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Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Royal Society of London, and US National Acadeny of Sciences, Professor Swaminathan has been Chairman of the UN Scientific Advisory Committee for Science and Development, President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Independent Chairman of the FAO Council. He is Currently UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology and Chairman of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, India.

S. L. Kochhar taught courses in Economic Botany and Plant Physiology at SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi from 1965 to 2007. He graduated from Punjab University. Chandigarh with distinction, and was awarded the Atomic Energy Commission Scholarship during this period. His research dissertation during Masters of Science (Honours School) in Botany won him a gold medal for standing first in University. He was also a member of Faculty of Science, and Committee of Courses for Graduate and Post-Graduate Studies in Botany, University of Delhi. Among his well known books are Tropical Crops and Plants and Society (co-edited with Professor M S Swaminathan, FRS) – both published by Macmillan Publishers (UK) Ltd. The second revised edition of Groves of Beauty and Plenty: An Atlas of Major Flowering Trees of India (2007) co-authored with Professor M S Swaminathan (profusely illustrated with more than 500 coloured photographs) and Economic Botany in the Tropics (3rd revised edition, 2009) are two of his latest works.