First Gold medallist
veterinary graduate of Assam Agricultural University
PROF. (DR.)GUNINDRA NATH DUTTA (1948-2001)
Dr.Gunindra Nath Dutta was on Internationally reputed veterinary
scientist born at village Bhagamukh,Dhakuakhana in Lakhimpur district .He was a
distinguished veterinarian and was the first Gold medallist veterinary graduate
of
Assam
Agricultural
University
. As a first class first M.V.Sc.
degree holder in Veterinary Medicine from the Jawaharlal Nehru University of
Agriculture ,Jabalpur he was serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of
Veterinary
Medicine, Public Health & Hygiene in 1978 when he was selected
for a Doctoral fellowship by the Government of Belgium .He joined the state
University of Belgium, Ghent and carried out research on anaerobic bacteria and
antibiotic resistances and discovered a new bacteria Enterococcus cecorum .He
hold the honor
of becoming the first non- Belgium to be conferred upon the Doctor of
Veterinary Science with Distinction from that University by defending two
thesis publicly. He also had a stint of Post –Doctoral research there and
returned to
India
in 1983 and joined back his alma mater as a teacher in the Department.
Holder of some rare distinctions, Dr. Dutta was the only
veterinarian from
India
to have been awarded the Fellowship of
Royal Society of Health,
London
and a Chartered Biologist from the
Institute
of
Biology
,
London
. He was also the distinguished member to the Research Advisory Board of America
as a Life –member to many professional bodies in
India
and abroad ,Dr.Dutta had richly contributed to the profession by authority many
books and carrying out the valuable researches in the field of prevention of
diseases in animals. He guided 10
Masters degree and eight Ph.D. researchers and had tremendously
contributed to the field of research in veterinary Medicine. He
was also an expert and adviser to the UPSC and APSC and the only member from the
NE region to the ASRB (Agricultural scientist Recruitment Board). He was also the
only Veterinarian so far to have been nominated by the Governor of Assam to the
Board of Homeopathy Systems of Medicine.
Dr. Dutta served the
Assam
Agricultural
University
as the Associate Dean of Lakhimpur
College of Veterinary
Science and the Professor and Head of the Department , Veterinary
Medicine, Public Health & Hygiene at the time of his expiry.
In order to commemorate Dr.
Dutta , the pubic and the family
members have established the Dr. Gunindra Nath Dutta Memorial Trust at
Dhakuakhana with the objective of promoting school education and to popularize
science amongst the public. Two books in Assamese and in English authored by Dr.
Dutta relating to school education namely “Bijnansanmate
Adhyaynar Kala-Koushal” and “the Art and Science of Learning under Modern
Systems of Education” have been recently published to develop the Trust.
***