India's evolution in biology research
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Loading... - Aadhya Babu
- 19 Oct 2022
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Among the scientific pursuits, it can arguably be claimed that biology is among the youngest of disciplines of human inquiry of nature. Increasingly over a period of time, like some other disciplines, it is also becoming resource intensive.
In post-independence India too, it can be argued that biological research received attention somewhat later than other disciplines. For example, the first five national laboratories established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), did not have the presence of biology as a discipline.
However, research at molecular, organismal and population level was being carried out in a small number of universities that had been established prior to independence.
The work on biology at the population level has already been initiated in India prior to independence. Indian researchers and institutions were indeed considered pioneers around the world in the large survey work.
The surveys undertaken in Bengal in the post-famine period in the 1940s and the Bengal Anthropometric survey were leading examples of such work. Not only they formed the seeds of some of the prominent institutions including the Indian Statistical Institute, but also led to some outstanding work on multivariate statistics. Large surveys and their analysis represent a fine example of the interdisciplinary nature of biological sciences that remain relevant even today.
Similarly, work on evolutionary and conservation biology at Lucknow also gained international attention in the days immediately prior to independence and later. Read More…
