Govt junks the cash prize for Bhatnagar awardees, announces new science awards

Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar will be one of the highest recognitions in science, technology and innovation, and given across four categories : Vigyan Ratna, Vigyan Shri, Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and Vigyan Team.

The Union government has done away with the cash prize component of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award—considered the country’s most prestigious science prize till date—with the ministry coming out with a new set of awards for scientists along the lines of the Padma awards.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) gives away the Bhatnagar prizes, which used to carry a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh each for the winners. The winners also received Rs 15,000 per month as long as they remained in government service.

In the new system—announced by the Union government on Thursday—the Vigyan Ratna award will be India’s top prize for scientists for their lifelong contribution in any field of science followed by Vigyan Shri. The Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, meanwhile, will be for scientists below 45 years and Vigyan Team will be reserved for a group with at least three researchers making an exceptional contribution in research or innovation.

“All the recipients will receive a certificate and medallion. The cash component of the Bhatnagar prizes has been dispensed with,” sources told DH.

The government announcement on the new awards comes a year after central science departments were asked to discontinue most of the existing awards.

The new awards will be announced each year on May 11 – the National Technology Day – and given away by the President on August 23, which will be celebrated henceforth as the National Space Day to mark Chandrayaan-3's success. The nomination process will start on January 14 and remain open until February 28 – the National Science Day.

All the internal awards have been dispensed with barring one from the Department of Atomic Energy named after Homi Bhabha.

Sources in the Union Science Ministry told DH that a decision to cut down on the number of awards was taken to save a considerable amount of time and resources that were spent to decide on more than 300 such awards given each year.

In the new system, there will be a maximum of three Vigyan Ratna awards in a year while the number of Vigyan Shri and Bhatnagar awards has been capped at 25 each year. Vigyan Team can also be given to three groups annually.

A 17-member panel headed by the Principal Scientific Advisor will decide on the winners. Other members of the panel are six science secretaries, four presidents of science and engineering academies and six distinguished scientists.

The Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (national science award) will be given in the 13 domains—Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science, Earth Science, Medicine, Engineering Sciences, Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Technology and Innovation, Atomic Energy, Space Science and Technology, and Others—the government said in a statement.

While the awards will be open to Persons of Indian Origin, only one Vigyan Ratna and three each Vigyan Shri and Bhatnagar awards can be given to Indian-origin researchers working abroad. There will be no Vigyan Team award for the PIOs.

Last year the Union Home Ministry asked science departments to drastically cut down on the number of awards they confer and institute “new awards with high stature” including a special Nobel Prize like award (Vigyan Ratna) that would be open to all.