Dr. Sushil Kumar KAMRA
Present Designation:
Emeritus Scientist, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal- 132001Areas of Interest:
Subsurface Drainage; Groundwater Recharge, Salinity Control, Hydro- Salinity Modeling in soil and groundwater
Specialisation:
Subsurface Drainage; Groundwater Recharge, Salinity Control, Hydro- Salinity Modeling in soil and groundwater
Major Professional Contributions:
Dr. Sushil Kumar Kamra (Ph.D, Agricultural Engineering) retired after an intensive research career of 35 years as Principal Scientist and Head, Division of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering in December 2016, followed by two years as Emeritus Scientist at Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal (Haryana), India. He has made significant contributions in developing and propagating subsurface drainage and groundwater recharge technologies for the management of saline soils and groundwater across India. The annual potential loss due to waterlogging and soil salinity is estimated at Rs. 8000 Crore (~ 1.1 billion US $) for India, Haryana accounting for more than one tenth of this loss. The research efforts of Dr. Kamra and other team members at CSSRI have led to the implementation of mechanically- installed subsurface drainage projects in 10000 ha area in farmers’ fields in Haryana and 65000 ha area in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The technology provides a net present worth of about Rs. 75000/ ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.76 and internal rate of return 20 %. Dr. Kamra played a responsible role in most of these states in fine tuning the technology to local conditions and his work as Emeritus Scientist aimed at providing institutional and policy guidelines for its effective propagation. His work on individual farmer based groundwater recharge wells in Haryana, Punjab, UP and Gujarat has found large scale acceptance amongst farmers and government agencies in these and other states. Currently Dr. Kamra is involved with a few international and national consultancy projects.
Dr. Kamra is a recipient of the most prestigious Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Award of ICAR in individual scientist category and of Groundwater Augmentation Award of Ministry of Water Resources (GOI) and Hari Om Ashram Trust Award of ICAR in team leader category. Dr. Kamra is a Fellow of the distinguished Alexander von Humboldt Post Doctoral Fellowship (Germany, 1995- 97) as well as Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS). During 2006, he was selected as one of the 10 Asian experts for IWMI’s International Program on Groundwater Governance at Kansas University in USA. During 2008, he visited McGill University, Canada as a visiting scientist in the area of mathematical modeling of water and salt transport in soil and groundwater.
Dr. Kamra has presented research/ lead/ country papers in more than 15 international conferences in India and abroad (Pakistan, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy, Brazil), besides undertaking short/ long- term working visits to USA, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Taiwan and Australia. He has been/ is a reviewing referee for International Journals (Water Resources Research, Agricultural Water Management, J. Hydrological Processes, J. Porous Media, Environment Modelling and Software, Irrigation Science, Agricultural Research, J. of Hydraulic Engineering, Irrigation and Drainage) as well as about a dozen national journals.
Consultancy Areas:
Sector Associated With:
Sectors Interested to Offer Service:
Professional Experience
Keywords
Education
Awards and Recognitions
(i) Selected as Emeritus Scientist (2017) by President (ICAR) to work on project ‘Developing a regional framework and guidelines for effective operation and governance of subsurface drainage projects in Haryana’ for 3 years at CSSRI, Karnal (Haryana)
(ii) Hari Om Ashram Trust Award of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (I CAR) as team leader in the area of groundwater recharge (2016)
(iii) CSSRI- Excellence Award on Soil Salinity and Water Management (2014)
(iv) National Groundwater Augmentation Award (2011), Ministry of Water Resources (Govt. of India) for Farmers’ Participatory Action Research Project operational at CSSRI on groundwater recharge for which the applicant was the team leader.
(v) (a) Elected Fellow (2009), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE)
(b) Nominated as Member (2016), Selection Committee – I (Civil Engineering) of INAE fellows (2016- 2018, 2019- 2021)
(vi) Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award (2008), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the highest individual award for an Indian agricultural scientist
(vii) Elected Fellow (2003), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
(viii) Awarded Alexander von Humboldt fellowship for 22 months (April 1995- Jan. 1997) for post doctoral research at University of Kiel, Kiel in Germany
(ix) Selected as one of the 10 Asian Senior Professional Research Fellows for International Action Research Program on ‘Groundwater Governance in Theory and Practice’ of International Water Management Institute (IWMI) at Kansas University, Lawrence, USA (November 27- December 15, 2006)
INAE Section Affiliated
I: Civil Engineering
Year of Election to Fellowship
2009
Year of Birth
1954
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