Government to reduce number of awards given for scientific research

Source: The post is based on the article “Government to reduce number of awards given for scientific research” published in The Hindu on 26th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Government of India has decided to reduce the number of awards given to scientists and medical researchers on the grounds that they are restricted to only “really deserving candidates”.

What are the awards that will be given from now on?

Department of Science and Technology(DST): DST gave 207 awards of which four were National Awards, 97 were private endowment awards, 54 were lecture, scholarship or fellowship-based awards and 56 were ‘internal awards’. 

– DST will now retain only the National awards and do away with the rest. It will also start a new scheme for scholarship/fellowships with a suitable honorarium.

Atomic Energy Department: It currently gives 25 “performance-based awards” which are given by public sector units affiliated to the department and 13 non-core domain awards. The department has now decided to do away with all these awards and instead institute a new one “of very high stature”.

Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO): It gave only three internal awards. These awards will be done away with and will be replaced with a National level award of very high stature.

CSIR: It conferred seven awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards which are given annually to accomplished scientists.

– It has been decided to continue with the SSB award as it was a “high stature award” but a monthly allowance given to winners for 20 years would be capped to 15 years. The six other awards would be discontinued.

Ministry of Earth Sciences: It conferred four National Awards. It has been decided that the Dr Anna Mani Award for women scientists will now be merged with “awards given to women by other departments like the Ministry of Women and Child Development” and the other three awards ought to be discontinued and replaced with a “new national award”.

Ministry of Health: It will rationalize 51 Florence Nightingale awards given to nurses and “suspend” three national awards by the National Medical Council.