D.C.S.RAJU - A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH (indiantreepix@googlegroups.com)

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D.C.S.RAJU - BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Datla Chiranjeevi Subrahmanyam Raju, born on 15th August 1936 at Penumantra of Andhrapradesh in India. Educated at Bhimavaram for B.Sc of Andhra University(1955-57) and M.Sc. at Banaras Hindu University(57-59). Attended courses in Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany at Lucknow and Plant Taxonomy at Reading University,U.K(70) and  Plant Tissue Culture at Kew(71) in London.

Joined The Botanical Survey of India at Eastern Circle, Shillong in 1959 and as Botanist in 1961 to continue until Aug 94 and retire as Jt Director, BSI and as Head of Central National Herbarium. Performed curatorial duties and taxonomic studies on Indian Flora besides field studies in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Bhutan, Sikkim, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhrapradesh. Also visited some areas of Karnataka, Tanjore Himachal, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Parasnath Hills, Ranchi, Daman, Khandala, Nandi Hills, Kolar, Peechi, and Nilgiris. Visited submergible areas of dams for environmental clearance by Government of India, Ministry of Environment.

Liaised with Indian Universities on joint programmes for preparation of district floras coordinated by Central National Herbarium. Furnished notes on vegetation and floristic analyses for revision of many District Gazetteers of Orissa; Inspected Copper, Aluminium and Iron ore mining areas prior to  establishment of defence and industrial establishments in parts of Orissa and Andhra regions of Eastern Ghats. Exchanged duplicate specimens of Indian Plants with all major Herbaria of the World -Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, USA, Canada and Japan besides maintaining  loans to monographers at various institutes and foreign universities. Planned and organised all new sections for historical collections, Icones, Type specimens, Wallichian catalogue, full microfiche collection, archives of handwritten correspondence of  Roxburgh, integrated library, art-photography units, auditorium, electron microscope, new steel herbarium cabinets, air conditioning plant for  The New Herbarium Building opened in 1971.

As the Directorate of Botanical Survey of India was relocated to Indian Botanic Garden, many developmental activities were initiated in 1977 to make The Roxburgh House(1795) and  two storied Kew type Old Herbarium of Sir George King as National Heritage Buildings at the suggestion of Professor M.G.K.Menon, Secretary, Dept of Science, Govt of India. Following Heirarchial System in strict sense for both plant classification and administration of human resources it is Dr S.K.Jain, Dr M.P.Nayar and Sri D.C.S.Raju who made all efforts to focus the importance of Botanical Survey(1890) by celebrating Bicentenary of Linnaeus in India(1978) and jointly holding exhibition on Life and Works of Linnaeus  in Indian Universities. As Dr J. G. Koenig laid foundation for Science in India and Botany with its beginnings at Samalkota on Coramandel Coast, a  visit to Yanam and Kakinada in 1993 by Raju  coincided with cyclone and floods similar  to the day  when Koenig was laid to rest by Roxburgh at Kakinada in 1785.

Family historical background  led D.C.S.Raju to make Company Garden as chosen place of work for 33 yrs and to learn about plant wealth of the world with unique Herbarium and Library in the Indian Botanic Garden. An elected Fellow of Linnaean Society and  member of many associations took part in conferences, meetings and national seminars. Chaired many sessions of taxonomy at Botanical Conferences and Indian Science Congress besides National Seminar on Ecosystems at Waltair and PlantTaxonomy at Surat. Displayed live collection of Oryza jeyporensis, O.granulata, Atylosia cajanifolia, Amomum subulatum, Coffea benghalensis, Indian Ginseng, and other wild relatives of crop plants at International Conference on Genetics. Rare and threatened  plants like Red Sanders, Tirupati Cycad, Slipper Orchids of Sikkim Himalayas, Pitcher plant and native medicinal herbs were also exhibited at The National Museum of Natural History and introduced in the gardens of Teen Murti Bhavan  after labelling all plants there as part of National Environment Day celebrations in Delhi.

