लेखक: U. P. RAO

Dr. Shatanjiw Das Sharma, born at Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) in 1934, graduated with Honours in Botany from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (Orissa) under Utkal University in 1956. He had his post-graduate education in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Indian Agricultural research Institute, New Delhi during 1958-1964. He started his career as Assistant Geneticist at the Central rice Research Institute, Cuttack (1964-1967), Senior Scientist (Genetic resources) at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria (1976-1979) and Head of the Regional Station of National Bureau of Plant Genetic resources at Shimla (1976-1982). From 1982 till his retirement in 1994, he worked as the Principal Scientist/ Head of Division of Genetic Resources at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack. After his retirement, he was a Distinguished Fellow of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai for seven years. Dr. Sharma has been responsible for delimitaiton of Oryza nivara and its recognition as a distinct species. He has travelled widely in India and Africa for exploration and collection of cultivated and wild rice germplasm. His collections from northeast India, known as Assam Rice Collections(ARC), have been a valuable source of genes for resistance to various abiotic and biotic stresses. He made a rich collection of African landraces of O. glaberrima and O. sativa for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan. He was in charge of conservation of national genetic resources of rice in India for more than twenty five years. After his retirement, he was responsible for successful implementation of some of the international projects on documentation and conservation of genetic resources in Orissa for M. S. Swaminathan research Foundation, Chennai. Dr. Sharma has published more than 50 research papers on exploration, collection, conservation and evaluation of genetic resources of cultivated and wild rice in various scientific journals and presented many papers in various national and international scientific meetings and symposia. He has contributed chapters on conservation of genetic resources of rice and on wild rice in many books. Dr. J. S. Nanda and Dr. S. D. Sharma have jointly edited Monograph on Genus Oryza published by Scientific Publishers Inc, Enfield (NH), USs A and Oxford & IBH Publishing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. Dr. Sharma and Dr.U. Prasada Rao have edited Genetic Improvement of Rice Varieties of India published by today and Tomorrow Printers and Publishers, New Delhi. Dr. Sharma”s present address is: 36/01, VIP Area, IRC Village, Nayapally, Bhubaneswar – 751 015 (Orissa) and his email address: [email protected]. Dr. Udayagiri Prasada Rao completed his post-graduate education in Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam in 1961 and received his Ph. D. degree from Utkal Unversity, Bhubaneswar in 1972. He started his career in rice research at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack in 1961 and moved to the Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad in 1969. He retired as Principal Scientist and Head, Plant Breeding Division of the Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad in 2001. He has forty years” experience on varietal improvement of rice and has developed 21 rice varieties during his career. He has published 75 research papers in scientific journals and presented 30 papers at national and international scientific meetings and seminars. In 1998, he was awarded DRR Silver Jubilee Endowment Award for his outstanding contribution to the genetic improvement of rice. After his retirement, he is the General Manager (R&D), Nuziveedu Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Secundarabad. His current residential address: Dr.U. Prasada Rao, 3-4-842, Rajarishi Apartments, Barkatpura, Hyderabad-500027, Email: [email protected]