India’s seniormost forest officer visits Natraj
By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 6 Dec: ‘Natraj: The Green Bookshop’ on Rajpur Road had a surprise visitor as author and legendary forester Dr Jagdish Chandra Nautiyal dropped by today, at its new location, here.
Dr Nautiyal, a member of the first batch of the Indian Forest Service, joined the Provincial Forest Service in undivided Uttar Pradesh in 1954 and was promoted to IFS in 1958. His tenure as the Divisional Forest Officer, Ranikhet, is remembered for some pathbreaking decisions taken by him for which he won a letter of appreciation from the then Chief Minister, the late Choudhury Charan Singh.
Having served the Forest Department with distinction, he proceeded to Canada for
his Doctorate in Forest Economics at the University of Toronto in Ontario, the largest in Canada. On completion of his doctorate, he was persuaded to stay back and teach at the College of Forestry and continued to do so for twenty- seven years and rose to become the Dean of the College. Dr Nautiyal is the only Indian Canadian to win the Queen’s Award for forestry. After retirement, he spends six months in Dehradun and the rest in Ontario, Canada.
Keen to translate the original volumes of ‘The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi’ into Hindi and Urdu, Dr Nautiyal, although well versed in matters of forest management, has learnt the Farsi language to enjoy the task and now, at 93, is busy doing exactly that, a passion he nursed for a long time.
While browsing around the bookshelves, he discovered a copy of ‘Flight beyond the Mountains’, by Dr Anupama, IFS, and deeply impressed, he purchased a copy along with some other books. Dr Nautiyal strongly believes that reading and engaging in literary pursuit is the root of all happiness.
“We had the privilege to publish his book, ‘Forest Economics: Principles and Applications in 1994, which won a global rating of 4.5 out of 5 and continues to be in demand even today,” said Upendra Arora, owner of The Green Bookshop.
