President of India Ram Nath Kovind, yesterday, presented awards for outstanding contributions in science and technology. The awards were presented on the occasion of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Foundation Day.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the true test of scientific research lies in its ability to help our society accelerate socio-economic development in various areas of human life such as health and hygiene, sanitation, education and agriculture. In the long run, this ability depends on the extent to which the culture of scientific research and innovation permeates our society, institutions and enterprises.
The President called Science and technology, one of the key levers to achieve the national goal of becoming a 5-trillion dollar economy by 2025. He said that our success in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and addressing global concerns like Climate change depends on our ability to find creative solutions based in scientific research.
In his address he also emphasized on providing equal opportunities for girl-children. He stated "None of our successes will have any meaning without equal opportunities for our girl-children. As President, I get an opportunity to attend convocations of Universities and academic institutions across the country. In most of these convocations, I find that our girl students outshine the boys, winning most of the academic awards. We have to take the necessary steps to ensure greater participation of girl students and of women in science and technology. When this happens, our scientific achievements will become even more wholesome and more desirable".
The President went on to applaud the accomplishments of CSIR and its technological interventions towards the socio-economic development of the nation. He congratulated all the awardees and urged them to address the challenges facing the country.
The President presented the CSIR Technology Awards to teams of CSIR and the G.N. Ramachandran Gold Medal to Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay of CSIR-CCMB.
The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan expressed pride in CSIR contributions and said that the country has high expectations from CSIR in developing solutions and technologies towards sustainable development in the country. He presented the CSIR Young Scientist Awards, CSIR Innovation Award for School Children and Diamond Jubilee Technology Awards.
During the function, Dr. Harsh Vardhan handed over a prototype of high temperature fuel cell, an indigenous technology, developed by CSIR to the President. The function also witnessed the release of the book titled "Bhatnagar Laureates 1958-2018".
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Dr. K. VijayRaghavansaid, delivered the CSIR Foundation Day Lecture.
DG CSIR, Dr Shekhar C Mande in his opening remarks highlighted the need of Science to connect to Society and called upon the scientists and students to excel in pursuit of science.
The event concluded with the announcement of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2019, the highest multidisciplinary science awards in India. Following are the names under various categories:
Biological Sciences
Dr. KayaratSai Krishnan (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune)
Dr. SoumenBasak (National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi)
Chemical Sciences
Dr. Raghavan B Sunoj (IIT, Bombay)
Dr. Tapas Kumar Maji (JawaharLal Nehru Centrefor Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru)
Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences
Dr. Subimal Ghosh (IIT, Bombay)
Engineering Sciences
Dr. ManikVarma (Microsoft Research India, Bengaluru)
Mathematical Sciences
Dr. DishantMayur Bhai Pancholi (Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai)
Dr. Nina Gupta (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata)
Medical Sciences
Dr. Dheeraj Kumar (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi)
Dr. Mohammad Javed Ali (LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad)
Physical Sciences
Dr. Aninda Sinha (IISc, Bengaluru)
Dr. Shankar Ghosh (TIFR, Mumbai)
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2019 will be awarded to the recipients on National Science Day in February next year.
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