People with great contributions

Dr. V.D.Vartak , Botanist

About Dr. V.D. Vartak

Dr Vaman Dattatray Vartak was a respected field botanist and a greatly admired academic. He started his career as demonstrator in botany of Fergusson college. In 1962 he then joined research workers at Maharashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science ,Pune  presently known as Agharkar Research Institute. After working with dedication for 25 years he retired as the Director of the institution in November 1987.

He was a Fellow of Indian botanical society ,society of ethno botanists and Maharashtra Academy of Science, he also worked on several government  and non government committees including the Botanical Survey of India. He kept worked with Susala gene bank project for more than 10 years

Dr. Vartak has a large number of research papers to his name and his contributions are not only in the field of botany but also taxonomy , palynology, pteridology and bee botany. For all these projects he explored every corner and remote areas of western Maharashtra .The enormous herbarium specimens in his name in Agharkar herbarium at Agharkar research institute as well as his personal collections are proof of his extensive explorations all over the country.

Since 1973 , he devoted his attention to work on sacred groves ,patches of forests dedicated to forest gods where touching the flora and fauna is a taboo. Floristic studies of these groves according to him are helpful in identifying original flora of western ghats ,obtaining rare/endangered species and securing germplasm of indigenous species for fruitful afforestation programmes . In the same period he also engaged in developing ethnobotany , a special branch of economic botany . It deals with usage of jungle resources by aborigines. He worked on various aspects of ethnobotany which ultimately form the foundation for bio prospecting studies, Dr. Vartak'so contributions became pioneering work for development of these subjects in Maharashtra . Almost 50 publications on these aspects now form baseline data for the beginners of these subjects.

Dr. Madhav Gadgil 

Dr Gadgil is a renowned and respected ecologist , based in Pune,Maharashtra. He has done some pioneering work in the field of observation and conservation of sacred groves. His work and its recognition is on such a large scale that there is a wikipedia page available on him and his work.
Following is the link to his wiki page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhav_Gadgil