Bhubaneswar: Noted scientist and the Director of the Institute Of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar Ajay Kumar Parida will be cremated with full state honours today.
Reportedly, his mortal remains reached Bhubaneswar from Guwahati this morning. Dr Ajay Parida passed away at Guwahati in Assam early on Tuesday. He was 58.
It has been learnt that he suffered a cardiac arrest in his sleep and was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. He is survived by his wife and a son.
Expressing grief Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that Dr Parida will be cremated with full State honours. “Deeply saddened to learn about the passing away of Padma Shri awardee scientist and Director of ILS Ajay Parida. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family members and friends in this hour of grief,” he tweeted.
Born in Bhagabanpur village of Jajpur, Parida was conferred with Padma Shri in 2014 for his contribution to the field of Science and Technology. He had served as the Executive Director of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai from 2009-2016.
He was elected as President of the Agriculture Science and Forestry section of the Indian Science Congress in 2012. Dr. Parida was the President of Biological Sciences Session of the National Academy of Sciences India in 2014.
In 2017, he joined ILS, one of the 10 labs of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) set up to monitor the genomic variations in coronavirus.
An alumnus of Utkal University, he had done PhD from Delhi University and post-doctoral research from University College of Wales, UK, University of Naples, Italy and International Rice Research Institute, Philippines.
Ms Kalinga