Virender Lal Chopra

Virender Lal Chopra
Born (1936-08-09) August 9, 1936
Adwal, Punjab, British India
Occupation Biotechnologist
Geneticist
Agriculturalist
Years active Since 1967
Known for Agricultural research
Parent(s) Harbans Lal
Sukhwanti
Awards Padma Bhushan
Borlaug Award
Om Prakash Bhasin Award
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Award
Honor Summus Medal
INSA Silver Jubilee Commemoration Medal
INSA Aryabhatta Medal
FAO World Food Day Award
NAAS Dr. B. P. Pal Award
ISCA Birbal Sahni Birth Centenary Award

Virender Lal Chopra (born 1936) is an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a former director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),[1] known to have contributed to the development of wheat production in India.[2] He is the chancellor of Central University of Kerala, a former Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal and a former member of the Planning Commission of India.[3] An elected fellow of several science academies such as Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, European Academy of Sciences and Arts and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), he is a recipient of a number of honors including Borlaug Award, FAO World Food Day Award and Om Prakash Bhasin Award.[4] The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1985, for his contributions to agricultural science.[5]

Biography

Virender Lal Chopra was born on 9 August 1936 at Adhwal, a small village in the periphery of Rawal Pindi in West Punjab of the British India to Harbans Lal and Sukhwanti, and moving to Delhi, he did his early schooling at Ramjas School, Delhi.[4] After securing his graduate degree with honours in agricultural science from Central College of Agriculture, Delhi in 1955 and following it up with an associateship at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) during 1955–57,[6] he proceeded to the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne on a senior Humboldt scholarship.[2] Subsequently, he shifted his base to Edinburgh in 1964 and secured a doctoral degree (PhD) in Genetics from the Institute of Genetics of the University of Edinburgh in 1967.

Chopra's career took prominence when he became the director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in 1979 which was his first major position where he was in charge of the planning and management of research in genetics and biotechnology.[6] He stayed at the post for one year before turning to academics as the professor of genetics at the same institution, a post he held till 1985 when he moved to National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology as a Professor of Eminence and the director of the centre. Simultaneously he served as a member of the scientific advisory committee to the Prime Minister of India from 1986 to 1990. He moved to Vietnam in 1990 as the chief technical adviser to the Government of Vietnam on a Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) assignment which lasted 15 months. It was during this period, he assisted the Vietnam government in the establishment of the Agriculture Genetics Institute (AGI) in Hanoi.[6] In 1992, the Government of India appointed him a secretary with the responsibility of the director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the apex agency in India for agricultural education and research. After his retirement from the ICAR in 1994, he continued his association with the agency as its B. P. Pal National Professor and in 2004, he was appointed as a member of the science council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the largest research entity run on public funding in agriculture in the world.[7] At CGIAR, he served as a member of several committees and boards of the member organizations and as its Regional Representative for Asia.[6] During this period, he was also a member of the now-defunct Planning Commission of India,[8] headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia.[9]

Positions and publications

Chopra served as the president of the International Genetics Federation from 1983 to 1988.[6] He is a founder member of the Executive council of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and served as its president, secretary and vice-president during different tenures[4] and has been associated with the Indian National Science Academy in various capacities.[3] He is a member of many trustee boards, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Research Foundation, Tea Research Association and Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture, counting among non governmental organizations[6] and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CYMMIT) featuring among the global research organizations. He is also a former member of the Science Council of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research[10][11] and a former vice chairman (1989) of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, the present-day Bioversity International. He is the incumbent chancellor of the Central University of Kerala,[12] appointed to the position in 2012.[4]

Chopra is the author of many books and articles on plant breeding and genetics. Plant Breeding: Theory and Practice,[13] Handbook of Industrial Crops,[14] Breeding Field Crops[15] and Search for New Genes are some of the notable books, the last one was co-written by Benjamin Peary Pal and R. P. Sharma.[16] Approaches for Incorporating Drought and Salinity Resistance in Crop Plants,[17] Technologies for Livelihood Enhancement,[18] Genetics: Applied genetics,[19] and Applied Plant Biotechnology are some of his other books.[20] He has presented papers at many science and agricultural conferences; Agricultural Biotechnology at the 2nd Asia Pacific Conference[21] and Genetics, new frontiers at the XV International Congress of Genetics are two such papers.[22]

