AMU mourns the sad demise of Prof Shamim Jairajpuri
ALIGARH : The Aligarh Muslim University fraternity mourned the sad demise of octogenarian noted scientist, scholar and academician Professor Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri, who passed away at his Delhi residence early morning on January 10. He was 82.
Expressing a sense of deep sorrow on his demise, the AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof Mohammad Gulrez said, “Prof Jairajpuri had attained a status of living legend in the field of taxonomy of nematodes, and he had a long association with AMU. He had been a Dean at AMU and had the honour of being the first to receive the prestigious Janaki Ammal National Award for Taxonomy (1999). He was also an INSA-Fellow (2004-2009) and served as the founding Vice Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.”
“I am deeply saddened by the demise of Prof Jairajpuri. I extend sincere condolences to his family, and wish peace for the departed soul. May Allah give strength to his family and loved ones to bear this loss”, said the Vice Chancellor, Prof Gulrez.
The faculty members and students, who gathered at a condolence meeting at the Department of Zoology, paid rich tributes to Prof Jairajpuri and fondly remembered him for his friendly and compassionate approach towards students and colleagues.
Reading out a condolence message, Prof. Mukhtar Ahmad Khan, Chairman of the department, said it is a big loss for Prof Jairajpuri’s family, friends, colleagues and students which can never be filled. He said the department and the faculty shares the grief and sorrow felt by his family and prays for a higher place in Jannah.
Prof Jairajpuri (born April 1942) completed his higher education at AMU and received the Honorary D.Sc. from AMU in 1970. He was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Zoolgy in the year 1964 and later served as a Professor and Chairman, Department of Zoology (1988–89 and 1997-1998) and Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences (1993-95 and 1997-98), at AMU, before his retirement in 2004.
Earlier he acted as the Coordinator of the Agriculture Center at AMU and became the Founder Director of the Institute of Agriculture in 1993.
Prof. Jairajpuri has done pioneering research on plant and soil nematodes and published several books and more than 350 research papers in journals of international repute.
He had a great love for his mother tongue, Urdu, and his biography in Urdu Chand Yaadein Chand Baatein is widely hailed by critics.
He received the first Janaki Ammal National Award in 1999, bestowed by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Zoological Society of India for his notable works on taxonomy of nematodes (1964-2004). In March 2000, the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy elected him as its Fellow and in the same year he got elected as the President of the Indian Society for Parasitology (ISP). He received the “Shiksha Ratna Puruskar”, along with a “Certificate of Excellence” in 2007 by the India International Friendship Society (IIFS), New Delhi.
Prof Jairajpuri had the honour of delivering Professor Har Swarup Memorial Lecture in 2000 and serving as the Director of the Zoological Survey of India during 1989-1991. Al-Ameen Educational Society, Bangalore (Karnataka) honoured him with the prestigious ‘Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award for 2009.
He is survived by his wife Prof. Durdana Jairajpuri and 3 daughters Ms. Sheeba Iqbal Jairajpuri, Ms. Deeba Shamim Jairajpuri and Dr. Zeeba Jairajpuri.