Internationally renowned scientist Dr. Mangi Lal Jat has been appointed as the Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for a tenure of three years.
DARE coordinates and promotes agricultural research and education in the country. It has the following four autonomous bodies under its administrative control.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Jat was serving as the Deputy Director General – Research (AI) and Director of the Global Research Program at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad. He succeeds Dr. Himanshu Pathak, who assumed the role of Director General of ICRISAT on March 6, following his voluntary retirement from ICAR.

Dr. Jat holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy, specializing in Soil Moisture Conservation in Rainfed Pearl Millet, from ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. A Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), he has received several prestigious accolades, including ICAR’s Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award.
Recognized as a leading systems agronomist, Dr. Jat brings over 25 years of experience in systems science, with impactful contributions across the developing world.