D Basavaiah completed his BSc at the Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada (Andhra University) in 1970 and subsequently his MSc in Organic Chemistry from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in 1972. He obtained his PhD degree in 1979. He then worked in the research group of Herbert C Brown at Purdue University USA as a post-doctoral fellow before joining the University of Hyderabad.

Academic and Research Achievements: The development of the Baylis-Hillman reaction as one of the most useful synthetic tools in synthetic chemistry is the main objective of his research. Basavaiah has been systematically working on the Baylis-Hillman reaction for the last twenty-four years and made fundamental, original, and significant contributions for the development of this reaction as a powerful synthetic tool in organic chemistry. He has also contributed significantly to other areas like biotransformations and chiral catalysis.

Awards and Honours: Basavaiah received the CRSI Bronze Medal in 2000, and the Professor TR Govindachari Sixteeth Birthday Commemoration Endowment Award in Organic Chemistry (1999-2000), the JC Bose Fellowship (2008), CRSI Silver Medal (2008) and Professor TR Seshadri Seventieth Birthday Commemoration Medal of INSA (2009). He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1997).