Mohinder Singh Randhawa or M. S. Randhawa (2 February 1909 – 3 March 1986) was an Indian historian, civil servant, botanist, and author. He played major roles in the establishment of agricultural research in India, the Green Revolution in India, resettling Punjabis uprooted by Partition as the Director-General of Rehabilitation, establishing the city of

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

and documenting the arts of Punjab, the history of agriculture in India. A biographer,

Gulzar Singh Sandhu Gulzar Singh Sandhu (born 27 February 1935) is a prominent Punjabi language writer. He won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, for his short story collection, ''Amar Katha'' in ...

, gave him the sobriquet ''Punjab da Chhewan Dariya'', the sixth river of Punjab.

Biography

Early life and education

Randhawa was born on 2 February 1909 into a Randhawa Jat family at Zira,

Ferozepur district Firozpur district, also known as Ferozepur district, is one of the twenty-three districts in the state of Punjab, India. Firozpur district comprises an area of . Firozpur (Ferozepur) is the capital city of the district. It is situated inside t ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to Sher Singh Randhawa and Bachint Kaur who came from an affluent family belonging to the village of Bodlan in

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

district. He received his matriculate from Khalsa High School,

Muktsar Sri Muktsar Sahib (/ʃriː ˈmʊktsər saːhɪb/) (often referred to as Muktsar (/ˈmʊktsər/)) is a historical city and district headquarters in Punjab, India. The 2011 Census of India put the total population of Sri Muktsar Sahib municipality ...

in 1924 and his F.Sc., BSc (Hons.), and MSc (Hons.) in 1926, 1929 and 1930 respectively from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. In 1955, he was awarded a Doctorate in Science by the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

for his work on

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

, especially on ''

Zygnemataceae The Zygnemataceae are a family of filamentous or unicellular, uniseriate (unbranched) green algae. The filaments are septated and reproduction is by conjugation; ''Spirogyra'' is commonly used in schools to demonstrate this kind of reproduction ...

''.

Career

Randhawa joined the Indian Civil Service in 1934, then served in various capacities at

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared as on ...

Fyzabad Fyzabad is a town in southwestern Trinidad, south of San Fernando, west of Siparia and northeast of Point Fortin. It is named after the town of Faizabad in India. Colloquially it is known as "Fyzo" by many people. History Fyzabad was founded ...

, Almora,

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

, and Rai Barelli until 1945, when he became secretary of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for a year. He was associated with the ICAR through its initial years and made huge contributions to this pioneering organisation which was responsible for the Green Revolution in India. In 1946, he was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, when

was on the eve of independence. In 1947 he was in charge of the entire function where

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

delivered his famous '' Tryst with destiny'' speech. As Deputy Commissioner, he helped persons uprooted by the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

resettle, and then in 1949 he was sent as the Additional Director-General (Rehabilitation) and subsequently made the Director-General (Rehabilitation),

. Dr. Randhawa then went to Ambala Division in the

as the Commissioner. He was brought back to the task of rehabilitating people in 1953 as the Development Commissioner and

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Rehabilitation and Custodian, Evacuee Property,

. During this time he was in charge of allotting land to those who had left behind lands in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and allotting land to them in

Indian Punjab Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and R ...

. In 1955 he was made the Vice-President of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Additional Secretary to

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, New Delhi. He then served the

as Advisor, Natural Resources Planning Commission from 1961–1964 and as the Special Secretary, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Govt. of India. He subsequently became the Financial Commissioner of the Capital Project Punjab from July 1966 to October 1966, and then he was appointed the Chief Commissioner of the

Union Territory of Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

in November 1966 and remained so till 1968. Dr. Randhawa served as the founding

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

of Punjab Agricultural University in the 1970s. Randhawa was a key promoter of tree planting and was behind what became the establishment of the national tree planting week known as

van mahotsav Van Mahotsav or Vanamahotsava, , is an annual one-week tree-planting festival in India which is celebrated in the first week of July. History This is the Indian national tree planting week was organized by Mohinder Singh Randhawa from 20 to 27 ...

. Randhawa was chairman of the committee to plan the city of

in 1955, and was instrumental in its landscaping. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Chandigarh Museum, Punjab Arts Council and Museum of Cultural Heritage of Punjab at

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...

