Ch. Jai Lal Dalal

Chacha Jai Lal was born on 15^th of July 1916 and was the youngest child who was given special care in the family. Dadi of the Presenter used to love him much more than others. Similarly, Bua Hardeyee also had similar attachment towards her brother. Although he was short-statured as compared to all other brothers and sister, yet he came out to be very muscular and possessed a well-built body.  He has been health-conscious and participated in various village games including wrestling in the company of Tau Kanhaya.

Jai Lal was very fond of swimming, diving and long distance races and was a good football player, besides a member of Kabaddi and wrestling teams in high school. Dada Roop Chand did not like these games but Tau Kanhaya always prompted him to participate. The great-grand Dadi practically used to take care of feeding and other activities in childhood. Our Dadi was stout and hardworking who remained always busy in farm operations so great-grand Dadi was looking after children.

Jai Lal followed my father in education and passed Matriculation in First Division like his elder brother in the year 1934 from Jat High school, Rohtak.  He also got admitted in Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur.  He studied very hard and remained scholarship-holder throughout.  He passed graduation in the year 1938 in the First Division and was awarded Scindia Gold Medal for standing First in Agricultural Economics.  He was also in U.T.C. (now NCC) and was Sergeant Major.  He was also a good rifle shooter and beat the old champions in the college.

After graduation, he was appointed as Agricultural Assistant in Oil Seeds Research Section at Lyallpur as In-charge of the Department of Groundnut Research.  In October, 1939, he was transferred to Ludhiana Sub-station for conducting research on various oilseed crops especially groundnut.  In the year 1946, however, Groundnut Research Substation was started at Samrala (Ludhiana district) under his supervision.  He made intensive studies and conducted research with a great zeal and dedication.  Under supervision of Rao Bahadur Chaudhary Ram Dhan Singh he became an eminent groundnut breeder. The then Director of Agriculture Sardar Bahadur Lal Singh, with whom the father of Presenter was working as his Personal Technical Staff, visited Samrala Research Station along with foreign dignitaries,  appreciated the good research work by Jai Lal.  Dr. M.S. Randhawa I.C.S the then Development Commissioner & Secretary Agriculture Punjab also visited Samrala and made similar observations. He did M.Sc in Agriculture in Plant Breeding & Genetics as a departmental candidate in the year 1949.

Sardar Partap Singh Kairon the then Chief Minister of Punjab visited Samrala Farm and was explained the superiority of the outstanding varieties against local types in yield in the experiments as well as demonstration in the fields of cultivators.  The CM was not fully satisfied and visited a large number of villages and talked to the cultivators to know their opinion. He told the farmers that we have a very good plant breeder Jai Lal Dalal, who has evolved a good variety of groundnut known as Punjab Groundnut No-1. This variety of groundnut is so good that it is being adopted in other States also. The farmers in Saurashtra are growing this variety, which shows superiority.

Dr A C Evans, an eminent international scientist, who visited India in 1962 for assessment of research work on groundnut, also appreciated the work being carried out by Jai Lal Dalal. Jai Lal from the very beginning had an aptitude for research. He did commendable and praise-worthy research in groundnuts and evolved superior strains which yielded good results.  The special variety of groundnut GA-3 isolated by Jai Lal was highly appreciated and became very popular on a tract between Samrala and Khanna.

Chacha Jai Lal was promoted to the post of Assistant Botanist (Groundnuts) in P.A.S Class-II initially as a stop gap arrangement followed by substantive appointment as a Gazetted Officer in 1950. There was a stiff competition with Dr. S.P.Kohli, Ph.D from U.S.A. who could displace Jai Lal.  However, considering outstanding research on groundnut crop, the Commission considered selection of Sh. Jai Lal for permanent appointment.

Later on, the Head Quarter of Jai Lal was shifted from Samrala to Ludhiana and he was made as Oil Seed Botanist in P.A.S. Class I.  He started research in Punjab Agriculture University Farm He was soon taken to the Directorate of Agriculture as Deputy Director (Cash Crops) under the then Director of Agriculture Sardar Amrik Singh Cheema and later Sardar Gumail Singh. Ultimately, Jai Lal was promoted as Joint Director of Agriculture and then full-fledged Director of Agriculture, after formation of Haryana as a State. Jai Lal found no difficulty in turning his mind from research to administrative work. He stared working hard and made a good progress in taking the department to a high standard of efficiency as far as the field work was concerned.

