Chairman, Zaheer Science Foundation

Positions Held :

• Research and Development Chemist, Cipla Labs., Bombay (1941-45)
• Director, Department of Research plant product, Tibbiya Colleges, Aligarh University (1951-67)
• Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry ; Dean, Faculty of Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (1951-67)
• Chairman and Member, Union Public Service Commission of India (1967-79)
• Governor of Bihar (First Term, 1979-85)
• Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University (1983-90)
• President, Vocational Education Society for Women, New Delhi from 1985 till date
• Governor of Bihar (Second Term, (1993-98)
• Governor of West Bengal (1998-99)
• Chairman, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, Delhi University (1998-2003)
• Chairman, Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank, Mumbai (1999-2003)
• National Chairman, Institute of Marketing and  Management, New Delhi (2000 till date)
• Member of the Rajya sabha (Jan. 2000-July 6, 2004) and also Member of the following Parliamentary Committees:-

1. Consultative Committee for the Ministries of Science and Technology, Environment and Forest (2000-04)
2. Standing Committee on Agriculture, Water Resources and Food Processing Industries (2000-04)
3. Committee on Subordinate Legislation (2000-04)

• Assumed charge as the Governor of Haryana on 7th July, 2004
• Chairman of the Committee of Governors, constituted by the President of India for Empowerment of Women (2008-2009)

Membership of Important Committee, Organizations and Institutions:

(i) National Committee on Science and Technology, 1968-75.

(ii) Perspective Science and Technology Plan Committee of the Department of Science and Technology and the Planning Commission.

(iii) Council and the Governing body of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) 1970 – 73

(iv) Board of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Governing Bodies of Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow and Central Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.

(v) Regional Imbalances Enquiry Commission, Jammu and Kashmir, 1979.

(vi) State planning Board and Heavy Industries Plan Committees, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

(vii) University Grants Commission (UGC) and Chairman of the Central Universities Review Committee, 1985-86.

(viii) Central Advisory Board of Education.

(ix) Central Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

(x) Committee on New Education Policy, 1986 and Chairman of its Sub-Committee on Non-Formal Methods of Education.

(xi) Member and  Patron, Delhi Public School Society (1968 till date)

(xii) Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Engineers, India.

(xiii) Chairman, Review Committee on Unani Medicine, Ministry of Health, Government of India.

(xiv) Chairman, Selection Board of Scientists Pool  (1968-79).

(xv) Chairman of the Board of Assessment of Educational and Technical Qualification for Employment, Ministry of Education, Government of India (1967-79).

(xvi) The American, British and Indian Chemical Societies.

(xvii) American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Accomplishments:

(i) Awarded Padma Vibhushan by the President of India in recognition of his contribution in the field of Public Affairs.

(ii) Research Publication: Over 40 Original Research Papers in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in national and International Journals.

(iii) Education: Distinguished himself as a Scientist and research in the field of Organic and Natural Products, Chemistry  and Biochemistry; engaged in Education for over 35 years dealing with problems of Higher Education, especially in the fields of Science and Technology, Research, Education Technology, non-formal method of education and vocational education. During tenure as Governor of Bihar and West Bengal he served as ex-officio Chancellor of all  Universities in the two states when he took keen interest in the working and development of university education.

He made efforts to modernize Madrasas Education by integrating them with modern education and technical training. At his initiative, the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, patna was modernized with  facilities of Information Technology as an important reference library for advanced studies and research.

(iv) Administration: Re-oriented Working of the Union Public Service Commission by introducing Computerized  system to expedite promotion and selection processes personnel policies and administrative practices. The most important contribution was  replacement of English Language as the only medium of examination for the All-India and the Central Services  Examination by introducing a multilingual examination to ensure  equality of opportunity for the candidates whose medium of education involved Indian Languages. The  new scheme involved a Preliminary Objective Type Screening Test followed by a Written Test, with the  option of using in  any of the fourteen Indian languages besides English, and the Personality Test for selection.

(v) Political Activities: As a student Dr. Kidwai took part in all freedom movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi from 1930 onwards; took active part in the historic August 1942 Quit India Movement; attended the Congress Session in Bombay;  was associated with the underground socialist leaders Shri S.M. Joshi, Shri Ashok Mehta and Shrimati Aruna Asaf Ali; played active role in the publication of the Congress News Bulletin and broadcasting news through Azad Radio in Bombay.

As Chairman of the Committee for Mahatma Gandhi’s 125th Birth Anniversary Celebrations in Bihar he initiated a programme of marking out villages and ashrams where Mahatma Gandhi actively worked for the education and awakening among the downtrodden people. A special programme of development and construction  of the monument related with Mahatma Gandhi at Sadaqat Ashram, Patna, Motihari, Bettiah and Bhiterwa was undertaken in co-operation with Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Patna. These centers were linked into a “Gandhi Circuit” so that the younger generations could visit them to get inspiration. A centre for Gandhian Studies was set up at Bhagalpur University.

(vi) Social Welfare: Initiated special schemes and projects for employment generation for the educated unemployed in urban centres and rural employment through integrated farming and self-employment  schemes in bihar with the active involvement of the Department of Institutional Finance and Commercial Banks.

