Birth and Educations: Born in Koppal, Karnataka on 28^th August 1966. Educated at Government School, Mangalore Village, 1982; J.T.College, Gadag, 1984, College of Agriculture, Raichur, Karnataka, 1984-1988; College of Agriculture, Dharwad, 1988-90, M.Sc. (Agri.) and Ph.D.2002-2004; Post Doc. Washington State University, Pullman, USA.

Positions hold : Registrar, Professor (HAG) and University Head (Plant Pathology Department), Member Secretary, Board of Management, UAS, Raichur and President, Alumni Association, College of Agriculture, Raichur.

Awards/Honours: UAS Gold Medel for M.Sc. (Agri.); UAS Gold Medel for Ph.D.; University Best Teacher Award (2018), Champion of WSIS Prizes (2018); Distinguish Scientist Award (2018); Excellence in Teaching Award (2018); Excellence in Research Award (2019); Best Plant Pathologist Award (2020); Best Teacher Award (2021); Excellence in Teaching and Administration Award (2024); P. I. Industries award (2024); Dr. B. S. Bhoomannavar Award (2025); Scroll of Honour by IPS (2015); Honorary Life Membership of Asian PGPR Society, Aburn, USA and Twelve Best Oral and Poster Presentation Awards in National and International Conferences.

Fellow: Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Udaipur; Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi; Society for Biological Advancement, NBAIR, Bengaluru; Indian Society of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad.

Research Areas: Mycology and Plant Pathology, Molecular Plant Pathology, Plant Growth Promoting Microbes and Biological control, Host Plant Resistance and IDM.

Significant scientific contributions to plant pathology: Actively engaged in teaching/research/administration activities of university. Guided twenty Masters students and Nine Ph.D. students for their M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Many of his PG students were awarded with prestigious fellowships like DST-INSPIRE, ICAR-SRF, ICAR-JRF, UGC-Rajeev Gandhi Fellowship and University Gold Medals; Established Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory for PG Research and ICAR-Experiential Learning Bio-inputs Entrepreneurship Centre for UG Hands on training at Department of Plant Pathology, AC, Raichur; Published more than 125 research publications in NAAS/Impact factor peer reviewed journals journal; Associated with release of six groundnut varieties; Registration of eight multiple disease resistant groundnut genotypes at NBPGR; Forty five disease management technologies to university package of practices; Ad-hoc projects worth of more than Rs. 20 crores; Mass multiplication and popularization of the bio-agents worth of 30 lakhs; Organized two international Conferences; Three national conferences; Eight training Programmes on one week to PG students; Eleven training programmes to Farmers. Chairman and co-chairman of sessions in twenty five national and International Conferences As a Dean (PGS) made several reforms to improve the quality of research and teaching such as implementation of restructured and revised BSMA syllabi, Establishment of separate PG Research block and Incentive to students who registered patents, Reimbursement of publication chargers for students who publish papers in more than 7.00 NAAS rating peer reviewed journals; Visited Australia, USA, Indonesia, Malyasia, Dubai, UK, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Nepal.