Landscape Architecture: History, Ecology and Patterns

Dr. Indu Prakash Singh born on August 8, 1931 at Jaunpur in U.P., had been a distinguished member of the Indian Foreign Service from 1955 to 1989. Before joining government service, he was a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Allahabad where he had had a brilliant acamedic record. After administrative training in West Bengal which inlcuded a spell at Santiniketan, he joined the Oxford University for a special courses in international relations. After serving in Indian Missions in Cairo, Beirut, Washington and Kathmandu, he was appointed India's Ambassador to Sudan. Subsequently, he served as Deputy High Commissioner and Acting High Commissioner of India in London and as Ambassador in Madrid and Rangoon. He also served in the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce of the Government of India in various capacities. As a diplomat, Dr, Singh had the opportunity to take part in a large number of international and bilateral meetings. Prominent among these were. The first Islamic Summit held in Rabat in 1969, the Indo-Pak meeting in Islamabad to resume diplomatic relations in 1976, the NOn-aligned Coordination Bureau Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi in 1977 of which he was Secretary-General, and the meeting of the Common wealth Committee on Southern Africa to discuss the independence of Zimbabwe. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service in September 1989, after declining an offer of extension of service by the Government of India. He joined politics and became a member of Indian Congress (Socialist). He is at present General Secretray of Congress (S).

Minakshi Jain, an architect with many years of practice, has been a visiting teacher in architecture and urban design at the CEPT University. During the last 16 years her practice focused on conservation of historic monuments, including forts at Nagaur, Amber, Gagraun, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar. She has received the prestigiour UNESCo award of excellence for the heritage conservation of Ahhichattragrah, the fort of Nagaur. Her ectensive work on the precinct with elaborate reports provided the base material for this book.