Madhav Gadgil: The Scientist Who Gave India An Ecological Conscience

Madhav Dhananjaya Gadgil stood among the most influential environmental thinkers India has produced.

An ecologist, academic, public intellectual and institution builder, Gadgil devoted his life to understanding nature as a living system deeply intertwined with people, culture and democracy.

Born on May 24, 1942, in Pune, Gadgil was shaped early by scholarship and public service. His father, Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, was a noted economist and policy thinker.

Madhav Gadgil went on to study biology at Fergusson College, earn a master’s degree in zoology from the University of Mumbai, and complete his PhD at Harvard University, where he worked on theoretical ecology under William H. Bossert.

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Upon returning to India in the early 1970s, Gadgil opted for institution-building over personal academic comfort. His long association with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, transformed ecological research in the country.

He founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences, which introduced rigorous quantitative methods, interdisciplinary thinking and field-based conservation studies to Indian ecology.

Madhav Gadgil’s work consistently placed humans within ecosystems, challenging models of conservation that excluded local communities. This philosophy shaped his major contributions, including the People’s Biodiversity Registers and his role in drafting the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

His writings argued that ecological protection could not succeed without social justice and public participation.

His most visible and debated role came in 2010, when he chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. The Gadgil Commission report of 2011 proposed strong protections for one of the world’s richest biodiversity regions, identifying large areas as ecologically sensitive.

While environmentalists hailed the report as visionary and science-driven, it faced intense resistance from state governments and powerful interests, eventually leading to a diluted version under the Kasturirangan Committee. The debate firmly placed environmental governance at the centre of national discourse.

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Gadgil authored over 250 scientific papers and landmark books such as This Fissured Land and Ecology and Equity. His lifetime of work earned global recognition, including the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Volvo Environment Prize, Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the United Nations Champions of the Earth award.

Married to renowned meteorologist Dr Sulochana Gadgil, he remained deeply rooted in Pune. Madhav Gadgil leaves behind a legacy not just of science, but of ethical clarity, reminding India that development without ecological wisdom carries an irreversible cost.