About the Department

The Department of Botany came into existence in 1960 as a UG department in Birla Government P. G. College, which was affiliated to Agra University.  It was upgraded as a PG and Ph.D. department in 1973 after the establishment of Garhwal University. It is one of the oldest University Departments of Botany in the country. The Department has earned special status in national arena for its standards of teaching and research. The Department is proud of having produced distinguished scientists, scholars and administrators who have served or holding high positions at national level. The Department offers teaching in two main streams at the post-graduate level viz., (i) Botany, and (ii) Microbiology. The undergraduate programmes in Botany and Microbiology are also being run as a subject at B.Sc. level of the School of Life Sciences. The department is known for its outstanding research particularly in the field of Himalayan vegetational wealth including Ecology and Conservation, Taxonomy, Palynology and Mycology. Researches in some emerging areas like Algal Biotechnology, Plant Biochemistry and Microbiology have also been started, which are also attaining excellence.

 

Retired Heads of the Department

(After the establishment of the University)

1. Prof. A. N. Purohit, "Padma Shree" (1976-1979)

    Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (FNA)

    Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad (FNASc)

    President, Uttarakhand Chapter of National Academy of Sciences

    Board of Directors, EC Mode

    Member, International Mountain Forum

    SICO Award, Ecoaward

 

2. Prof. G. S. Paliwal (1979-1997)

     Fellow of the Linnean Society, London

     Senior Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship

     Prof. V. Puri Memorial Gold Medal Awardee by the Indian Botanical Society.

     Dr. Rajendra Prasad Puraskar (ICAR)

     Prof. Birbal Sahni Puraskar, UP Hindi Academy

     Vishisht Anusandhan Puraskar, UP Hindi Academy

 

3. Prof. R. D. Gaur (1997-2004)

     Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad (FNASc)

     Prof. Panigrahi Award, Indian Botanical Society

     Editorial Member of New York Academy of Sciences

     Member, Editorial Board, Wealth of India

     Member, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

 

4. Prof. S. C. Tiwari (2004-2012)

 

5. Prof. A. B. Bhatt (2012-2015)

 

6. Prof. D. P. Vashishtha (2015-2018)

 

7. Prof. R. P. Bhatt (2019-2020)