Professor Kailash Chander Bansal, a Haryana-born plant biotechnologist and former director of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has been honored by the UNESCO by elevating him as a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences. Prof Bansal is the eighth Indian agricultural scientist who has been accorded this position during the last 45 years.
The fellowship, effective from January 2025, is in recognition of the path breaking work by Prof Bansal in plant biotechnology, including developing genetically modified crops for drought and salt stress tolerance. He has been credited with developing salt resistant paddy variety, which can be grown in arid regions as well as places vulnerable to drought.
Prof Bansal, is expected to advise countries in Africa and Asia in the promotion of multi-disciplinary sciences for agricultural development and creating policy related issues for sustainable agriculture.
As a plant genetic scientist, Prof Bansal spearheaded the evaluation of 22,000 wheat germplasm accessions at the Indian National Genebank, identifying critical trait-specific reference sets. He also led the National Transgenic Crop Network, advancing India's capabilities in crop improvement.
Prof Bansal earned his doctorate with a gold medal from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and conducted advanced research at the Harvard University under Prof Lawrence Bogorad. He has published over 150 papers in high-impact journals, including Nature Biotechnology and PNAS. One of his unique achievements was the development of genetically modified tomato breed with almost three fold shelf life period.
