Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar

Syllabus: GS3/Science and Technology

In News

• The Union government is set to institute the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar — 56 prizes to felicitate scientists, technologists and innovators.
  • The 56 proposed awards are a stark reduction from the almost 300 science prizes that used to be given by Union Ministries.

About

• Categories: 3 Vigyan Ratna, 25 Vigyan Shri, 25 Vigyan Yuva–Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, and 3 Vigyan Team.
  • Vigyan Ratna will recognise the lifetime achievement of scientists, Vigyan Shri will recognise distinguished contributions to a field, Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar will encourage young scientists who have made exceptional contributions in their field, and Vigyan Team will recognise teams of three or more.
• The RVP awards will commence from 2024, and will be given by the President or the Vice President.
• The awards will be announced annually on May 11, which is National Technology Day, and will be awarded on National Space Day, August 23. 
  • These are the days on which India successfully conducted its second nuclear test in 1998, and then catapulted the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander on the moon this year.
• Fields: These prizes will be awarded annually for physics, chemistry, biological sciences, mathematics and computer science, earth science, medicine, engineering science, agricultural science, environmental science, technology and innovation, atomic energy, space science and technology, and a 13th category, simply called “others”.
• Eligibility: There are no age limits for any prizes except the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, for which recipients must be 45 years or younger.
  • The new awards will also be open to persons of Indian origin (PIOs), though a maximum of one such may be awarded the Vigyan Ratna, while three PIOs each can be selected for the Vigyan Shri and the VY-SSB. However, PIOs will not be eligible for the Vigyan Team awards.
• Akin to the prestigious Padma awards, these awards will not include any cash component; instead, they will likely bestow a certificate and a medallion on the awardee.
• A committee under the chairmanship of the principal scientific adviser will select the awardees.
  • This committee will be constituted annually, with the committee members ineligible for the award during their tenure. 
• The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) will coordinate the administration of the awards process for two years, after which it will be taken over by the proposed National Research Foundation.

Source: TH