NEW DELHI: A body of top agriculture scientists on Monday sought the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s intervention in stopping the agriculture ministry’s reported move to appoint IAS officer as chairman of the Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board (ASRB) which recruits scientists in India’s premier farm research institutions.

At present, only eminent agriculture scientist is recruited as head of the Board. The ministry has, however, recently mooted a proposal on considering even IAS officer for the post of the ASRB chairman.

A Cabinet proposal has reportedly been moved to widen the eligibility criteria for appointment of the Board’s chief as part of the government plan to reform the ASRB. Currently, the ASRB is without a chairman for more than a year and one of the two posts of members is also vacant since July 2017. Even the post of over 60 directors are lying vacant in the absence of a chairman.

Opposing this move, eight scientists on Monday jointly held a press conference and said appointment of non-agriculture scientists and bureaucrats could affect the autonomy of the Board.

“It is learnt that attempts have been made without the knowledge of the Board and other stakeholders to amend the recruitment rules for the post of chairman and members of the ASRB, ignoring completely the recommendations of a Committee on the subject,” said Panjab Singh, president of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) - a body of the country’s top agriculture scientists.

He said, “If this proposal gets cleared, then it would demoralise the cadre of scientists and derail the ongoing farm research.”

Former ASRB chairman, R B Singh, said, “Sadly, there have been instances of circumscribing, derailing if not usurping totally the autonomy and effectiveness of the Board by some vested interests.

“Someone who is not actively involved in expanding the frontier of agri-science, will not be in a position to assess the professional suitability of a scientist or technocrat in context of the latest scientific and technological development.”

Anupam Verma, former professor at Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), asked, “Why is the ministry trying to induct a bureaucrat to head the agricultural science body when the other scientific institutions in India such as DBT, CSIR and BARC are being headed by scientists?”

Verma said, “The entire agricultural scientific community is quite perturbed at such move as to why only the ASRB/ICAR, which has delivered magnificently, is being disrupted.”

