Department of Botany

The Department of Botany has been in the forefront of teaching and research in Plant Sciences since its establishment in 1974. The original aim of providing quality education to the educationally underprivileged tribes of the northeastern states has been successfully fulfilled by the Department. The Department stands today as a unique institution in the northeastern region of the country where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching and research in plant sciences has established permanent roots. The uniqueness of the Department essentially lies in the fact that within the Department’s faculty, there are experts and active researchers representing almost all areas of plant sciences. We believe that in order to be effective, postgraduate teaching must be done by teachers who are also actively involved in research in their respective areas of specialization. We have developed a teaching programme that stresses on the uniformity of principles of macro as well as micro molecular mechanisms in all living systems. Our faculty is very often called upon to teach in other Universities especially in the northeastern region of the country. We also organize refresher courses to help in updating knowledge and skills of teachers in colleges and other universities of the region as well as other parts of the country. The Department also organizes summer school for undergraduate students with Botany (Honours) as well as allied subjects to make them aware of various developments taking place in Plant Sciences. The Department, therefore, serves as a catalyst in the vital scientific and educational activities of India and has a commitment to continue its service to the nation.

Quality teaching requires ongoing research activities, which needs a good deal of financial support. With a current strength of more than 70, the research fellows of the Department constitute the core of its research activities. The Department has been operating several research projects funded by various National and International agencies. National funding agencies like Department of Bio-Technology, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Environment and Forests, North Eastern Council, University Grants Commission. The Department also has active research programmes under Indo-French, Indo–EU, Indo-US, Indo–Slovenian bilateral collaborations and host of others have generously supported the ongoing research activities in the Department through sponsored research projects. The financial support received through these projects thus not only enables the faculty members in running their research programmes, but also enable the students to take challenging and modern research topics for their Ph.D. thesis. The faculty of the Department has produced quality research publications in reputed national and international journals. To date, we have over 700 research publications to our credit. The sustained efforts of the faculty have resulted in numerous awards, honours and recognitions to the teachers as well as the students of the Department. In recognition to his contributions in the field of Science & Technology, Govt. of India has conferred Padma Shree on Professor P. Tandon. In addition, we have the honour of having had two Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA). Other awards conferred on the faculty include, ISCA Millennium Plaques of Honour, F.N.A.Sc., Professor R.N. Tandon Memorial Lecture Award of National Academy of Sciences, India, Gadgil Memorial Lecture Award of Plant Tissue Culture Association of India, B.P. Pal National Environment Fellowship award, Panchanand Maheshwari (IBS) Award, F.N.I.E., F.I.G.S., FISPP, FNRS, and INSA Young Scientists award. In recognition of the excellent work carried out by the department, the University Grants Commission has extended its financial support to the Department under its DSA and COSIST programmes. The UGC recognized the contributions and the excellent work carried out by the faculty and scholars and upgraded the Department to the level of “Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany” 2007. Thus, the Department became the first CAS Department not only in NEHU, but in entire northeast region of India.