About Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous organisation under the
Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
Formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established on 16 July, 1929
as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of
the Royal Commission on Agriculture. The ICAR has its headquarters at New Delhi.
The Council is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in
agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.
with 97 ICAR institutes and 45 agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of
the largest national agricultural systems in the world.
The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequent developments in
agriculture in India through its research and technology development that has enabled the country to
increase the production of foodgrains by 4 times, horticultural crops by 6 times, fish by 9 times
(marine 5 times and inland 17 times), milk 6 times and eggs 27 times since 1950-51, thus making a
visible impact on the national food and nutritional security. It has played a major role in
promoting excellence in higher education in agriculture. It is engaged in cutting edge areas of
science and technology development and its scientists are internationally acknowledged in their fields.