Hari Krishan Jain (28 May 1930 - 8 April 2019) was an Indian

cytogeneticist Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis a ...

and plant breeder, known for his contributions to the field of

genetic recombination Genetic recombination (also known as genetic reshuffling) is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms which leads to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In eukaryo ...

and the control of interchromosome level. He is a former chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal, a former director of the

Indian Agriculture Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was or ...

and a recipient of honours such as Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award,

Borlaug Award The Borlaug Award is an award recognition conferred by a fertilizer company, Coromandel International, for outstanding Indian scientists for their research and contributions in the field of agriculture and environment. The award was created in 1 ...

and

Om Prakash Bhasin Award Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science and Technology is an Indian award, instituted in 1985 to recognize excellence in the areas of science and technology. The award, given individually or collectively to a group, is annual in cycle and carries a p ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1966, for his contributions to biological sciences. He received the fourth highest Indian civilian honor, the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, in 1981.

Biography

Hari Krishan Jain, born on 28 May 1930 in a Jain family in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

, in the Indian state of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

to Chameli Devi and Nemi Chand Jain, graduated in botany (BSc hons) from the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

in 1949 after which he secured an associate-ship from the

(IARI) in 1951. Subsequently, he pursued his doctoral studies at the

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

campus of the

University College of Wales , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, on a Science Research Scholarship of the Royal Commission, London to secure his PhD and returned to India to start his career as a cytologist at IARI in 1956. He stayed at IARI until his superannuation from service as its Director in 1983 during which time he served as the Head of Genetics Division from 1966 to 1978. In 1984, he became associated with the

International Service for National Agricultural Research The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center founded in the early 1970s to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations ...

of the

Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

(CGIAR) where he served as the deputy director general. Later, he continued his academic life at the Rajasthan College of Agriculture of

Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology is in Udaipur city in Rajasthan state in India. The government of Rajasthan founded this university by the bifurcation of Rajasthan Agriculture University, Bikaner on 1 November 1999. Sin ...

, Udaipur until he was appointed as the chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal. Jain is married to Kusum Lata and the couple has two children, Neera and Reena.

Legacy

Jain's early researches on Lilium, a genus of herbaceous plants, and its

meiotic Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately res ...

cell division revealed the correlation between the chromosome condensation and

nucleolar The nucleolus (, plural: nucleoli ) is the largest structure in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. It is best known as the site of ribosome biogenesis, which is the synthesis of ribosomes. The nucleolus also participates in the formation of sign ...

synthesis. After joining IARI, he and his colleagues worked on the ''cytological mechanisms of

'', on Delphinium, a perennial flowering plant genus. His work contributed to the development of a protocol for controlling the interchromosome level, which was experimentally evidenced by subsequent researches by others. Later, he worked on tomato and

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

(popularly known as ''fruit flies'') and his studies assisted in the discovery of ''chemical mutagen specificity''. He headed the wheat development programs of IARI and initiated three such programs to develop high-yielding varieties of wheat. Ribosomal synthesis in plant cells was another area of his researches. He is credited with developing the concept of ''national multilineal complex'' of varieties and the proposal of the ''multiple and inter-cropping patterns'', later popularized by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He authored five books which included ''Plant Breeding: Mendelian to Molecular Approaches'' ''Genetics: Principles, Concepts and Implications'', and ''Green Revolution: History, Impact and Future'' and several articles which document the body of his work. Jain has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC-C) to the Government of India (1982–83) and the

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

State Planning Commission (1978–80). He chaired the Food and Agriculture Committee of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (1980–83) and the Indian chapter of the Man and the Biosphere Programme of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

(1978–83) and has been a member of the advisory committee on biotechnology of the Department of Science and Technology (1982–83). He chaired the consultative group on agriculture of the

International Council for Science The International Council for Science (ICSU, after its former name, International Council of Scientific Unions) was an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the advancement of science. Its members ...

(ICSU) (1973) and is an Emeritus scientist of the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the cit ...

, having been elected to the position in 1993. He also sat in the council of the Indian National Science Academy from 1979 to 1981 and served as 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 ...

from 2009 to 2011.

Books

* * * * *

Awards and honors

Jain received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, the highest award of the

in 1966 for his contributions to biological sciences. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research awarded him the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award the next year and he was elected for the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1973 for his project, ''A Study of the Evolving Concepts of the Genetics and their Agricultural & Social Implications''. The Government of India included him in the Republic Day honors list for the civilian award of the

in 1981 and he received the

in 1982. The

reached him in 1986 and the

honored him with Dr. B. P. Pal Award in 1999. He is also a recipient of the B. P. Pal Memorial Award of the

Indian Science Congress Association Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...

which he received in 2004. Jain was elected as a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1974 and he became an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1975. Two more Indian academies, 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 ...

and the

elected him as their fellow in 1988 and 1991 respectively. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute honored him with the degree of Doctor of Science (

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

) in 2005 and the Central Agricultural University, where he served as the vice chancellor, instituted an annual award, the Dr. H. K. Jain CAU Award, in his honor in 2015, to recognize excellence in agricultural research.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jain, Hari Krishan Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science 1930 births Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows People from Gurgaon district Delhi University alumni Indian agriculturalists Alumni of the University of Wales Indian geneticists Plant breeding Scientists from Haryana Indian botanical writers Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering Heads of universities and colleges in India 2019 deaths Indian male writers Writers from Haryana 20th-century Indian botanists