Narinder Singh Randhawa (1927–1996) was an Indian agricultural scientist, writer and the director general of the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
He was the president of the Indian Society of Soil Science during 1980–81 term
and was a recipient of National Citizen Award and
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the
Padma Bhushan, in 1989, for his contributions to agricultural science.
Biography
Randhawa, born on 13 March 1927, secured his doctoral degree (PhD) from the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
in 1964.
Returning to India, he joined the ''All India Coordinated Project on Micronutrients in Soils and Plants'' of the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research as a national coordinator in 1967 and served the project till 1977. During this period, he also served
Punjab Agricultural University as a professor at the Department of Soils and stayed at the university till 1979, holding positions such as that of a senior professor, head of the department, dean of the College of Agriculture, and the director of research. In 1979, he returned to ICAR as the deputy director general and continued there till his superannuation in 1985 as the director general. In between, he also had a short stint as a government secretary at the Department of Agricultural Research and Education of the
Ministry of Agriculture.
Randhawa was known to have done research in micro-nutrient management of soil and
soil fertility
Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. and published several books, articles and monographs.
He was a member of the
Indian National Science Academy Council (1993–95), the research advisory council of the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (1986–90) and the consultative group of the
CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Center (1985–90). He presided two science organizations, Indian Society of Soil Sciences and Indian Society of Plant Nutrition and was the vice president of the
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) is a Government of India funded agency, established in 1990, is a research platform in the fields of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, fisheries and agro-forestry. It acts as a research base for ...
and the vice chair of the
, Hyderabad from 1985 to 1990. He delivered several award orations including the inaugural ''Dr. S. P. Raychaudhuri Memorial Lecture'' of the Indian Society of Soil Science (1990)
and the ''Professor N.R. Dhar Memorial Lecture'' of the
National Academy of Sciences, India
The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president.
Fellows
*Suddhasatwa Basu
* Sudha Bhattacharya
* Ch ...
(1993).
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research awarded him the
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award in 1975 and he received the civilian honor of the
Padma Bhushan in 1989.
A recipient of the National Citizen Award (1990), he was an elected Fellow of the
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) is a Government of India funded agency, established in 1990, is a research platform in the fields of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, fisheries and agro-forestry. It acts as a research base for ...
and the
Indian National Science Academy.
Randhawa died on 26 November 1996, at the age of 69.
The
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) is a Government of India funded agency, established in 1990, is a research platform in the fields of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, fisheries and agro-forestry. It acts as a research base for ...
have instituted an annual award, ''Dr. N.S.Randhawa Award'', in his honor.
His contributions have been compiled in an article, Contributions of ''Dr. N. S. Randhawa to Indian Horticulture'', published in Punjab Horticultural Journal.
Bibliography
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See also
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Punjab Agricultural University
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
References
External links
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Randhawa, Narinder Singh
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering
1927 births
1996 deaths
University of California alumni
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Academic staff of Punjab Agricultural University
Indian agriculturalists
20th-century Indian biologists
Indian botanical writers
Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Indian male writers
Scientists from Punjab, India
Indian social sciences writers
20th-century Indian non-fiction writers