Tapas Bhattacharyya is a former Vice-chancellor of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidypeeth (Konkan Agricultural University at Dapoli, near Mumbai, India).

Tapas does research in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry and Databases on natural resources.

Vision
Dr Bhattacharyya developed a model recruitment template in ASRB so that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) can set an example for other nations to boast of having the best resource persons and managers. He understood long back in his career that mere natural resource information might not help plan land and use potential for the farmers and other agricultural sectors. We need to diversify and bring an interdisciplinary approach. Diversification for tribal welfare, agriculture, horticulture, plantation crops, carbon sequestration, chemical degradation of soils in the semi-arid tropics, soil properties and global warming due to climate change, and crop planning was his vision, and he has been pursuing it to date. He thought of developing an information system of land resources some 20 years back, evidenced by the demand for resource inventory by all developmental sectors for soil health and its monitoring.

Integrity
Dr Bhattacharyya developed an ambience of research in the field and laboratory without inhibiting the source and nature of theworkforce and also a school of thought where only merit counted without any other factors creeping in. He employed research associates, fellows, SRAs, JRAs, Assistant and Associate Professors without discrimination. He has been working effectively for years together in the field away from home with a team that is widely varied in level of knowledge, education, and culture, as evidenced by receiving funds from various agencies.

Research
Dr Tapas Bhattacharyya initiated research in benchmark hotspots in India to use it as a wheel of agro-technology transfer and documented resource information for posterity: their use in generating temporal datasets. Geo-referencing all resource information in an ICAR institute for easy monitoring regarding soil degradation, quality, and soil health in India has been his priority. He brought soil microbiological datasets for the first time into the ambit of the soil information system.
He initiated carbon research in soils in India using Rothamsted Carbon, Century, DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) and InfoCrop models using soil survey and long-term fertilizer experimental data. He also Initiated, implemented and monitored research on and off the field in a team of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional experts with appropriate networking. Dr Bhattacharyya established national and international linkages in his limited capacity.

Post Graduate Studies
He created the course content for Ph. D. for an advanced study in soil genesis and mineral transformation during the middle of the 1990s for postgraduate studies, perhaps for the first time in an ICAR institute. Dr Bhattacharyya developed a new course (audit) for beginners (M. Sc. and Ph. D. students) to bring them an ordinary understanding level.

Fairness and assertiveness in research, extension, management and administration

1. Tapas has always been fair in giving opportunities for research, extension, management and administrative support for colleagues, students and staff. as is evidenced by fair allotment of students to colleagues' facilities, permitting laboratory work during late hours for students and staff.

2. He was fair in giving time for visitors (primarily farmers, political leaders, NGOs, entrepreneurs, students, teachers, managers, and administrators) and offering laboratory facilities.

3. Most students from all over the country benefit from the excellent laboratory facilities.

4. Maintained quality of research data: constantly developed primary data religiously.

1. Generated human resources to help in carrying the development model for at least 5-15 years.

2. Developed the ICAR-NBSSLUP (nbsslup.org) and DBSKKV, Dapoli (dbskkv.org) as the seat of learning for agriculture and allied sciences.

3. Developed research team and peer group for furthering science and technology and still contributing researchable issues in terms of methodologies of research, education and extension.

4. Founded Interdisciplinary Society for Advancement of Agricultural. Technology (ISASaT) (isasat.org) to facilitate students and teachers for knowledge dissemination for the gen-next.