❖ Ram Narain Agarwal, regarded as the 'father of Agni missiles' in India, died recently at Hyderabad. 

❖ He had served as the Agni programme director and also as the director of ASL (Advanced Systems Laboratory) in Hyderabad.

❖ He led India's Agni missile programme from its inception in 1983 until his retirement in 2005.

❖ The Centre conferred him with Padma Shri in the year 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 2000.

❖ The Agni missile is the most ambitious of the five missiles sought to be developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme launched by the Union government in 1983.

❖ The others were Prithvi, Akash, Nag, and Trishul.