Sardar Bahadur S. Lal Singh

Born in the village Nandpur in district Ludhiana in March 1896, Sardar Bahadur S. Lal Singh did B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of California, U.S.A. After return from U.S.A. in 1922, he joined as Professor of Agriculture at Khalsa College, Amritsar and worked there for four years. He became Fruit Specialist at Lyallpur from 1926-1944 and Fruit Development Advisor in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Government of India in 1945. After the partition, he was appointed Director of Agriculture, Punjab Govt. and retired from the Government service in 1952. After retirement, he contested election from Ludhiana and became Member of Parliament. He also worked as a member of the Irrigation and Power Team of the Committee on Plan projects from 1957 to 1960. In 1960, he became consultant with the Delhi Cloth Mills and managed their farms in U.P.

Sardar Lal Singh played a major role in promotion of Horticulture in the United Punjab both the Punjab states of India and Pakistan. The cultivation of oranges in the canal colonies received great impetus mainly on account of extension work done by him. The Punjab State Cooperative Fruit Development Board came into existence as a result of his efforts. S.B. Lal Singh also took interest in fruit preservation and is often referred to as “The father of fruit preservation in Punjab”. He organized the Indian Institute of Fruit Technology of which; he was the ex-officio Director. Later, this institute was merged with CFTRI, Mysore. He was also instrumental in the establishment of an Agriculture College at Ludhiana, which later became Punjab Agricultural University. He had also initiated a number of legislative measures for the benefit of the farmers, e.g, the Pure Seed and Seedling act; the Punjab Conservation of Manure Act; the Punjab Pests, Diseases and Noxious Weed etc. He inspired a generation of agricultural scientists, e.g. Dr Arjan Singh, Dr K.C. Naik, Dr Sadasivan, Dr Sham Singh etc.

Sardar Lal Singh was widely travelled. In 1934, he was deputed to visit Palestine, Italy, France, Germany and U.K. to study agri-horticultural research and development. In 1946, he was sent to Australia. In 1963, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Government invited him for making plan for the development of Horticulture in Ceylon. He also travelled to U.S.A. and Israel. He breathed his last on December 15, 1963.