Future of Food

ARUN TIWARI is a missile scientist turned teacher and author and widely recognized as a pupil of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India, with whom he spent 33 years right from the Missile laboratory to the Presidential team as a co-author of five books. He wrote a copious APJ Abdul Kalam: A Life after Dr Kalam s death, which is considered as the most authentic account of India s advancement in technology.

Prof. Tiwari has played a pivotal role in developing India s first indigenous coronary stent in mid 1995 as a spinoff of defence technology and since then worked tirelessly for self-reliance in socially relevant technologies. He is a founder-member of Cardiac Research & Education (CARE) Foundation, established the first link of Pan-Africa e-Network connecting Indian hospitals and university with their African counterparts, and is a Platinum Jubilee Mentor of CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology. He teaches at the University of Hyderabad as an adjunct professor. (aruntiwari(dot)com)

Dr Gopal Lal is a distinguished horticultural scientist and the Director of the ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad. With nearly three decades of dedicated service in agricultural research, education, extension, and institutional leadership, he has made pioneering contributions to arid horticulture, seed-spice genetics, crop improvement, organic farming, post-harvest management, and value chain development.

He previously served as Director of the ICAR-National Research Centre on Seed Spices, Ajmer; Member (Agriculture) of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, New Delhi; and Professor of Post-Harvest Management at the College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat. He is also a Member of the Rajasthan Kisan Ayog, Chairman and Member of several Task Force Committees of PPVFRA, and a Member of the Seed Spices Task Force Committee and the Spices Board of India.

A visionary leader and accomplished mentor, Dr Lal has guided 13 MSc and PhD scholars, led 77 research projects including eight externally funded initiatives and developed 13 high-yielding crop varieties along with several commercialised technologies. His prolific academic output includes 27 authored, edited, andinstitutional books, as well as over 200 research publications of international repute.

Recipient of multiple national awards, fellowships, and honours, Dr Lal is widely recognised for advancing sustainable horticultural and agricultural transformation in India. His contributions extend to policy formulation in women's empowerment in agriculture and the strategic promotion of drone technologies for modernising India's farm and allied sectors, reaffirming his role as a transformative leader shaping the future of Indian agriculture.