. He also introduced many species of avenue trees to

and founded the Rose Garden in Sector 16 in

, the Punjab Agricultural University at

, the

Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, is a premier museum of North India having collections of Gandharan sculptures, sculptures from ancient and medieval India, Pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. It owes its existence to the ...

, and the Anglo Sikh War Memorial near Ferozepur which was completed in February 1976. File:Rose Garden,Chandigarh.jpg, Roses in the garden. File:Rose Garden ,Chandigarh UT.jpg, Roses in the garden. File:Zakir Husain Rose Garden ,Chandigarh.jpg, Roses in the garden. File:Rose Garden ,Chandigarh.jpg, Roses in the garden. File:Chandigarh, India stone paying tribute to the founders of the rose garden incl Dr Randhawa.jpg, Tribute to the founder including Dr Randhawa File:Chandigarh, India rose garden modern art monument 5.jpg, India rose garden modern art monument File:Chandigarh, India rose garden modern art monument 4.jpg, India rose garden modern art monument File:Chandigarh Rose Fest.jpg, The winning flower from Rose Fest 2006 File:Chandigarh, India rose garden modern art monument 3.jpg, Modern art monument File:Chandigarh, India rose garden auditorium 3.jpg, A plaque for Dr Randhawa File:Chandigarh, India rose garden bust of Dr Randhawa 5.jpg, Bust of Dr Randhawa File:Chandigarh, India Rose Garden. Books probably belonging to Dr Randhawa in the book cafe.jpg, Books, probably belonging to Dr Randhawa, at the book cafe File:Chandigarh, India banners at the rose garden 2.jpg, Banners at the rose garden File:Chandigarh, India -- banners at the rose garden.jpg, More banners on display

Death and afterward

Dr. Randhawa died on 3 March 1986 in his farmhouse in Kharar. The library at Punjab Agricultural University is named in his honour and maintains a collection of his works and laboratory instruments used by him.

Published works

Randhawa was a prolific writer. Apart from numerous papers on algae, he published many books on art, history, culture and agriculture. An autobiography in Punjabi ''Aap Biti'' was published in 1985. *''The Birth of the Himalayas'' (1947) *
Beautifying India
' (1950) *
Out of the Ashes; an account of the rehabilitation of refugees from West Pakistan in rural areas of East Punjab
' (1954) *
Flowering Trees
' (1957) *
Agricultural Research In India
' (1958) *
Basohli Painting
' (1959) *''Zygnemaceae'' (ICAR Monographs on Algae) (1959) *
Farmers of India
' with Prem Nath (1959) *''Indian Painting : the scene, themes, and legends'' with John Kenneth Galbraith (Hamilton, 1961) *''Beautiful Trees and Gardens'' (1961) *''Kangra Paintings on Love'' (1962) *
Agriulture And Animal Husbandry In India
' (1962) *''Natural Resources of India'' (1963) *''Chamba Painting'' (1967) *
Travels In The Western Himalayas
' (1967) *
Evolution of Life
' (1969) *
The Kumaon Himalayas
' (1970) *''Kangra rāgamālā paintings'' (1971) *''Beautiful Gardens'' (1971) *''The Famous Gardens of India'' (1971) *''Kangra Valley Painting'' (1972) *''Green Revolution'' (1973) *''Travels in the western Himalayas in search of paintings'' (1974) *''Gardens through the ages'' (1976) *''A history of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1929–1979'' (1979) *''Kishangarh Painting'' (1980) *''A History of Agriculture in India'
volume 1234
(1980–1986) *''Basohli Paintings of the Rasamanjari'' (1981) *''Guler Painting'' (1982) *''Paintings of the Bābur nāmā '' (1983) *''Indian sculpture : the scene, themes, and legends'' (1985) *''Indian paintings : exploration, research, and publications'' (1986) * ''Punjab''(Punjabi Ed.) 1980

References

External links

Indian National Science Academy biography

Book Doctor Appointment Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randhawa, MS 1909 births 1986 deaths Indian art historians Indian civil servants People from Firozpur district Indian Civil Service (British India) officers 20th-century Indian historians Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering 20th-century Indian botanists Scientists from Punjab, India Historians of Indian art