Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India on 14^th June 1943; Educated at National High School, Srinagar, 1953-57; Amar Singh College, Srinagar, 1957-59; College of Agriculture, Banaras Hindu University, 1960-65; Punjab Agricultural University, 1965-68; Federal Research Centre for Agriculture, Braunschweig, Germany, 1973-74; B.Sc. 1963; M.Sc. 1965; Ph.D. 1968. 

Professor of Plant Pathology, 1982-92, and Head, Department of Plant Pathology, 1987-90, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar; Director, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1992-93; Visiting Professor, University of Hannover, 1987, University of Tubingen, Germany, 1994, University of Montreal, Canada, 1995, and DongGuk University, Seoul, S. Korea, 2000; Director of Research, Haryana Agricultural University, 1998-2001. 

Awards/Honours: National Narasimhan Award, 1978; MS Pavgi Memorial Lecture Award, 1997; President, Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology, 1998; Sir J.C. Luthura Award, 2000; President, Indian Phytopathological Society, 2000);  N. Prasad Memorial Award   (2008):   ICMPB Life-Time  Achievement  Award (2012). 

Fellow: National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian Phytopathological Society; Honorary Fellow, Indian Society of Plant Pathologists. 

Chairman / Member : several   research  management, planning  and  advisory  committees  /  expert panels  of:  ICAR,  DBT,  DST, IDRC, ICOM, and  other  national  and international bodies. 

Technical  Advisor, Academic Councils of I.A.R.I., New Delhi; H.P.K.V.V. Palampur; Board   of Management,  Haryana  Agrl. University;  National Research Development Council; Led Study Visit  to various land-grant Universities in U.S.A. (2000), for strengthening the India-U.S. research collaborations and Member, Commission on Agricultural Reforms, Research and Development, Govt. of Jharkhand (2006-08). 

Major contributions in the domains of : Dynamics of mycorrhizal associations under biotic and abiotic stresses; Decision-support system in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).Molecular Biology of host-pathogen interactions and Research management, policy-planning, priority-setting, research-extension linkages and having 147 Research Publications.