Dr. Rajendra Poddar is a specialist in agricultural education, agrarian economy, and natural resources management including water, irrigation, land, and policy.
• He started his career in 1994 as an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at the College of Agriculture, Vijayapura and served as Associate Professor and Professor of Agricultural Economics at UASD. He has guided about 30 PG students including PhDs. He has served as Head of the Project Planning and Monitoring Cell (PPMC) in the office of the Vice Chancellor of UASD from 2014 to 2018.
• He received ICAR Fellowship for a Master’s and UASD Merit Fellowship for Ph.D. He is the recipient of the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship (2008) of the Government of Australia. He has been feted with several awards including the National “Rashtriya Jal Prahari Samman- 2019”, Rashtriya Paryavaran Rakshak Award IN 2013 and 2018, and others. In recognition of his expertise, Dr. Poddar has been appointed to various National and International Expert Committees.
• He was a representative of UAS Dharwad in the UN-sponsored COP 22 summit climate change at Marrakesh in Morocco. He has handled about 20 research projects and has published 11 Research Reports, 70 Research Papers, 8 Chapters in Books, and 40 Popular Articles and has presented papers in national and international national conferences/workshops/ training, etc.
• He has visited several countries including Australia, the USA, Germany, Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Slovakia, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Nepal.
• In recognition of his expertise Dr. Poddar has been appointed to various National and International Expert Committees-Life Member, INPIM, Member, INCID, Central Water Commission, New Delhi, Member, ICID, New Delhi, Secretary, WG-CDTE, ICID, Member, Academic Council of the KSRDPR University, Gadag,
• Currently, he is serving as Director of the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI), Dharwad under the Department of Water Resources, Karnataka since February 2018. He has successfully revived the Institute and made it fully functional. Dr. Rajendra Poddar is dedicated to the cause of the welfare of students, farmers, and community initiatives for the last 30 years.