Virender Lal Chopra

Virender Lal Chopra (9 August 1936 – 18 April 2020) was an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), known to have contributed to the development of wheat production in India. He was the chancellor of Central University of Kerala, a Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal and a member of the Planning Commission of India. 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. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1985, for his contributions to agricultural science.

Biography Virender Lal Chopra was born on 9 August 1936 in Adhwal, a small village in the Rawalpindi District of the Punjab Province of British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan), into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family, to parents Harbans Lal and Sukhwanti. Chopra's family moved to Delhi before the Partition of India, where he did his early schooling at Ramjas School, Delhi. he proceeded to the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne on a senior Humboldt scholarship.

Chopra's career took prominence when he became the director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in 1979 which was his first major position where he was in charge of the planning and management of research in genetics and biotechnology. At CGIAR, he served as a member of several committees and boards of the member organizations and as its Regional Representative for Asia. headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 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 International Genetics Federation from 1983 to 1988. and a vice chairman (1989) of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, the present-day Bioversity International. He was the chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, appointed to the position in 2012. Handbook of Industrial Crops, Breeding Field Crops 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. Approaches for Incorporating Drought and Salinity Resistance in Crop Plants, Technologies for Livelihood Enhancement, Genetics: Applied genetics, and Applied Plant Biotechnology are some of his other books. He presented papers at many science and agricultural conferences; Agricultural Biotechnology at the 2nd Asia Pacific Conference and Genetics, new frontiers at the XV International Congress of Genetics are two such papers.

Awards and honors Virender Chopra was awarded the Borlaug Award of the Coromandel Fertilisers in 1983. followed by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 1984. with The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) following suit in 1989

Selected bibliography