Dr. Vineet Soni Sir

I am Yashwant Sompura, Msc Botany student , Department of BotanyMohanlalSukhadiaUniversityUdaipurRajasthanIndia.  Today, I would like to my dessertation supervisor and one of the best teacher , friend of my life. His name is Dr Vineet Soni, a 45 year old plant conservation biologist from Jaipur, India. Recently, worked as Associate professor and Head Department of Botany Mohanlal Sukhadia University Udaipur Rajasthan India. I never saw the down-to-earth personality like him in my life. It was really great moments for me to meet and work with him.

Dr. Vineet Soni ( Associate professor & Head Department of Botany Mohanlal Sukhadia University Udaipur Rajasthan India)

Vineet Soni is the founder of the "Save Guggul Movement", a community-based conservation effort to conserve threatened plant species, particularly guggul. Dismayed to see the guggul plant slipping towards extinction in an apparent climate of indifference, he founded the Save Guggul Movement in November 2007. Less than three years later, the fortunes of the guggul plant are looking up. Vineet Soni is living proof that, with a little determination and some help from your friends, one person can make a difference.His conservation efforts were well received by local villagers and conservation communities. Soni was profiled as one of 20 global "Earth Movers" by IUCN and interviewed by UNESCO.

He then joined the Birla Institute of Scientific Research and University of Rajasthan for doctoral research (PhD) work on various aspects of biotechnology and physiology of Commiphora wightii. In 2004, Soni received visiting fellowship to work on plant bioenergetics at University of Geneva, Switzerland. Through the Bio-Rad fellowship, he visited European Molecular Biology Laboratory at Heidelberg, Germany in 2005. Thereafter in 2006, Soni received prestigious award from Nature Publishing Group to present his research work at Gordon Conference at Boston, USA.

After receiving PhD degree, Soni worked as Post-Doctoral research fellow with Professor Reto J. Strasser at University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 2010, UNESCO, France published his special interview entitled 'Why Vineet Soni is bent on saving the guggul plants?' in 'A World of Science' journal.[8] In 2011, he served as a visiting scientist at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, France. He is a member of three International Union for Conservation of Nature commissions: the Species Survival Commission, the World Commission for Protected Areas, and the Commission on Education and Communication and elected fellow of many prestigious societies i.e. the Academy of Plant Sciences of India, Mendelian Society of India, Indian Botanical Society, Indian Council for Plant Conservation and Linnean Society of London. He is a member of three International Union for Conservation of Nature commissions: the Species Survival Commission, the World Commission for Protected Areas, and the Commission on Education and Communication.

He has 110 published research papers and has authored 2 books. He has organized over a dozen national and international seminars and conferences. He has been convener of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, MLSU, Udaipur.

From 2 months ago they have started a new initiative for motivation of NEET and IIT students and concerning  with their problems.