Kailas Nath Kaul | |
|---|---|
 Kaul at the University of Lucknow in 1928 (standing, fourth from left) | |
| Born | 1905 |
| Died | 1983 (aged 77–78) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Arecaceae research |
| Spouse | Sheila Kaul |
| Relatives | Kamala Nehru (sister) |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan, Indian civilian honour (1977) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany,Agricultural science,Natural resource management, Horticulture |
| Institutions | National Botanical Research Institute, India;Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom;Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom; University of Cambridge, United Kingdom;Lucknow University, India;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 Indianbotanist,naturalist,agricultural scientist,horticulturist,herbalist,plant collector andherpetologist, and a world authority onArecaceae. He founded India'sNational Botanical Research Institute and was instrumental in organizing the country's modern scientific infrastructure. He is regarded as a vital influence behind his nieceIndira Gandhi's proactive role in environmental protection by means of extensive legislative and policy interventions.[1][2]
Having served as the first Indian scientist at theRoyal Botanic Gardens,Kew,[3][4] and worked with theNatural History Museum, London, and several British universities including theUniversity of Cambridge, Professor Kaul established theNational Botanical Research Institute (formerly, the National Botanic Gardens of India), atLucknow in 1948. He directed the Institute until 1965, during which time it remained one of the world's five best botanical gardens, along with those at Kew (UK), Bogor (Indonesia), Paris (France) and New York (USA). From 1953 until 1965, Kaul surveyed botanically the whole of India, from theKarakoram mountains in the north toKanyakumari at the southern tip of the country, and from theNorth East Frontier Agency in the east to theRann of Kutch in the west. In the same period, he contributed to the development of the botanical gardens atPeradeniya (Sri Lanka), Singapore, Bogor (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Tokyo (Japan), and Manila (Philippines). He represented India at theInternational Botanical Congresses at Paris (1954), Montreal (1959), and Edinburgh (1964). In 1968, he was elected as the President of the Palaeobotanical Society, India. In 1975, he was appointed the firstVice Chancellor of theChandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology,Kanpur, India.
Kaul's 1929 work on the medicinal plantArtemisia brevifolia inKashmir caused yields ofSantonin, ananthelminthic derived from the plant, to increase six times. This made the production of Santonin economically viable in India.
In 1947, Kaul discovered fresh wateraquifers in the princely state ofJodhpur in theThar Desert, India, mainly by studying the spatial patterns of vegetation and depths of wells in the region. He used a small aircraft owned by MaharajaUmaid Singh to conduct aerial surveys for this purpose. He then prepared adesert reclamation scheme to solve the enigma of Jodhpur's water shortage. In 1949–50, he also organized the Underground Water Board for Rajasthan atJaipur.
In 1969, Kaul, a native ofKashmir, was appointed Director for Gardens, Parks and Floriculture in the Indian state ofJammu and Kashmir. He worked for several years on the conservation and management of floralbiodiversity and the rejuvenation of theMogul-era gardens in the state, and as the advisor to theChief Minister on the subject.
Kaul was responsible for thereclamation of several thousand acres ofalkaline land in the Indian state ofUttar Pradesh. His work has been namedThe Banthra Formula after Banthra, the place where it was initiated in 1953. The project involvedorganic amendments and biological interventions such as the cultivation ofalkali-tolerantherbaceous,shrub andtree species. Its decentralized, community-based development approach benefitedsubsistence and small-scale commercial farmers through the intensification and diversification ofbiomass production for food, fuel, fodder, fertilizers, medicines, timber,animal husbandry,aquaculture, soil amelioration, and bioaesthetics.[5]
As the architect of theVigyan 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, andapplied arts, and was elected as the President of theLalit Kala Akademi ofUttar Pradesh in 1965.
Kaul joined the Indian freedom movement led by Gandhi in 1930, when he was sent by theAll India Congress Committee to assistKhan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in organising rural uplift work in theKohat,Bannu andPeshawar districts. He also worked in villages adjoiningDelhi under the guidance ofAsaf Ali during theCivil Disobedience Movement. In 1931, Kaul was arrested and charged with planting the flag of Independence and was sentenced to six months in jail. While in jail, he ran a school for 'C Class' prisoners. His thesis onalkaline (usar) soils was confiscated by the British Government for his active participation in the Indian Freedom Movement. Kaul also worked againstuntouchability and gave free education toDalit children in Lucknow. His mother Rajpati Kaul and his sisterKamala Nehru were among the first few women to have participated in the Indian freedom movement.
ColonelRichard Meinertzhagen, onSalim 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]
Rajpati and Jawahar Mull Atal-Kaul were Kaul's parents, andKamala Nehru,Chand Bahadur Kaul, and Swaroop Kathju were his siblings.[7] He was married toSheila 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 inKashmiri), wasdewan of the princely state ofJaipur, his brother-in-law,Jawaharlal Nehru('Jawahar Bhai'), was the first prime minister of independent India, and his niece,Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi('Indu'), was the third prime minister of India.[7] Having spent much time with him in theHimalayas, 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 andStephen Hawking's father; SirEdward James Salisbury, a British botanist and ecologist;Ronald Melville, a British botanist;Arthur John Cronquist, an American botanist;Birbal Sahni, an Indian palaeobotanist; G.C. Mitra, an Indian botanist;Alexandr Innokentevich Tolmatchew, a Soviet botanist;Kiril Bratanov, a Bulgarian biologist;Ronald Pearson Tripp, a British palaeontologist; andRené Dumont, a French agronomist. His other friends includedTodor Zhivkov, former President of Bulgaria;Alfred Jules Ayer, a British philosopher,Herbert V. Günther, a German philosopher and linguist, andMargaret Mee, a British botanical artist.
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