Dr Dinesh Kumar had served as the Project Director of North Gujarat Sustainable Groundwater Initiative, a prestigious and innovative action research project of the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Program (ITP)--a partnership between International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Sir Rata Tata Trust-Mumbai--, on local groundwater management, during 2001-08. He was also the leader of ITP during 2007-08. During his tenure at IWMI, he pioneered IWMI’s research work on virtual water trade flows from water-scarce regions to water-rich regions, energy pricing-groundwater–food security nexus, and developed actionable models on sustainable groundwater management in semi-arid regions. In 2006, the work led by him on global virtual water trade was nominated for the Global Development Network (GDN) award for the best research paper of global relevance in the development sector. The ITP received the ‘Water for Life’, UN-Water Best Practices Award’ on March 21, 2014 in Tokyo for its innovative work on sustainable groundwater management and energy-irrigation nexus.

Dr. M. Dinesh Kumar received the Dr. S.R. Sen Biennial prize award for his book, “Ground Water Management in India: Physical, Institutional and Policy Alternatives” which was adjudged the best book in Agricultural economics and Rural Development published during 2007-2008.

The award was bestowed at the 72nd Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics held at Banaras Hindu University on November 17, 2012.