Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India is the apex body in Agriculture and related allied fields, including research and education. The Union Minister of Agriculture is the President of the ICAR. Its principal officer is the Director-General who is also the Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). Currently, ICAR Director is Mangala Rai.

ICAR has two bodies.

1. The General Body, the supreme authority of the ICAR, is headed by the Minister of Agriculture, Government of India
2. The Governing Body which is the chief executive and decision making authority of the ICAR. It is headed by the Director-General.

As of July, 2006 it has developed a vaccine against bird flu.The vaccine was developed at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal, the only facility in the country to conduct tests for the H5N1 variant of bird flu.It was entrusted with the task of developing a vaccine by the ICAR after the Avian Influenza outbreak in February. The ICAR provided Rs. 8 crore for the purpose.

All India Agriculture Entrance Examination

The ICAR conducts an entrance test for a reserved pool of 15% seats in all undergraduate courses in agriculture and allied fields in all agriculture universities of India. The syllabus is parallel to various PMTs especially AIPMT There is a rule aimed at increasing admissions from more number of states by allowing only 40% seats from a state.

External links

• ICAR.org
• University of Agricultural Sciences ,Dharwad
• Orissa University of Agriclture and Technology, Bhubaneswar