Amar Nath Singh

Bhagalpur, Oct. 20: Amar Nath Singh, a former research scholar of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University (TMBU), has been selected as a fellow of the Indian Botanical Society. He was awarded the fellowship for his contribution to plant pathology and microbiology.

Singh, who completed his PhD on medicinal plants of Bihar from TMBU, was selected for the fellowship at the annual meeting of the society at Lucknow University on October 12. He worked as a research associate with the botany department of the university from 2001 to 2010.

A native of Sultanganj, he is at present working as an environment manager in a leading mining company in Orissa.

An elated Singh told The Telegraph over telephone: “Microbiology is very important for the conservation of rare, endangered medicinal plants. I have tried to work for the conservation of these plants in eastern Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand. It could help revive greenery at mining wastelands in these regions.”

He was also a leading member of the research team of the department that developed a lowcost microbiological technology for reclaiming and rehabilitating mining wastelands of coalfields at Rajmahal in Jharkhand, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Sambalpur in Orissa.

Under the guidance of team-leader A.K. Roy, Singh and others had managed to revive vegetation in these coalfields.

Arvind Mishra, convener, Bhagalpur-based Mandar Nature Club of which Singh was earlier a member, said: “It is really a matter of pride for us. We will felicitate Singh when he returns to Bhagalpur.”