About IIFT

Areas of Interest / Specialization

Currently serving the Institute as Associate Professor of Statistics. Responsibilities include Teaching, Research and Consultation.

i) Research

** Division of Hydrology & Engineering, Central Soil & Water Conservation Research & Training Institute (ICAR), Dehradun, Uttarakhand as Senior Scientist from March 2003 to August 21, 2007.

** Land, Water, Environment & Engineering Research Programme, ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar as a Scientist (Sr. Scale) from April 2001 to March 2003.

** Directorate of Water Management Research (ICAR), Patna, Bihar as Scientist (Sr. Scale) from March 2000 to March 2001.

** Directorate of Water Management Research (ICAR), Patna, Bihar as Scientist from September 1996 to March 2000.

** National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (ICAR), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh as Scientist from March 1996 to August 1996.


ii) Teaching

** Currently teaching Business Statistics, Business Research Methods, Advanced Research Methods and Marketing Research to different programmes of the Institute.
** Delivered lecture on application of statistical techniques in training programme at Central Soil & Water Conservation Research & Training Institute (ICAR), Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

iii) Corporate Sector

** RR Financial Consultants Ltd., Indra Prakash Building, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi 110 001 as Research Analyst & Head, Research Division from April 1995 to March 1996.

Details of Research Projects

A. Currently working

** Possibilities of synergizing textiles & clothing value chain among SAARC countries in global trade (Associate)
** Export prospects for Indian agricultural products – an assessment of issues (Associate)
** Geographical Indications

B. Worked in recent past

** Stochastic analysis of rainfall and runoff data for planning conservation measures (Principal Investigator)
Funded by :ICAR
Research achievements: Identified appropriate probability model for describing weekly rainfall data of different stations of Uttaranchal. Minimum assured rainfall was computed and used to assess the risk of maize crop productivity to rainfall variability in the Doon valley. Estimated one-day maximum rainfall using the best-fit probability model and simulation technique at different return periods for conservation planning in the Doon valley.

** Estimation of n-consecutive day probable rainfall, potential evapotranspiration and other weather parameters affecting crop production at different locations in the country (Principal Investigator)
Funded by:ICAR
Research achievements: Developed the best-fit probability model for describing weekly rainfall data of different stations in India. Estimated the minimum assured rainfall and water balance of rice to minimize the risk of rice production due to rainfall variability.

** Development of water production functions (Principal Investigator )
Funded by: ICAR
Research achievements: Appropriate nonlinear statistical model for describing yield-water relationship of wheat has been developed. A list of crop-wise models for describing yield-water relationship of wheat has been developed.

** Integrated National Agricultural Resources Information System (Cooperative Centre Principal Investigator)
Funded by: World Bank
Research achievements: Developed database of various aspects of water resources. Developed water resources maps using GIS.

** Integrated management of land and water resources for enhancing productivity in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh (a collaborative project among ICAR RCER, Patna, IACR-Rothamsted, UK and IWMI, Sri Lanka) (Associate)
Funded by: DFID, UK
Research achievements: Conducted interactive survey with farmers, including women to identify social, institutional and technical constraints employing snowball sampling technique. Assessment of spatial and temporal availability of rain, canal, and ground water and extent / sources of water logging.

** Livelihoods improved through improved crop and soil management (a collaborative project among ICAR RCER, Patna, IACR-Rothamsted, UK and IWMI, Sri Lanka) (Associate)
Funded by: DFID, UK
Research achievements: Field verification of cadastral maps using DGPS, laser surveying equipment and handheld computers by collecting spatial data. Collected, integrated and interpreted spatial and attribute data for establishing how environmental characteristics and social factors determine crop and soil management decisions.

** Soil-water-plant relationship in wheat at various irrigation schedules and nutrient management levels in heavy textured alluvial soil of central Bihar (Associate)
Funded by: ICAR
Contribution: Suggested appropriate design to conduct field experiment. Helped in analyzing collected data.

** Income and employment effect of farm irrigation in central Bihar (Associate)
Funded by: ICAR
Contribution: Helped in developing survey design.

A. In peer reviewed journal

1. Probability distribution of extreme rainfall series for conservation planning in a sub-humid climate. (Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2008 with V. N Sharda. and P. R. Ojasvi).

2. Application of differential global positioning system, laser surveying system and handheld computers in precision agriculture in a watershed. (International Jr. Tropical Agriculture, Vol. 25, No.3, 2007).

3. Modelling weekly rainfall using gamma probability distribution and Markov chain for crop planning in a sub-humid (dry) climate of central Bihar. (Indian Jr of Agricultural Sciences, Vol. 76, June 2006 with N. Subash, A. K. Sikka, V. N. Sharda and N. K. Sharma).

4. Modelling weekly rainfall data for crop planning in a sub-humid climate of India. (Agricultural Water Management, 76 (2): 120-138, 2005 with V. N. Sharda)

5. Rainfall characteristics and probability analysis for crop planning under rice-wheat system for sub-humid (dry) climate (Indian Jr. of Soil Conservation, 32(2), 124-128, 2004 with N. Subash).

6. Rapid survey technique using digital technology for collection of spatial and attribute data in agricultural research (Journal of the CSI, 33 (2): 1-5, 2003).

