E. A. Siddiq

Ebrahimali Abubacker Siddiq (15 July 1937 – 22 January 2026) was an Indian agricultural scientist, whose research in genetics and plant breeding assisted in the development of various high-yielding rice varieties, such as dwarf basmati and hybrid rice. The government of India honoured Siddiq in 2011 with its fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri.

Background E. A. Siddiq was born on 15 July 1937 in Ilayangudi, a town in Sivaganga District, Madras Province, then a part of British India. His graduate studies were completed in Botany (1959) from the University of Madras following which he obtained masters (1964) His career started at his alma mater, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, as a cytogeneticist in 1968, a post he held till 1976 when he was promoted as the Senior Scientist.

Positions Siddiq was a member of the scientific advisory council of the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2009. He was also a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) subsidiary.

Siddiq was the chairman of the Farm and Rural Science Foundation of The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 16 of which have been listed by Microsoft Academic Search in their online repository and his research findings have been cited in many books and journals. He supervised 35 students in their PhD studies followed by Amrik Singh Cheema Award in 1988, Silver Jubilee Medal from the Directorate of Rice Research (DRR) in 1990 National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi.