Our Role Model - DR P.S. AHUJA
We would like to acknowledge the greatest scientist we’ve ever known. This personality has been our greatest source of inspiration; he is no other person than our beloved Dr. Parmvir Singh Ahuja. Acknowledged as an inspiring institution builder, Dr. Ahjuja is credited with raising Agri Natural India (AN) from scratch to a company of national reckoning. He was the first person who motivated us & showed us the right path in terms of Stevia farming in Punjab and with the passing away of former Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and former Director of CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Dr. Paramvir Singh Ahuja on 22 Jan 2017, our country has lost an inspiring institution builder and a selflessly devoted scientist.
Born on 19 December 1952, Dr. P.S. Ahuja has an exemplary record in administrative capacity as a leader in science and academics. He has an excellent academic record with B.Sc and M.Sc in Agriculture from the Punjab Agricultural Ubiversity (PAU) Ludhiana and a Ph.D from University of Nottingham as a Commonwealth Scholar during 1983.
Our aim is to successfully plant Stevia in about 150 acres of identified land in the Punjab region by the end of the year 2018 and to also look for strategic partners in growth along the way.
Dr. Ahuja was deeply respected worldwide as an eminent academician and an excellent plant biochemist. He turned the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur into a world-class institute while serving as its Director. He also played a pivotal role in creating the infrastructure of CIMAP, Lucknow.
He was a Life Member of more than 15 professional bodies and Fellow of many prestigious academies like National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and Indian National Science Academy (INSA) besides other professional bodies pertaining to his area of specialization. He had more than 200 Research Publications/Reviews and over 20 patents.
Dr. Ahuja will always be remembered for his excellent contributions in the field of Plant Improvement, especially for his studies on Stevia, Indian Tea germplasm and his researches on tea, rose and potato transgenics.