Mr. Ashok Dalwai, IAS 

Mr. Ashok Dalwai is a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 1984 batch, who has served in both the state governments of Odisha and Karnataka, as well as with the Government of India since 2010. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, holding the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. 

Dr. Dalwai is an accomplished scholar of agricultural sciences, with a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics. Over the course of his career, he has held multiple leadership roles in field administration and policy formulation, and has been instrumental in initiating and implementing key reforms in the areas of agriculture, water management, taxation, and rural markets. 

His notable contributions include the Integrated Perspective Plan for Kalahandi (Odisha), Odisha’s First Agriculture Policy (1997), Karnataka’s First Textile Policy (2003), the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS) for Bangalore’s property tax, the Model APLM Act (2017), and the Model Contract Farming Act (2018). As Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income, he led the preparation of a landmark 14-volume strategy document, now guiding national implementation under his supervision as Chairman of the Empowered Body. 

In recognition of his services, Dr. Dalwai has won several awards, including conferment of ‘Honorary Doctorate’ by his alma mater, the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka.