Profile of Prof. Mohammed Shamim Jairajpuri (09.01.1998 to 08.01.2003)

Prof. M. Shamim Jairajpuri 

Mohd. Shamim Jairajpuri was born on 8th April 1942 in the village Jairajpur, District Azamgarh, U.P. The degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) was awarded to him in Zoology by Aligarh Muslim University in 1970 on his outstanding work on Nematology at a young age of 28 years. He was first appointed a Lecturer (1964) then a Reader (1972), Professor (1983), Chairman (1988-89 & 1997-98) of the Zoology Department and Dean (1993-95 & 1997-98) of the Faculty of Life Sciences, AMU.

Prof. Jairajpuri has done pioneering research on plant and soil nematodes for which the Zoological Survey of India awarded him with gold medal in 1997 and 1998. He is considered a renowned world authority in this subject. He has published over 20 Books and Monograms, over 350 research papers and contributed numerous book chapters and general articles in reputed Journals of the world. He has travelled widely within India and abroad (USA, UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, South Korea, Egpyt, Pakistan, Bangladesh) in pursuit of his scientific work and has inaugurated and chaired many national and international conferences, seminars, symposia, workshops etc. Prof. Jairajpuri is Fellow (FNA, FASc, FNASc, FAAS, FISP, FZSI, FZS, FIBOL etc.) of several learned societies of the world. He was the President of the Nematological Society of India (1979 -81), and Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Nematology (1977-79), Vice President of the Zoological Society (1989-91), and Secretary of the Helminthological Society of India (1978-81). He is on the Editorial Board of a number of national and international journals. He has guided 28 students in their Ph. D and equal number in M.Phil degrees.

He was the Principal Nematologist to the Commonwelath Agricultural Bureaux International, United Kingdom from 1981-83. He has held the highly prestigious and coveted position of the Director of Zoological Survey of India from 1989-91 under the Ministry of Environmental and Forests and in that capacity he was advisor to the Government of India on all matters pertaining to Zoology.

In 1991, Prof. Jairajpuri was appointed Coordinator of the Agriculture Center at AMU and became the Founder Director of the Institute of Agriculture in 1993. He was the Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences and also simultaneously Chairman of the Department of Zoology, Museology and Wildlife Sciences. Prof. Jairajpuri is member of several high powered committees of the Government of India. On 9th January 1998 Prof. Jairajpuri was appointed as the Founder Vice Chancellor of newly established The Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad. Simultaneously he was also appointed as the Honorary Professor in School of Life Sciences of the University of Hyderabad.

In December, 1999 the Ministry of Environment & Forests chose him to be the first recipient of the Janaki Ammanl National Award in Taxonomy for his work in the field of Nematology. In March 2000, the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy has elected Prof. M. Shamim Jairajpuri as a fellow. In the same year he also got elected as President of the Indian Society for Parasitology (ISP). In June, 2007 Prof. Jairajpuri has been selected for the "Shiksha Ratna Puruskar along with Certificate of Excellence" by the India International Friendship Society (IIFS), New Delhi. On March 12, 2009 Prof. Jairajpuri, has been appointed Chairman of the High Power Appeals Committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Al-Ameen Educational Society, Bangalore (Karnataka) has awarded Professor M. Shamim Jairajpuri of Aligarh Muslim University for its prestigious ‘Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award for 2009. Maulana Azad National urdu University has conferred degree of D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) upon Prof. Jairajpuri on 3rd March 2012.