Grassroots Nation, is a series in which we deep dive into the life, work and guiding philosophies of some of the country’s most great leaders of social change.

Born in pre-independence India in 1939, Dr Kamaljit S. Bawa grew up in Kapurthala in Punjab, witnessing partition and inspired by the speeches of our country’s founding leaders. It was on a field project to the Northeast of India as a Master’s student that opened his eyes to ‘a whole new world’ and set him on his journey in the space of conservation biology. Dr Bawa earned his PhD from Panjab University in 1967 at the age of 28 and moved to the United States to work as a post-doctoral researcher in ecology. During his time here, he was inspired by a number of scientists and thinkers whose work has been pathbreaking, from Dan Jansen, an evolutionary ecologist, to EO Wilson, who is credited with coining the word biodiversity, to Michael Soule, who is often referred to as the father of conservation biology. In this episode, Dr. Bawa speaks of his time spent conducting research in Costa Rica, his long career at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and his return to India to become the Founder President of ATREE, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, that was established in 1996.

In this episode of Grassroots Nation, Dr. Bawa is in conversation with Hari Sridhar, a researcher affiliated to the Konrad Lorenz Institute, Austria and Archives at NCBS, Bangalore.

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