Born on 1st July, 1928, Dr. Akhtar Husain obtained his Master's degree in Agriculture from the Government Agricultural College, Kanpur with high academic honours. A recipient of research fellowship from the North Carolina State University, he obtained his Ph. D. in 1959 and received outstanding Ph.D. student and "Phi Kappa" award. After one year as Assistant Plant Pathologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Havens (U.S.A.), he returned in 1958 as Plant Pathologist and Head of the Centre of Indian Council of Agricultural Research at Kanpur, and then joined the Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu in 1963 where he established and headed the Division of Agricultural Sciences dealing with medicinal and aromatic plants. He was also in-charge of drug farms and factories responsible for cultivation and processing of medicinal and aromatic plants in Jammu & Kashmir. Dr. Akhtar Husain joined as Deputy Director at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in 1975 and became its Director in 1977. If was during his period that CIMAP developed as one of the major centre of research and development on medicinal and aromatic plants in Asia with modern laboratory facilities and other infrastructure. Some of their major achievements during this period are the introduction of Ergot of Rye (Claviceps purpurea) in India, cultivation of Belladonna (Atropa belladonna), Egyptian Henbane (Hyoscyamus mutiucs), Duboisia myoporoides etc. Besides introduction of Bulgarian rose, Lavender and Clarysage in Kashmir valley. The Institute also developed advanced agrotechnologies for cultivation of Japanese mint, Peppermint, and Spear-mint which is now one of the Indian export items. After his retirement Dr.Husain established the Jamia Hamdard University, and was its first Vice-Chancellor. The institution is mainly devoted to the research in traditional medicine with special reference to medicinal plants. He is now an Emeritus Scientist at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.
Dr. Husain has published more than 150 research papers and three books on essential oils and medicinal Plants to his credit. He is a fellow of Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Science. Dr. Husain is a widely travelled and has worked as Consultant to World Health Organization in a number of projects in Asian and African Countries, namely, Egypt, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The developing countries are endowed with rich flora as they are mostly situated on the tropical belt and between them cover a wide range of geographical and climatic conditions. Herbal medicines have, therefore, been used for various ailments from ancient times in these countries. Ayurveda and Sidha in Southern Asia, UnaniTibb in the Arab region together with folklore medicines in Asian, African and Latin-American countries still continue to serve large populations of the developing countries, particularly in rural and semiurban areas.
Systematic scientific investigations during the last few decades on natural products have resuited in identification of a growing number of active constituents. Many of these are now an important part of modern medicine. Resperine, Vincamine, Vinblastine and Vincristine are some of the well known drugs used in cardiac and cancer treatment. Use of plant products as biopesticides is fast developing in view of the effects of undesirable chemical pesticides and their residues in food crops. The natural products from sea-organisms present a vast untapped resource of marine flora and fauna, some of these are known to be of promising medicinal value.
I complement the NAM S&T Centre for bringing out the Status Report by Dr. Akhtar Hussain. I further hope that the Centre would follow it up by developing a suitable programme of cooperation amongst the NAM S&T Centre members and other developing countries, so that this useful resource in tropical countries is effectively utilized for better health and medicare of the people and for economic benefit of the countries.
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