Contributions of Dr. Govind Pratap Rao, India: Life Profile, Academic Achievements & Views from Students and Academic Colleagues

Dr. Govind P. Rao is an Indian borne scientist, who dedicated his entire life in plant pathology research in India and contributed to science significantly. Dr. Rao was born on January 15, 1960 to the parents of an educated middle-class peasantry in Kushinagar District of Uttar Pradesh, India. He did his graduation (Biology) in 1979 and post graduation (Botany) in 1981 from the Gorakhpur University, India. Later he completed his Ph.D. degree in Botany (Plant Virology) from Gorakhpur University in 1986. He did his Post Doc at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA in 1994. He joined his first service as Scientific Officer (Pl Pathology) at GS Sugarcane Breeding & Research Institute, Seorahi, Kushinagar in 1987 and continued his service in different capacities at UP Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur till 2010. He joined as Principal Scientist (Pl Pathology) at Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, a premier academic institution of India, in 2010 and continued till his superannuation till 31st Jan 2022. He contributed very significantly in developing disease (red rot, smut) resistant varieties of sugarcane for cultivation in Uttar Pradesh, India and characterization of viruses associated with sugarcane, legumes, sorghum, maize, apple etc. He is well known for the establishment of a strong school of phytoplasma research in India and trained several scientists and students, which is an emerging pathogen in many agricultural crops of India and worldwide. He is a widely travelled scientist for doing research, attending conferences, guest faculty, advisor, visiting scientist, invited speakers, organizing conferences and post doc scientist to more than 30 countries. He has also established new scientific journals Sugar Tech (24 years), Medicinal Plants (14 years) and Phytopathogenic Mollicutes (10 years) and serving as Editor- in-Chiefs. Besides he has published over 200 research papers, 26 books and several technical bulletins to his credit. Dr Rao is Fellows of several academic societies and conferred with several national and international Awards. He is very popular in name of ‘Father of Modern Phytoplasmology in India’ and discovered and reported over 100 new phytoplasma diseases in India. Dr. Rao has made his presence marked as dedicated, devoted and disciplined teacher, researcher and guide. The DOI: 10.5958/2394-448X.2022.000 PREPS 2011 article discusses his life bibliography with important academic achievements and contributions along with some personal views from his students and academic colleagues.