Indian Agriculture Research Institute

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) commonly known as Pusa Institute is India's national Institute for agricultural research, education and extension.

Situated in Delhi, it is financed and administered by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The IARI was responsible for the research leading to the "Green Revolution in India" of the 1970s.

The institute was originally established in 1905 at Pusa, Bihar, as Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), which was changed to Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911 and then again in 1919 as the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute. with the financial assistance of an American Philanthropist, Henry Phipps, Jr.. Phipps was a family friend of Lady Curzon, who was the daughter of American millionaire and wife of Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India. Phipps stayed as a guest of Curzons during his visit to India. More importantly, Phipps left behind with them a donation of $30,000, which was utilized for the establishment of the institute. He laid the foundation stone of Agricultural Research Institute and college on 1 April 1905.

A reason for establishing it in Pusa in northern Bihar was the proximity to the indigo plantations which were in need of revival after the German synthesis of aniline in 1899. One of the first scientists to be deputed to the institute was the English chemist John Walter Leather in 1892.

However the institute was damaged during the devastating Bihar earthquake of 1934 which occurred on 15 January 1934. Thereafter the Secretary of State approved the transfer in July, 1943. The Standing Finance Committee of the Union Assembly finally announced on 25 August 1934 in Shimla, the decision to shift the institute to New Delhi at the approximate cost of ₹3.8 million (US$58,000). to a place that is now called Pusa in New Delhi. The new campus at New Delhi was inaugurated on 29 July 1936, while the new building of the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research was inaugurated by then Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow on 7 November 1936.