Ensure Greater Participation of Girl Students and Women in Science and Technology: President 

President Confers Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2019 for outstanding contributions in Science and Technology  

Onkareshwar Pandey

Indian Observer Post

New Delhi, September 27, 2019: "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," said the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind. 

President Kovind was addressing the gathering while giving awards for outstanding contributions in science and technology at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi yesterday 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.

In his address, the President said “Science and technology is one of the key levers to achieve our national goals and to address the larger concerns confronting humanity today. We have set ourselves a goal of becoming a 5-trillion dollar economy by 2025. We are committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goals. We also wish to play our role in addressing global concerns such as climate change. To a great extent, our success in meeting these challenges would depend on our ability to find creative solutions based on scientific research”.

The President 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 also lauded 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.AmitabhaChattopadhyay of CSIR-CCMB.

Addressing the gathering, the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, 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.

Dr Harsh Vardhan presented CSIR Young Scientist Awards, CSIR Innovation Award for School Children and Diamond Jubilee Technology Awards.

During the function, the Minister 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”.

Delivering the CSIR Foundation Day Lecture, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Dr. K. VijayRaghavansaid “The drive, innovation, talent and quality of young people is the insurance of the country and one must try and emulate best practices in the world but not imitate them.

DG CSIR, DrShekhar 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 SwarupBhatnagar Awards 2019, the highest multidisciplinary science awards in India. Following are the names under various categories:

Biological Sciences

1. Dr. KayaratSai Krishnan (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune)
2. Dr. SoumenBasak (National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi)

Chemical Sciences

1. Dr. Raghavan B Sunoj (IIT, Bombay)
2. Dr. Tapas Kumar Maji (JawaharLal Nehru Centrefor Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru)

Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences

1. Dr. Subimal Ghosh (IIT, Bombay)

Engineering Sciences

1. Dr. ManikVarma (Microsoft Research India, Bengaluru)

Mathematical Sciences

1. Dr. DishantMayur Bhai Pancholi (Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai)
2. Dr. Nina Gupta (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata)

Medical Sciences

1. Dr. Dheeraj Kumar (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi)
2. Dr. Mohammad Javed Ali (LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad)

Physical Sciences

1. Dr. Aninda Sinha (IISc, Bengaluru)
2. Dr. Shankar Ghosh (TIFR, Mumbai)

Here is the Detail List of Awards:

CSIR Foundation Day 2019

G N Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological Sciences & Technology 2019

It has been awarded to Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay of CSIR-CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad) for his outstanding and well recognized contributions in

understanding dynamics and lipid-protein interaction in biomembranes

CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award 2017

The award is conferred on Cadila Healthcare Limited for developing ‘Saroglitazar’- World’s first approved drug for treating diabetic dyslipidemia and India’s first indigenously discovered and developed New Chemical Entity (NCE) from a Pharmaceutical Company.

CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award 2018

For the year 2018 the award is conferred on Carborundum Universal Limited for development of Metallized Alumina Ceramics like metallized alumina cylinders for vacuum interrupters / vacuum circuit breakers for electrical applications and other advanced products which require ultra-high vacuum tightness and high bond strength between ceramic – metal joint.

CSIR Innovation Award for School Children-2019

Total eleven innovation proposals selected for award from 653 received and 17 children received the awards. The first prize went to Anmol Rathi and Harsh Agrawal, students of class Xth of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s R.K. Sarda Vidya Mandir, Raipur for their innovation on “ Novel technique for early detection of PANCREATIC CANCER through spermine level in human saliva”

Winners of CSIR Technology Awards for the Year 2019

THE AWARD FOR LIFE SCIENCES has been given to CSIR-CDRI for developing ‘A Novel

Osteoinductive Molecule S-008-399 as Medicated Biodegradable Bone Implant Material for Fast Fracture-Healing’.

THE AWARD IN INNOVATION CATEGORY goes to CSIR-CSMCRI and M/S Chern Process Systems Private Limited for ‘Zero waste process for recovery of potash fertiliser, water & other value added byproduct(s) from spent wash’

THE AWARD FOR PHYSICAL SCIENCES including engineering went to CSIR-NAL for “Carriage, handling and Stores release clearance for a fighter Aircraft Upgrade” and CSIR-CIMFR for ‘Controlled blasting techniques developed for safe extraction of minerals from mines and construction of various civil infrastructure projects’

Dr Lipi Thukral of CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, New Delhi)

has also been awarded the CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD FOR THE YEAR 2019 in Biological Sciences for her innovative contributions in use of computer simulation studies to decipher the functional role of coupled protein-lipid dynamics in autophagy.

Chemical Sciences

THE CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD FOR THE YEAR 2019 in Chemical Sciences has been awarded to Dr John Mondal of CSIR-IICT ( Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad), for his outstanding contribution in developing novel Porous Organic Polymers and their application in heterogeneous catalysis.

THE CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD FOR THE YEAR 2019 in Chemical Sciences has been awarded to Dr Sasidhar B.S. of CSIR-NIIST (National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), for his significant contribution to organic synthesis, particularly in the area of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences

Dr Amol Prakash of CSIR-NIO (National Institute of Oceanography, Goa), has been

awarded for his significant work on explaining the environment observations along the Indian

coast and developing a theoretical framework to understand the dynamics of shelf waves and their interaction with large scale circulations.

Dr Bodhisatwa Hazra of CSIR-CIMFR (Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research,

Dhanbad), has been awarded for his significant contributions on source-rock geochemistry, gas adsorption and fractal dimensions of organic sedimentary rocks.

Engineering Sciences

CSIR-CIMFR also bagged the award under Business Developemnt and Technology Marketing Category.

CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDS 2019

Biological Sciences:

The CSIR Young Scientist Award for the year 2019 in Biological Sciences has been awarded to Dr Bidyut Purkait of CSIR-CDRI ( Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow) for his valuable contribution for deciphering the mechanism of Amphotericin-B resistance in clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani and introduction of the new target from RNA editing machinery for antileishmanial therapy.

Dr Divya Agrawal of CSIR-CSIO (Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh), has been awarded for her significant contributions in developing instrumentation solutions for Situation Awareness Enhancement of Fighter Aircraft Pilots.

Dr Prabhat Ranjan Prem, CSIR-SERC (Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai) has been awarded for his outstanding contributions in experimental and theoretical research on ultrahigh-performance concrete.

Physical Sciences (including instrumentation)

The CSIR Young Scientist Award for the year 2019 in Physical Sciences (including instrumentation) has been awarded to Dr. Shikha of CSIR-CMERI (Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur), for developing a novel device for guided tissue traversal during surgical procedures, used for facilitating insertion of needle and its position evaluation.

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(Onkareshwar Pandey is Founder, Editor in Chief & CEO, Indian Observer Post, and former Senior Group Editor- Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi & Urdu) and also former Editor, (News), ANI. http://bit.ly/2mh7hih)

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