Bhubaneswar: Bijay Kumar Swain, an environment and forestry professional and Indian Forest Service official, passed away at a city-based hospital on Thursday. He was 77.
Swain was highly committed to research and innovation in forestry, silviculture, bamboo forest management, medicinal plants of Odisha and community forest management.
A brilliant student throughout his career, Swain had visited Oxford University. After his superannuation in 2008, he pursued research in the Maritime History of Kalinga. He visited ancestral locations and read Sanskrit inscriptions to explore the Kalinga tradition. He has written two books, The Kalinga Heritage and Kalinga – Pioneer of Indianisation of Southeast Asia.
He is survived by his wife Jayanti Swain, two daughters, sons-in-law and three grandchildren. His daughters are Dr Roma Rattan and Roopa Roshan Sahoo, an IAS officer. His elder son-in-law Dr Debashish Nayak is a senior consultant in Apollo Hospital, a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon and younger son-in-law Anup Kumar Sahoo is an IPS officer.
