and master’s degrees at BHU followed, then a PhD at IARI under Prof EA Siddiq — a student of Bharat Ratna Prof MS Swaminathan, who envisioned merging traditional Basmati quality with higher yields. Later, he headed IARI as Vice Chancellor and Director completed a poetic full circle.

“Ashok was highly studious and focused, rarely joining us in co-curricular activities,” recalls his IARI batchmate Dr Sanjay Jambhulkar, a scientist who recently superannuated from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s Nuclear Agriculture Division.

“His life revolved around the hostel and the........

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