Virender Lal Chopra

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Virender Lal Chopra
British India
Died18 April 2020(2020-04-18) (aged 83)
Occupations
  • Biotechnologist
  • Geneticist
  • Agriculturalist
Years activeSince 1967
Known forAgricultural research
Parents
  • Harbans Lal
  • Sukhwanti
Awards

Virender Lal Chopra (9 August 1936 – 18 April 2020) was an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a director-general 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 was 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

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, presenting the thesis "Tests for genetic effects of irradiated or chemically treated media in Drosophila and micro-organisms".[7]

Chopra's career took prominence when he became the director of

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh administering the oath of office and secrecy as Member, Planning Commission to Dr. V.L. Chopra in New Delhi on August 26, 2004

Chopra died on April 18, 2020, in New Delhi.

Positions and publications

Chopra served as the president of the

Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research[11][12] and a vice chairman (1989) of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, the present-day Bioversity International.[citation needed] He was the chancellor of the Central University of Kerala,[13] appointed to the position in 2012.[4]

Chopra was the author of many books and articles on plant breeding and genetics. Plant Breeding: Theory and Practice,[14] Handbook of Industrial Crops,[15] Breeding Field Crops[16] 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.[17] Approaches for Incorporating Drought and Salinity Resistance in Crop Plants,[18] Technologies for Livelihood Enhancement,[19] Genetics: Applied genetics,[20] and Applied Plant Biotechnology are some of his other books.[21] He presented papers at many science and agricultural conferences; Agricultural Biotechnology at the 2nd Asia Pacific Conference[22] and Genetics, new frontiers at the XV International Congress of Genetics are two such papers.[23]

Awards and honors

Virender Chopra was awarded 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,[24] 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,[25] with The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) following suit in 1989[11] 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 honored him with honorary doctorates.[11] 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.[26]

Selected bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ "Profile of Virender Lal Chopra". Marquis Who's Who. 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "The war against rust". India Today. 15 December 1984. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d "Indian Fellow". Indian National Science Academy. 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Chopra, Virender Lal - NAAS Fellow". National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "V. L. Chopra on CGIAR" (PDF). Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  7. hdl:1842/13380. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  8. ^ "Dr Chopra on CGIAR Council". The Hindu Business Line. 10 April 2004. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  9. ^ "BIT to inaugurate biotech block today". The Hindu. 8 November 2005. Retrieved 4 May 2016.[dead link]
  10. ^ "V.L. Chopra sworn in as Planning Commission Member". Prime Minister's Office, Government of India. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "TWAS Fellow". The World Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  12. ^ Rice Today, July-September, 2004, Vol. 3, No. 3. IRRI. pp. 8–. GGKEY:YXH28B902QS.
  13. ^ "Chancellor". Central University of Kerala. 2016. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
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  24. ^ "Fellow Profile - IAS". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  25. ^ "NASI Fellow". National Academy of Sciences, India. 2016. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  26. ^ V. L. Kalyane; V. K. Madan; Vijai Kumar (July 2001). "Reference Curve for Indian Role Model Scientists" (PDF). Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science. 6 (1): 57–70.

Further reading