How A Boy From UP Village Became The Scientist Behind India’s $6 Billion Basmati Empire

From a village in Uttar Pradesh to the world’s most prized rice fields, Padma Shri awardee Dr Ashok Kumar Singh’s science has reshaped livelihoods, exports, and the future of Indian agriculture. By Hiren Kumar Bose In the sun-drenched fields of India’s Basmati belt, where golden grains sway under vast skies, 63-year-old Dr Ashok Kumar Singh — recently named for the Padma Shri, the Government of India’s prestigious civilian award — carries a title he wears with quiet humility: the “Basmati King.” Farmers do not crown him with jewels, but with stories of transformed lives — children studying in top schools, families thriving with dignity, and fields yielding rice that fetches billions in exports. His varieties blanket 2.5 million hectares across the GI-tagged Basmati zone, producing 10 million tonnes of milled rice annually. Of this, six million tonnes are exported, earning $6 billion (Rs 51,000 crore) — nearly 12% of India’s agri-export foreign exchange — while putting smiles on ...