Environment at Crossroads Challenges and Green Solutions

Dr. Arun Arya, Professor of Botany and Co-ordinator, Seed Technology Programme in The M.S. University of Baroda. He is a Botanist, Phytopathologist, Philatelist & popular Science writer. He obtained his Doctorate from University of Allahabad in 1983. Dr. Arya started his teaching career as lecture in Microbiology at Gurukul Kangri University, Hardwar in 1985. With the start of Seed Technology programme he was made co-ordinator in 2001. Dr. Arya is a recipient of Young Scientist award of DST, New Delhi in 1986. He has worked as a senior research fellow and post doctoral research fellow of CSIR, New Delhi. He has published more than 100 research papers and 7 books. He has reported three new species of Phomopsis and several new fruit rot diseases. For the first time different fungi have been reported by his research group from objects like paper, cloth and Egyptian mummy kept in Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery. Ecofriendly plant parts obtained from rhizome, leaf and flower extracts were used to control different fungal pathogens. He has presented his research findings in XV International Botanical Congress at Yokohama in Japan in 1993 and 12th World Forestry Congress in Qubec City Canada in 2003. He had an honour to co-chair a session on Eco-regions in this International Congress.