DR B.P.PANDE

THIS WRITE UP IS WRITTEN AS PER MY KNOWLEDGE WHICH , I AM SURE, IS NOT COMPLETE. I WILL HIGHLY APPRECIATE THE CORRECTIONS THAT MAY BE SUGGESTED BY THE PERSONS WHO ARE MORE FAMILIAR WITH THE EVENTS.

Introduction :

  Prior to independence of the country ,India was having three veterinary colleges- Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. As soon as the country became independent from colonial rule, three new colleges came in existence (what about Patna vety college ?) ;Hisar which was really shifting of Lahore veterinary college to Indian territory (it does not mean closing of Lahore veterinary college). The CP and Barar college of veterinary science and animal husbandry was inaugurated at Jabalpur on 8th July, 1948 while UP college of veterinary science and animal husbandry was inaugurated in 1947 at Mathura -perhaps paying tributes to  Lord Krishna who in his childhood , at brigbhumi or  Mathura area , took care of the cattle ,giving a new meaning to cow keeping in ancient India ; this activity of Krishna has duly recognized in our mythological books where his popular name is "Gopal" -a person who is caring for cow. And to fulfill the task of improving livestock wealth of the area, Mathura veterinary college attempted to attract talented faculty who  not only taught the students but also researched to solve important livestock problems of the country. With passage of only few years ,the college became famous because of three important professors in its faculty- one was Dr Talpatra in Nutrition , Dr A Ray in Physiology and Dr BP Pande in Parasitology (though it was not a separate department from Pathology at that time).

His Profile :

Dr B.P.Pande was born on 29th April,1910 in Almora district of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh (now comes under newly formed Uttarakhand state). In pre-independent India , Allahabad University had a great academic reputation with eminent teachers ; this was the university  from where Dr Pande did his MSc in Zoology and was awarded D.Sc in 1938 after conducting his research work in Helminthology under Professor H.R.Mehra (an eminent Parasitologist -details are invited to include in this blog). It must be appreciated that acquiring such higher degrees in pre-independent country was rare as most of the persons took education mostly up-to high school standard . Dr Pande started his academic career from Kanpur Agriculture College (which later became a constituent college of Chandrashekhar Azad Agriculture University) where he served for ten years as Agriculture Parasitologist. With the start of Mathura Veterinary College he joined there in 1948 as Professor of Parasitology  and served the institution till  his superannuation i.e. 28.4.1970 . After retirement ,  Dr Pande shifted to Lucknow and joined CDRI as Emeritus Scientist of ICAR ,which position he continued for three years. The scientific work of this   eminent Parasitologist became  to posterity when he expired on 19th March,1981 at the age of 71.
It may be said without difficulty that Dr Pande was a simple ,principled man who recognized his students only by their talent ; no other factor came in his consideration. And he was a man who was able to stand on the matter which he believed. 

Distinguished work  :

What we wish to convey to our young parasitologists from the work of Prof Pande ? In fact, there is no trend of analyzing importance of work of our scientists except elaborating their work in research or review papers. In my opinion, we are not doing justice to them by merely referring their scientific work in research journals.

If we go back to the era just when India became independent, veterinary education was at its preliminary stages where all three veterinary colleges were providing their own degree like GBVC (graduate of Bombay veterinary college) with no affiliation to the universities ; like wise the staff of  veterinary colleges were also possessing either these degrees or diploma in veterinary sciences. Perhaps, the highest veterinary degree at that time was FRCVS and MRCVS ( Fellow and member of royal college of veterinary surgeon)-to be earned from Britain ; most of our State Directors of Veterinary Services or Principals of Veterinary colleges were those holding these degrees. With independence of the country, the veterinary colleges became affiliated to  the Academic Universities (Agra University for Mathura Veterinary College) to streamline standards of veterinary education in the country.

Dr BP Pande advocated the necessity of specialization in different disciplines in veterinary science and that a post graduate degree should be made essential for joining teaching post in the veterinary college.He delivered many lectures and written articles to emphasize the need of higher education in Veterinary Sciences. He was also Dean faculty for three years of Agra university and during this tenure he insisted that all the teachers should acquire post graduate degrees with specialization in the subjects where they are to be appointed.   He  started MVSc in Parasitology at Mathura Veterinary College and guided many students who contributed importantly in the subject.   Among his students ,we may mention name of Drs J P Dubey , N Chowhdury, JC Katiyar, PPS Chauhan, BB Bhatia and others.

Though Dr Pande was a  Parasitologist with zoology background , he did not try to create new parasite species  merely on one or two minor morphological grounds or on different host species basis . Rather he was a Parasitologist who discouraged such  activities . One can visualize his working ideas as he assigned his students to study damage or harm ,caused by the parasites- a new field of work at that time where  morphological work was still dominating .Really , he was a visionary who could visualize what will be good for the animal industry and to the country.

His distinctions :

Looking to the achievements of Professor BP Pande he was conferred many distinctions including electing him Fellows of important scientific organizations like National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad , Indian Society of Parasitology. To honor this eminent teacher of Parasitology, The Indian Society of Parasitology has started Dr B P Pande award from 1985. This award is conferred to an eminent teacher of Parasitology (from any discipline-veterinary, medical and zoology) by the society every year and continuing till date ,since its inception.  
WAS THERE ANY FUNCTION OR REMEMBRANCE IN 2010 WHEN WE WERE WITNESSING 100 YEARS OF BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF DR BP PANDE OR FOR THAT MATTER ANY OTHER PARASITOLOGIST ON WHOSE NAME OUR SOCIETIES  ARE GIVING AWARDS.  ( though now we are celebrating every year in April month , world's veterinarian day )