It was very gratifying to note that the targets set for increasing in agricultural production in the State by the end of Five Years Plan, were attained at the very end of the first year of the plan.  At the time of inauguration of the lift canal system at village Jui, District Bhiwani, by Shri Jagjivan Ram, the then Minister of Agriculture, GoI, Jai Lal met Ch. Bansi Lal, the CM, Haryana. He took the opportunity to state emphatically that the targets fixed for increasing agricultural production by the end of Five Year Plan has been surpassed during first year of the plan. Ch. Bansi Lal was surprised but believed them correct after going through the whole data and to announce this fact in his speech delivered to the huge gathering of actual cultivators and other notable persons of the district.

It was a bad luck of chacha Jai Lal whose marvelous achievements were shelved by the Government of Haryana and he was soon replaced by one I.A.S officer. Jai Lal out of rage soon contacted Shri Bansi Lal, CM Haryana and apprised him of the fact that what so ever has been done is not good. Instead of rewarding for remarkable achievements made by him in the agriculture sector of the State, he has been punished.  He heard very calmly and replied that he had not reduced the monthly emoluments of Jai Lal and thus caused no harm. Jai Lal had to swallow the bitter pill and retorted that it was indeed a poor compensation for good work to an officer of such outstanding performance. He did not feel discouraged and continued working on a secondary position placed by the Haryana Government. The Government arranged a large quantity of commercial fertilizers for distribution amongst the cultivators to increase agricultural production, which went down. When it came to the knowledge of Ch. Bansi Lal, he summoned the Director and rebuked him in his rough Haryanavi dialect.  The Haryana Chief Minister emphatically said that no one can ever doubt the efficiency of Jai Lal and his spectacular achievements and added that he had appointed an IAS officer to relieve Jai Lal of general administration so that he may devote more time to the field work. However, despite a fall in agricultural production under the command of an IAS officer as Director of Agriculture, Haryana, the Chief Minister continued to remain adamant to his decision.

After retirement, chacha Jai Lal got an assignment in Afghanistan and worked there for some time for guiding them in formulation of strategies to improve production and productivity of crops. Considering his vast experience and knowledge in agricultural research and development, he was appointed as a member of the Board of Management of CCSHAU. He was also a member of Executive Council & Court of MDU, Rohtak. He was a member of the Forum of Planning Commission, GoI also for formulating the recommendations for agricultural research and teaching under the 8th Five-Year Plan. He was also the President of Cotton Research and Development Association, Hisar. He went to review world bank assisted T&V system programme implementation in Haryana State as a member of the inter disciplinary team in which the Presenter, who was looking after this programme also joined the team as a representative from GoI.

Chacha Jai Lal worked for a short period as Agronomist in Shriram Urea with headquarters at Chandigarh which was probably his last assignment. He was a regular visitor to Delhi for attending meetings and used to stay at the house of the Presenter. During his visits we used to discuss about opening a Library in the Haveli of Dada Roop Chand and had started to create a Trust but this could not materialize. His unfinished dream was later on fulfilled by his son Ranjiv, who took up this task and created “Dada Roop Chand Read India Gyan Kendra” in the Haveli. During his stay with the Presenter in Delhi, he preferred very simple dietary habits and always preferred to take fat-free diet specially moong dhuli dal at night for better digestion. He was thus keeping very good health in spite of his sensitive stomach. Later on, after assignment in Sriram Urea, he got himself engaged in helping his elder son Parkash for establishing an orchard at Raipurani farm near Ambala and stayed there.

Chacha Jai Lal was lastly staying with his younger son Ranjiv at Chandigarh and was being looked after well. He always maintained an excellent health by following a set daily routine throughout his life. He calmly performed his accustomed daily morning routine on the early morning and left for his heavenly abode like a saint on 13^th July, 2011 attaining an age of 95 years. His funeral was widely attended by most of the family members, relatives and his colleagues.