Principal focus of work of Dr. O.P. Yadav has been strategic research to understand the adaptation mechanism of crops to drought and to enhance drought tolerance for water-limited environments using conventional and modern tools that led to better understanding of adaptation of crops to drought stress conditions and in evolving appropriate strategies for developing stress-adapted cultivars. His strategic research on assessing the cytoplasmic effects on disease incidence and agronomic traits in pearl millet has a great relevance in hybrid breeding. The most immediate impact of this research is the re-orientation of the crop breeding activities for drought-prone areas and included changes in objectives, base material for breeding and approaches for selection. The results of his research efforts have also led to release of 11 commercial cultivars including bio-fortifed hybrids and varieties that are grown largely across different states. His work has also resulted in the identification of several sources of drought tolerance, and disease resistance; and development of breeding material suitable for drought-prone areas. Dr. Yadav has more than three decades of experience of research and management in the field of agriculture. He has distinction of previously leading the pearl millet and maize research programme of country as Coordinator of the All India Project on Pearl Millet and director of the ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research. Strategic research work of his team has been recognized at international and national levels as seen in very high number of publications (>200) in most reputed journal like Nature, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Crop Science, Euphytica, Plant Breeding, Frontiers in Plant Science, PLoS One, Field Crops Research, Experimental Agriculture etc. Dr. Yadav has a rigorous exposure at international level. He has been trained at the Harvard School of Business, Massachusetts; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; and Institute and Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth. He is a widely traveled person in USA, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, Kenya, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Tanzania, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. He has taken several new initiatives to further enhance the development and adoption of new agricultural technologies for the benefit of farmers. His work has been recognized in form of the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Crop Sciences by ICAR, and Fellowships of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding; and Best Institute Award to the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur under his leadership.