Insight Bureau: Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar Director, Dr. Ajay Parida passed away in Guwahati today. He was 58.

Parida was on a visit to Guwahati to attend a conference where he died suffering from a heart attack.

Dr. Ajay Kumar Parida had contributed significantly in fields of agriculture, plant molecular biology and biotechnology.

Ajay Parida was elected as President of the Agriculture Science and Forestry section of the Indian Science Congress in 2012 and President of the Biological Sciences Session of the National Academy of Sciences India in 2014.

He served as the Executive Director of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai during 2009-2017.

He was conferred with Padma Shri in 2014 by the then President Pranab Mukherjee for his contribution to the field of science.