Kailas Nath Kaul

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Kailas Nath Kaul
Kanpur University, India; Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, India; University of Kashmir, India; Central Drug Research Institute
, India

Kailas Nath Kaul (1905–1983) was an Indian

herpetologist, and a world authority on Arecaceae. He founded India's National Botanical Research Institute and was instrumental in organizing the country's modern scientific infrastructure. He is regarded as a vital influence behind his niece Indira Gandhi's proactive role in environmental protection by means of extensive legislative and policy interventions.[1][2]

Notable achievements

Having served as the first Indian scientist at the

Vice Chancellor of the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur
, India.

Kaul's 1929 work on the medicinal plant

anthelminthic
derived from the plant, to increase six times. This made the production of Santonin economically viable in India.

In 1947, Kaul discovered fresh water

desert reclamation scheme to solve the enigma of Jodhpur's water shortage. In 1949–50, he also organized the Underground Water Board for Rajasthan at Jaipur
.

In 1969, Kaul, a native of

Chief Minister
on the subject.

Kaul was responsible for the

subsistence and small-scale commercial farmers through the intensification and diversification of biomass production for food, fuel, fodder, fertilizers, medicines, timber, animal husbandry, aquaculture, soil amelioration, and bioaesthetics.[5]

As the architect of the Vigyan Mandir or School of Science Scheme (1948), which was later adopted by the Government of India, Kaul encouraged science education and research across the country. He also worked for the promotion of traditional sculpture, painting, and applied arts, and was elected as the President of the Lalit Kala Akademi of Uttar Pradesh in 1965.

Contribution to the Indian freedom movement

Kaul joined the Indian freedom movement led by Gandhi in 1930, when he was sent by the

alkaline (usar) soils was confiscated by the British Government for his active participation in the Indian Freedom Movement. Kaul also worked against untouchability and gave free education to Dalit children in Lucknow. His mother Rajpati Kaul and his sister Kamala Nehru
were among the first few women to have participated in the Indian freedom movement.

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, on Salim Ali's choice of Kailas Nath Kaul as the botanical expert for a 1937 expedition to Afghanistan, remarked, "He [Kaul] is a young man, nice mannered and intelligent, but I am a little doubtful whether I can stomach two seditionists for three months all day and every day. Salim is a rank seditionist and communist; so is Kaul..."[6]

Family and friends

Rajpati and Jawahar Mull Atal-Kaul were Kaul's parents, and Kamala Nehru, Chand Bahadur Kaul, and Swaroop Kathju were his siblings.[7] He was married to Sheila Kaul, an educationist, social worker, and politician. Gautam Kaul, Deepa Kaul, and Vikram Kaul are their children.

Kaul's paternal great-grandfather, Moti Lal Atal (originally Thullal in

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ('Indu'), was the third prime minister of India.[7] Having spent much time with him in the Himalayas, Indira became deeply influenced by Kaul's passion for nature.[2]

Among Kaul's natural scientist friends were Frank Hawking, a British biologist and physician and

Alfred Jules Ayer, a British philosopher, Herbert V. Günther, a German philosopher and linguist, and Margaret Mee
, a British botanical artist.

Awards and honours

References

  1. ^ "Indira and the bounty of nature". The Statesman. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Indira Gandhi made environment a fashionable subject when it wasn't one in India". The Economic Times. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. doi:10.1038/144829a0. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help
    )
  4. doi:10.1038/156444b0. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help
    )
  5. ISBN 9780309598149. Retrieved 2 July 2014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  6. ^ Michael L. Lewis (2004). Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997. Ohio University Press. p. 40.
  7. ^
    ISBN 9780143032458
    .
  8. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  9. JSTOR 1216315
    .
  10. JSTOR 1216315
    .

External links
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