7 months ago
3
The authorities has announced a database of 24 idiosyncratic scientists and a squad arsenic recipients of the 2nd variation of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) awards, conferred by the Centre for technological achievement. As successful 2024, this twelvemonth excessively has 4 wide categories: the Vigyan Ratna, Vigyan Shri, Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar grant and Vigyan squad award. The Vigyan Ratna and Vigyan Shri are for scientists who person made distinguished contributions implicit their lifetime, and caller distinguished contributions respectively. The Yuva is for individuals nether 45 and the last 1 for a squad endeavour successful exertion development.
In theory, the full fig of awards, nether each categories, is capped astatine 56; though this year, determination are less than the 33 awarded past year. The grant announcement has been delayed by respective months, but this could bespeak greater scrutiny of imaginable awardees. It is important to enactment that dissimilar earlier editions of nationalist subject awards, for lawsuit the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awards, determination is nary currency constituent fixed for the RVP, to align with the tone of the Padma awards. But scrutiny is simply a double-edged sword. Last year, it emerged that immoderate scientists were told astir being recipients, lone to beryllium informed aboriginal that their names had been dropped. Several salient scientists crossed India wrote to the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), demanding transparency successful the process of grant selection. There were concerns that factors different than technological merit — for instance, disapproval of authorities argumentation and governmental ideology — whitethorn person played a role. The PSA has not categorically responded to these demands but to constituent retired that the enactment committee, called the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar Committee (chaired by the PSA and which includes Secretaries of Ministries and members of technological academies), “recommended” awardees to the Minister of Science and Technology. It is not explicit whether the Minister tin overturn a proposal made by the committee. The RVP awards were instituted aft the Ministry of Home Affairs and heads of subject departments concluded successful 2022 that determination were excessively galore awards being fixed retired by idiosyncratic technological departments and, hence, indispensable to trim them and rise their ‘stature’ to nationalist awards. While awards specified arsenic the SSB awards excessively were finalised successful consultation with the Science Minister, the centralisation and the explicit effort to marque the RVP ‘Padma-like’, means that they look acold much politicised than they ought to be. If the purpose of the RVP is to summation ‘stature’, the authorities indispensable beryllium seen to person an explicitly hands-off attack and fto scientists justice the excellence of their peers.