Re-organized the Red Cross Society to provide for, (i) polyclinics for free medical advice and treatment to the poor; (ii) facilities for free clinical testing and diagnosis, (iii) treatment and rehabilitation of physically handicapped and (iv) Pre-Disaster Preparedness Centres in flood prone areas.

Three important centres were set up to provide free maternity and child welfare services, advice and treatment for family welfare programmes under the auspices of Maternity and Child Welfare society, Bihar with the support of Department of Family Welfare .

(vii) Culture: Re-activated the Bharatya Niritya Kala Mandir, Patna as a leading Centre of traditional Indian and Tribal Dances . As Chairman of North Eastern Zonal Cultural Council he initiated  setting up of two important Centres of performing arts at Shantiniketan and at Calcutta and launched a programme of coordinated cultural activities in each of the member State of the Eastern Zone.

Buddhist Studies: Initiated  development of (i) the Nav Nalanda Mahavihara as an international centre for advanced studies in Pali language and Buddhist studies; (ii) the historic areas of Vaishali, Nalanda and the International Buddhist Enclave at Bodh Gaya, as part of the “Buddhist Circuit” for tourists and pilgrims visiting Bihar was awarded Honorary Doctorate, Vidya Vajaspati by the Institute of Tibetan studies, Sarnath in 1997 in recongnition of the contribution to Buddhist studies.

Jainism: Worked for re-organization of the Institute of Prakrit and Jainology at Vaishali (Bihar). Initiated its revival as a leading Centre for higher studies and research in Jain history and culture. Important jain Monuments Around Patna and Mandar Hill were  revived. Special provisions were made  to provide facilities for pilgrims at Parasnath(Jharkhand).

Sport: Hockey and Athletics

Hobbies: Academic and scientific activities, social and gardening.

Countries Visited:  A widely travelled  personality who participated in a number of scientific, technological and educational conferences in different foreign countries like USA, U.K., Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Hungary; extensively toured South and West Asian countries. Also led Government of India Delegation to Saudi Arabia on the occasion of Haj in 1994 and was invited in June 2004 to deliver a keynote address at European Conference on Internationalization of Scientific Research  and Development  at Helsinki.

The Foundation consists of not less than five and not more than ten Members inclusive of Chairman, the maximum number of Members being as follows:

1. Five Members to be elected by the Members of the Foundation;
2. Five eminent persons having special knowledge or practical experience in science, technology, industry or social and economic affairs to be coopted by the elected members of the Governing Council.

Membership consists of the following categories:

1. Individual and
2. Corporate Members.

The fees for Membership (for life) are Rs. 500/- and for Corporate Members Rs. 5,000/-.

The globalization of economy has thrown open new opportunities for the people world over to participate in the developmental activities and attain prosperity in all walks of life.  The developing countries have opportunities to improve their socio-economic condition while the advanced countries who are prospering on the basis of knowledge and technology have the opportunities of cooperation of the skilled and unskilled manpower, resources and raw materials for utilization of the technology developed by them for increasing production and well being of the people of the developing countries.  This cooperation will  benefit both the advanced countries and the developing countries.

In this context, countries like India with vast natural resources, excellent agro-climatic conditions and manpower can take full advantage of globalization of economy for all round development of the country and prosperity of the people.  India can thus acquire leadership position in many areas of production, research and development specially in the fields of medicine, agriculture and industries because of the availability of the skilled manpower and favourable agro climatic conditions.  This thrusts great responsibility on the Government of India and the people at large to utilize the opportunities available in various directions.

Viewed in the above background, Zaheer Science Foundation can play an important role in helping India to achieve its great objectives by holding  Conferences, Seminars and discussions with experts, both of the country and abroad.  India has one of the largest genomic source for plant materials and can also be the genomic source for research on new drugs because of variety of diseases not available elsewhere.  Zaheer Science Foundation should have an Information Centre, which will project before the world the scope of collaboration of the advanced countries with India for maximum utilization of such unique opportunities.   This will ensure cooperation in areas of activity which require direction and efforts of the Government of India and the people and draw their attention towards the need for mobilization of efforts and activities for expediting development of the country in collaboration with other countries.  This is a job which Government alone cannot do and requires joint and cooperative ventures with the participation of intellectuals, educationists, scientists and industrialists.

Thus, the mission and vision of Zaheer Science Foundation has acquired a great importance to take full advantage of the globalization of the world economy for making India a great country.

The initiative of naming the Foundation as Zaheer Science Foundation and the honor of being its first Chairman belonged to the late Dr. A. Ramaswamy Mudaliar who was also the Founder President of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Thereafter, the following served as Chairman of Zaheer Science Foundation:

Dr. S. Husain Zaheer

Prof. Nurul Hasan

Shri P.N. Haksar

Prof. R.C. Mehrotra

Dr. A.R. Kidwai

Dr. G. Thyagarajan, Formerly Director, CLRI, Chennai

Prof. Mohsin Ullah Khan

Present Chairman: Dr. Harsh Gupta, Former Director of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) Hyderabad