Awards and honors

Virender Chopra was awarded the Borlaug Award of the Coromandel Fertilisers in 1983.[2] The Government of India included him in the Republic Day Honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 1985[5] and he was selected for the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Award in 1986.[6] The next year, he received two awards, Om Prakash Bhasin Award and Honor Summus Medal of the Watumull Foundation, USA. He was honored by Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology and Banaras Hindu University with the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc - honoris causa), both the honors reaching him in 1988. The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) awarded him their Silver Jubilee Commemoration Medal in 1991, INSA would award him again with the Aryabhatta Medal in 2002.[3] He received the World Food Day Award of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1993, Birbal Sahni Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress Association in 1997 and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) awarded him the Dr. B. P. Pal Award in 2002.[4][6]

Chopra was an elected fellow of the several science academies in India and abroad. The Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) was the first to elect him in 1982,[23] followed by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 1984.[3] The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) enrolled him as an elected fellow in 1988,[24] with The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) following suit in 1989[10] and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1990.[4] Besides, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology and Banaras Hindu University, four other universities have honored him with honorary doctorates.[10] He was one among the Indian scientists featured in the list of role model scientists in Reference Curve for Indian Role Model Scientists, a scientific study published in 2001 on the scientists and their work.[25]

Selected bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Profile of Virender Lal Chopra". Marquis Who's Who. 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "The war against rust". India Today. 15 December 1984. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Indian Fellow". Indian National Science Academy. 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Chopra, Virender Lal - NAAS Fellow". National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "V. L. Chopra on CGIAR" (PDF). Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Dr Chopra on CGIAR Council". The Hindu Business Line. 10 April 2004. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  8. ↑ "BIT to inaugurate biotech block today". The Hindu Business Line. 8 November 2005. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  9. ↑ "V.L. Chopra sworn in as Planning Commission Member". Prime Minister's Office, Government of India. 26 August 2004. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "TWAS Fellow". The World Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  11. ↑ Rice Today, July-September, 2004, Vol. 3, No. 3. IRRI. pp. 8–. GGKEY:YXH28B902QS.
  12. ↑ "Chancellor". Central University of Kerala. 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  13. ↑ V. L. Chopra (1989). Plant Breeding: Theory and Practice. Oxford & IBH Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-204-0388-8.
  14. ↑ V. Chopra; K. Peter (12 July 2005). Handbook of Industrial Crops. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-56022-283-5.
  15. ↑ V. L. Chopra (2001). Breeding Field Crops. Oxford Ibh. ISBN 978-81-204-1435-8.
  16. ↑ Benjamin Peary Pal; V. L. Chopra; R. P. Sharma (2007). Search for New Genes. Academic Foundation. ISBN 978-81-7188-632-6.
  17. ↑ V. L. Chopra; Rajendra Singh Paroda (1986). Approaches for Incorporating Drought and Salinity Resistance in Crop Plants. Oxford & IBH Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-204-0151-8.
  18. ↑ V. L. Chopra (15 January 2015). Technologies for Livelihood Enhancement. New India Publishing Agency. ISBN 978-93-83305-81-0.
  19. ↑ V. L. Chopra; B. C. Joshi; R. P. Sharma, H. C. Bansal (1984). Genetics: Applied genetics. Oxford & IBH Publishing.
  20. ↑ V. L. Chopra; Vedpal S. Malik; S. R. Bhat (1999). Applied Plant Biotechnology. Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57808-033-5.
  21. ↑ V. L. Chopra; R. P. Sharma; Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (1996). Agricultural Biotechnology: 2nd Asia Pacific Conference. Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-886106-78-9.
  22. ↑ V. L. Chopra (1984). Genetics, new frontiers: proceedings of the XV International Congress of Genetics. International Congress of Genetics. ISBN 978-0-89059-037-9.
  23. ↑ "Fellow Profile - IAS". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  24. ↑ "NASI Fellow". National Academy of Sciences, India. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  25. ↑ V. L. Kalyane; V. K. Madan; Vijai Kumar (July 2001). "Reference Curve for Indian Role Model Scientists" (PDF). Malaysian Journal of Library & llifonnation Science. 6 (1): 57–70.

Further reading

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