7. Growth models for describing state-wise wheat productivity (Indian Jr. of Agricultural Research, 34(3): 179-81, 2000, with Prajneshu).

8. Modelling wheat production at state level in post-green revolution era. Indian Jr. of Agricultural Sciences, 68(1): 23-6, 1998, with Prajneshu).

B. In Book/ Book Chapter

1. Water production function – a review. In Waste Recycling and Resource Management in the Developing World. Edited by B.B. Jana, R.D. Banerjee, B. Guterstam and J. Heeb. University of Kalyani, India and International Ecological Engineering Society, Switzerland. p.543-50 (2000 with S. R. Singh ).

C. In Conferences/ Seminars

1. Modelling wheat production in India. Jr. of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics, Vol. XLIII (3), Dec. 1991, p.249 (Abstract) (with Prajneshu)

2. Nonlinear statistical models for describing state-wise wheat production data in post green - revolution era. Presented at the 49th Annual Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics during February 22-24, 1996 held at Lucknow. (with Prajneshu)

3. Nonlinear statistical models for describing yield-water relationship of wheat. Presented in the 53rd Annual Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics during December 2-4, 1999 held at Tiruchirappally.

4. A data warehouse approach to manage large volume of data. Presented at the 16th National Convention of Computer Engineers and National Seminar on “Impact of Information Technology on Quality of Life - Future Strategy” on December 15-16, 2001 at Patna (with N. Subash).

5. Application of Differential Global Positioning System in Land and Water management. Presented at the 16th National Convention of Computer Engineers and National Seminar on “Impact of Information Technology on Quality of Life - Future Strategy” on December 15-16, 2001 at Patna (with B. Saha and S. R. Singh).

6. Application of information technology in natural resource management for sustainable Agriculture. Presented at the XXXVI th Annual Convention and Symposium of ISAE during 28-30 January, 2002 held at Kharagpur (with A. K. Singh and A. Upadhyaya)

7. Cadastral mapping using DGPS technology. Presented at Users’ Meet held at NRSA, Hyderabad during 30-31 January 2002. (with Palmer-Jones Richard, B. Saha, S.S. Prasad, Rakesh Kumar, Sachin Dhingre and Manoj Singh).

8. Development of geo-database of irrigation water resources of the country. Presented at the International Conference on Developments in Hydrology held at Kolkata during 24-25 October 2002.

9. Irrigation water resources information system incorporating spatial data. Presented at ISPRS, NRSA, Hyderabad held during 3-6 December 2002 (with Manibhushan, Abhay Kumar, Sanjay Tewari, Girish Panchariya, Amlendu Shekhar).

10. Integrated input management in wheat under heavy soils of Sone command. Bihar. Abstract presented in National Symposium on Agriculture in Changing Global Scenario. 21-23 Feb. 2002 at IARI, New Delhi pp 94-95 (with S. S. Singh., L. K. Prasad, B. Saha, D. Subrahmanyam, and R. D. Singh)

D. In Training Manual

1. Das P. K. (2005) Statistical methods for watershed data analysis. In Winter School on Water Harvesting Techniques and Bio-engineering Measures for Drainage Line Treatment. Compiled by Juyal, G. P. and V. N. Sharda. Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun.

E. Others

Ph.D. work of Dr. Prabir K. Das has been referred to “Five Decades of Research in Biostatistics and Statistical Genetics: An overview” by P.S. Rana and Prajneshu published in the “Advances in Agricultural Statistics and Computer Applications”, Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, pp 172-78, 1999.

Statistical Consultancy

• Provided statistical consultancy to TIFAC funded project entitled “A system’s approach to enhance rice-wheat productivity in Sone command” implemented in the Sone command area of Patna, Bihar.

• Provided input on statistical methodology for collection and analysis of data to different projects carried out by the working scientists of different disciplines in ICAR.

• Providing input on statistical methodology and data analysis to different projects carried out by the Faculty members of IIFT.

Guidance

• Guided one student of Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi in the project work entitled “Development of Information System for Management of Agricultural Research Project”.
• Guided several MBA students on their Dissertation project.

Particulars of Post-qualification Training (Partial List)

• At IACR-Rothamsted, UK, University of Reading, UK and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK on “Soil, geologic, hydrologic, meteorological, and other data base management including field verification and updating of cadastral maps using DGPS” and “Characterizing key environmental parameters that determine soil and crop management decisions”.

• At National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad on “Remote sensing technologies and its applications including image processing, pattern recognition and GIS”.

• At NIIT, New Delhi on “Advanced software training covering RDBMS concepts, MS Access, Networking, & Oracle essentials, D2K,GIS and spatial data management concepts”.

• At National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh on “Foundation Course for Agricultural Research Service (Phase I & II)” and at BCKV, Kalyani, West Bengal on “Field Experience Training”.

Professional / Academic Affiliations

Life Membership of Scientific Societies

Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics, New Delhi
Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata
Computer Society of India, Mumbai
Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists, Dehradun
Society of Statistics, Computer and Applications, New Delhi

Awards/Fellowship

• Recipient of National Scholarship
• Recipient of University Merit Scholarship
• Recipient of ICAR/IARI Junior Research Fellowship
• Recipient of ICAR/IARI Senior Research Fellowship
• Awarded the first prize in the Declamation contest on “Statistics for Rural Development” held at IASRI, New Delhi.