My father, Dr. Madan Lal Saini was the most
hardworking person I ever knew! He worked near about 18 hours per day. He never
took any break from work. In his life, there were no holidays. Even during
festive time like Diwali or Holi he was busy working while the rest of the
world was busy in enjoying lights and colours. In spite of whatever happens in
the world, he strictly followed his working routine.
His hard work made him successful in academics as well as in
business. He retired as Professor of Plant Breeding, CCS Harynana Agricultural
University, Hisar. Earlier in his academic career, he was a
bright student and always secured excellent marks in his school and college
time. He was awarded Dr. V.K. Kashyap Gold Medal in recognisition of the best
Ph.D. research worker for the year 1974. He worked on genetic improvement of
gaur crop for about 12 years and remained associated in development and release
of eight important varieties of guar. He was awarded ‘The Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
Memorial Prize for Agriculture Research for the biennium 1982-83 for
outstanding contribution in the field of plant breeding and genetics. Associated
with wheat varitety WH542 and had been awarded ICAR Team Award for
Multi-disciplinary Research in Agriculture and Allied Sciences for the
Triennium 1994-96.
In the field of teaching, he guided four
M.Sc. and seven Ph.d. students. He was awarded Best Teacher Award of the
Department of Plant Breeding for the year 1998. He also received The
Outstanding Teacher Award, a national award in teaching for the Biennium
1998-99 for outstanding contribution in the field of Plant Breeding and Crop
Improvement by the ICAR.
He was selected for the prestigious B.P.
Pal National Environment Fellowship Award for Biodiversity for the year 2002 by
Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi to work on grasses
and medicinal plants in arid region.
He wrote three books namely ‘Plant
Breeding and Crop Improvement’ Vol I and Vol II and Practical Manual on Plant
Breeding. He wrote near about 200 papers including research papers, review
articles and popular articles.
In business, he was keenly interested in
introducing new technologies, starting new projects and launching new schemes
for the betterment of society.
Surprisingly he followed his working
schedule punctually even after he fell sick. His poor health could not restrict
his working hours. In the last days of his life, he was discussing business,
suggesting innovative ideas to make money and guiding me to tackle problems.
He led a very simple and disciplined life. He was kind,
honest and was always ready to help everybody in need.
With moist eyes, I said ‘Goodbye’ to him last night.
Photo : While searching album for his photo, I found the pics were mainly
about taking awards, giving talks or researching in the field/ lab. There were
hardly any photos with friends or relatives. So here is one taking The
Outstanding Teacher Award from Mr. L.K. Advani.