Ram Chet Chaudhary

Ram Chet Chaudhary is an agricultural scientist who has worked on rice in India and around the world. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of science and engineering, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Rice scientist

He was born on 8 November 1944 and studied agriculture at Gorakhpur University and in Kanpur, earning a PhD in agricultural botany from Agra University and doing postdoctoral work in Munich ^[2]. He taught and researched at G. B. Pant University in Pantnagar and was chief rice scientist at the Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University in Pusa, Bihar ^[2].

He went on to work as a rice specialist for the World Bank in Nigeria, for ten years as a plant breeder and global coordinator at the International Rice Research Institute, and then for the Food and Agriculture Organization in Asia, the Middle East and Africa ^[2]. According to his citation, he has developed 150 rice varieties grown around the world, 21 of them in India ^[2].

Kalanamak

After retiring, he founded the Participatory Rural Development Foundation in Gorakhpur ^[2]. His best-known work there is with Kalanamak, an aromatic heritage rice that was close to dying out ^[2]. He had it registered under India’s plant variety protection law and secured a Geographical Indication for it in 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh ^[2]. His citation says the rice is now exported and has greatly raised farmers’ incomes ^[2].

He has published more than 390 works, including 58 books, some of them standard plant-breeding textbooks ^[2].