Dr. B. Mishra – a famous rice and wheat breeder has joined Vice Chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu in the forenoon of 14th November, 2008. Dr. Mishra, a distinguished and successful plant breeder and research manager, headed the Directorate of Rice Research (DRR), Hyderabad and Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal - the two most important crops, rice and wheat, contributing more than 75 % to National Food basket. He was National rice and wheat research programme leader for more than eight years. He has co-ordinated several important national and international research projects (ICAR-UNDP, IRRI-ADB, Indo-UK, ICAR-IRRI, CSSRI-UoS- IRRI, DFID, World Bank/EEU aided CSSRI-UPLDC, ACIAR-ICAR, Indo-Swiss (ISCB), ICAR- CIMMYT, ICAR-ICARDA) etc. His pioneering work on genetics of salinity tolerance and ion uptake in rice is well recognized worldwide. Of the several salt tolerant and high yielding rice varieties (CSR 10, CSR 13, CSR 23, CSR 27, CSR 30, CSR 36 and Jarava) and one early rice hybrid (DRRH 2) were developed by him. CSR-10 and CSR-30, have revolutionized rice production in the fragile saline / sodic soil areas. CSR 30 is the World’s first Basmati variety possessing salt tolerance has now replaced the best quality Basmati type Taraori Basmati and also adapted to normal soil. It occupies more than 90 per cent of the traditional type basmati area in Haryana. Dr. Mishra has made outstanding contribution in developing low-cost biological amelioration technology for salt affected soils through development and popularization of CSR 10 variety which is substitute of chemical amendment for resource poor farmers. He has done pioneering work of introgressing 3 BLB genes (xa5, xa 13 & Xa21) in Sambha Mahsuri variety of rice which has now been released for commercial cultivation. Another most significant contribution made under his leadership was the development of rice hybrids in India which has now spread from an area of 0.1 mha to more than 1.2 mha now. As Project Director, he has facilitated the development and release of 144 rice including hybrids, 21 wheat, 1 triticale and 3 barley varieties suited for different ecologies. He has coordinated the national gene pyramiding project of rice, wheat, maize, chickpea and tomato, functional genomics and many others. He was also involved in the development and release of wheat variety, DBW 17, a subsitute of PBW 343 and one malt barley variety DWRUB 52. Novel research initiatives like pyramiding of rust resistance genes (Yr5, Yr10, Yr15, Lr34, Lr37) in the background of popular wheat cultivars like PBW 343, HUW 234 and Lok 1 have been initiated during his leadership. He has played a key role in formulating strategies to tackle threat of a new stem rust race Ug99. He has visited many countries (USA, UK, Australia, China, Japan, Italy, Philippines, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Spain, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, Australia, Mexico etc.). To his credit he has 427 publications including 74 refereed research papers in international & national journals of repute. He has guided 8 PhD and 3 MSc students and organized 315 training programmes and many national/international conferences. He has been Chairman / Member of many Board of Management / Academic Council / Management Committee / Research Advisory Committee and Selection Board of SAUs and ASRB, New Delhi. He is recipient of many prestigious international and national awards and honours- Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (ICAR), AK Richharia (Best Rice Scientist - International Year of Rice), Hari Om Ashram Trust (ICAR), Rao Bahadur Dr. Ram Dhan Singh Memorial Award (CCS HAU) and International Senadhira Award (IRRI, Philipines) and several other recognitions like Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and Member of International Organizing Committee of 12th International Wheat Genetics Symposium.