An academic from Aligarh has urged the government to confer Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, to Salim Ali -- the "birdman of India" as he was widely known.
H.S.A. Yahya of the department of Wildlife Sciences at the Aligarh Muslim University made the demand during a keynote address at an international seminar in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
Professor Yahya said Salim Ali deserved the recognition as he was a doyen of ornithology and one of the founding fathers of the Bombay Natural History Society.
He said Ali's contributions towards conservation of biodiversity, birds and natural resources in the country were without parallel.
Ali, who was born in 1896 and died in 1987, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 1976.