Highlights of experience include -

1. (1) A visit to Mawsynram-Cherrapunjee areas with highest rainfall in the world,
2. (2) Exploration of Tsolamo lake region of Kanchenjunga range in Sikkim in the footsteps of J.D.Hooker to study highest living plants on the earth,
3. (3) Critical examination of historical specimens, old documents, correspondence and many manuscripts from the time of Col. Robert Kyd to record the beginning of Herbarium Calcuttense in 1795 after construction of Kyd Monument and residency cum office building for Roxburgh. The oldest collection of Edward Bulkley,(1698) Plants of Cooks 1st voyage, Mosses collected by W.J.Hooker in North America along with numerous duplicates sent by J.D.Hooker which remained in stores were incorporated only after 1975.
4. (4) Selection of Peepal Tree and Sacred Lotus as National Flower of India by S.K.Jain and D.C.S.Raju along with list of State Trees and Flowers for adoption by the Government.
5. (5) A Report on Indian Orchids to Sri Oka the Inspector General of Forests, to restrict  exports.
6. (6) Furnishing data for Wealth of India volumes and images of medicinal plants to Indian Council for Medical Research,
7. (7 ) Reassessment of Indian flora as +10,000 species of flowering plants by excluding endemic elements of Afghanistan, Ceylon,Burma,Java,Borneo  with conservative figures exceeding 6000 species not found in Indian Republic. The Sikkim Himalayas with over 5000 species making 50% of Indian flora were collected during 1985-1990, with Dr Sanjappa climbing up Donkia La to find fossils of Tethys Sea of bygone geological era.
8. (8) Interaction with Namgyal Mountaineering Institute and Army Head qrs Gangtok, and Sikkim Science Society on various scientific issues.
9. (9) Coordination with Forest department to open Jawaharlal Nehru Botanic Garden at Rumtek,with native trees and orchids in glass-houses with labels.
10. (10) Observing Centenary of N.Vavilov at a meeting in Gangtok,Centenaries of J.B.S.Haldane and Rahul Sankrityayan(1992) at Howrah and
11. (11) Bicentenary of Robert Kyd in 1993 and
12. (12) Releasing a book on Eastern Ghats of India as Member of ENVIS Committee of Environmental Protection and Training Institute, Hyderabad.
13. (13) Unique events include visits of celebrities Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereschkova, Emperor of Ethiopia, Paramount Ruler of Malaysia, The President of India and Mother Theresa to the Indian Botanic Garden. Consultations with Fosberg, CGGJvanSteenis, Takhtazan, Hara, SMWalters, Heywood, Hoogland, Sodestrom, Klotz, Stone, Stuchlik, Meisel, Emberger, Legris, Hodge, Given, Swinge, Ayensu, Krukof, Hurov.GSchaller, BL Burtt. Seiden Faden, Holttum and Wilkins, Graf as our guests is noteworthy. Visits of Prof.R.Misra, J.Venkateswarlu, D.D.Awasthi P.V.Bole, K.S.Manilal, YSMurty, H.Y.Mohanram, B.Razi, VRReddy, G.L.Shah, KNKaul, JanakiAmmal, JCSengupta, KPBiswas, Kundu, Swaminathan, Sadasivan, are quite inspiring. Fr Santapau conducted a tour to Mangroves of Sajnakhali, Sundarbans in which many botanists like V.Puri, K.Subrahmanyam, Kashyapa, M.A.Rao, J.Ghatak, Thothathri, BVShetty joined.
14. (14) As Fr Santapau and D.C.S.Raju travelled in a bus together to catch a launch it gave an opportunity to reminisce their association with Flora of Andhrapradesh, a more memorable event than felicitation of Fr Santapau on his 60th Birthday.

Scientific publications, book reviews, popular articles on science, list of botanists including Dr B.P.Pal, William Steere, Stafleu, Arditti, Pichi-Sermolli, in personal correspondence with D.C.S.Raju are compiled  as archival material for one of the oldest scientific institutions in the world namely Honorable East India Company Garden established in 1787 at Sibpore. The Herbarium with about two lakhs of flowering plant species, in 200 Hookerian orders including over 300 families of angiosperms,  conifers, ferns, mosses, lichens and marine algae from all parts of the world, all live tropical trees, palms, mangrove elements, bamboos, canes, screw pines, medicinal herbs, wild grasses, giant water-lilies, pages of vellum editions were consulted by D.C.S. Raju during 33 years of service.

Thanks to Dr JE Dandy as  creation of new Michelias from Makum forest in Assam with highly varied Magnoliads of tropics and  less-known Magnoliophyta is discouraged by Linnaeans with understanding of discontinuous variation in  populations as concept of species. A Floral Tribute was paid by D.C.S.Raju in May 1993 to Kyd   who ensured food security for India with  his unique intellect and humanitarian ideals. Kydia calycina Roxb.(Malvaceae) with a single tree by the side of King lake near Clarke avenue is  now threatened in a walled and fenced garden of political and plagiarist environment. The Legacy of Dr J.C.Sengupta and his spirit of science  however survives. So also are Magnolia pterocarpa Roxb. from Chittagong included in Coromandel Plants-published in1795 and Kyd Monument erected to coincide with opening of Roxburgh  House reminding  us of the glorious past with great deeds of Kyd and King.

 

The family of D.C.S.Raju includes Vijayalakshmi Datla, Krishnamohan Raju Datla, Padmavathi Datla and Sirisha Datla, 302 Sunrise apts. Churchlane, RdNo3. Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh-500034. Email address is dcs...@gmail.com and dcsraju as a tag for  GoogleScholar, Docs, images, web search, photos, Picasa web albums and profile signature. Likeness is in the archives of Hunt Botanical Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Linnaean Society of London and American  Biographical Institute, Who is Who in India, etc. Travelled in Europe and many States of India to capture the glory of nature in over 3000 Kodachrome transparencies including thousands of flowers awaiting digitisation and text of talks,unpublished material on Indian plants and Herbarium as open source data for communication as Google Docs in due course. Tista Bridge to Tsolamolake as Hooker -D.C.S.Raju Himalaya is now open to all nature lovers visiting, Rhododendron Sanctuary at Yakchey and Orchid Sanctuary at Deorali  as well as Alpine Sanctuary at Kyognosla  near Natu La.The Primrose  Preserve near Changu lake 17400 ft  just 28km s away from Gangtok is the hot -spot of Priyadarsini-Smt Indira Gandhi , late Prime Minister of India.

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[ayush]

surajit koley ji,

Happy to know more about Dr. DCS Raju garu.

Regards
Radha Krishna Reddu

[ayush]

surajit koley ji,

Happy to know more about Dr. DCS Raju garu.

Regards

Radha Krishna Reddy

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012 9:05:02 PM UTC+5:30, surajit koley wrote:

[surajit koley]

Thank you Sir for your kind feedback.

Regards,

surajit