Govt To Do Away With Over 300 Science Awards, Establish 'Vigyan Ratna' On Lines Of Nobel Prize

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the ministries to transform the entire ecosystem of awards in order to build credibility and trust by focussing on transparency in the selection process.

The Home Ministry has decided to do away with over 300 awards given to scientists

Source : Getty Images

The Home Ministry has decided to do away with over 300 awards given to scientists and medical researchers and suggested instituting a Nobel Prize like award -- Vigyan Ratna, PTI reported. In a recent meeting with secretaries of science and health departments, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked them to institute honours of "high stature" for "really deserving candidates".

According to a report in The Print, the 'Vigyan Ratna' will be open to scientists of all disciplines, and awarded in consultation with the principal scientific advisor.

The development comes following directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the ministries to transform the entire ecosystem of awards in order to build credibility and trust by focussing on transparency and objectivity in the selection process.

While the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been allowed to continue with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards, it has been asked to tweak the monthly honorarium rules by capping it at 15 years.

The Department of Science and Technology, which gives away over 200 awards, has been asked to discontinue all private endowment, lecture/scholarship/fellowship and internal awards.

The department has been asked to start a new scheme for scholarship/fellowship with suitable honorarium with full justification and detailed guidelines. The home secretary has also asked it to merge internal awards with the new initiative.

A review meeting in this regard will be held by the Prime Minister's Office soon. The departments have been asked to submit an action taken report within ten days to the Home Ministry, a report in The Indian Express said.

Earlier this year, the home secretary had asked all ministries to rationalise awards given by them.

The Department of Health has been asked to "rationalise" the number of Florence Nightingale Nurses Awards given to 51 nurses every year and recast the three awards given by the National Medical Council, including the BC Roy Award.

The department has been asked to institute a new award of "very high stature".

The home secretary has asked the Department of Health Research to scrap 37 awards, including the 32 endowment awards, and convert the Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC) Short Term Studentship (STS) Excellence Award into a research grant, PTI reported.

Similarly, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy have been asked to do away with the existing awards and institute new ones of "very high stature".

(With inputs from PTI)