ISRO chief K Sivan presented with Kalam Award

Tamil Nadu on Thursday presented the prestigious Dr A P J Abdul Kalam award to Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chief K Sivan. The Isro chief received the award from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at the Secretariat on Thursday morning.

The award was to be presented to Dr Sivan on Independence day but he could not make it due to prior engagements. Siva, the Isro chief who was born in Kanniyakumari and studied in a government school, was not present on Thursday to collect the award, due to his pre-engagements.

The Kalam award is to honour those who work for promoting scientific growth, humanities and students' welfare and the awardees should hail from Tamil Nadu. The award carries 8 gm gold medal, Rs five lakh in cash and a citation.

The citation had hailed Sivan as "Rocket Man" and traced his humble origins to his splendid rise in career which includes a stint as director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Liquid Propulsion Centre.

Sivan took over as Isro chief from A S Kiran Kumar in 2018 and oversaw the launch of India’s ambitious moon mission, Chandrayaan-2.