Union Science and Technology Minister, Dr.Harsh Vardhan presenting awards on the occasion of CSIR Foundation Day.

A total of 13 scientists from different institutions across the country have been chosen for the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize for 2018.

The award winners include Dr. Ganesh Nagaraju and Dr. Ambarish Ghosh (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru); Dr. Amit Agarwal and Dr. Ashwin Anil Gumaste (IIT, Bombay), Dr.Rahul Banerjee and Dr. Swadhin Kumar Mandal (IISER, Kolkatta); Dr. Nitin Saxena (IIT, Kanpur); Dr. Amit Kumar (IIT, Delhi); Dr. Thomas Pucadyil (IISER, Pune); Dr. Parthasarathi Chakraborty (National Institute of Oceanography, Goa); Dr. Madineni Venkat Ratnam (National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Tirupathi); Dr. Ganesan Venkatasubramanian (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru) and Dr. Aditi Sen De (Harish Chandra Research, Allahabad).

The names were announced by Prof Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on the occasion of CSIR Foundation Day on Wednesday.

It is awarded annually for outstanding research, both fundamental and applied, in the areas of chemical sciences, biological sciences, earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences, engineering sciences, mathematical sciences and physical sciences.

The prize carries a cash component of Rs. 5 lakh each. It is awarded annually for outstanding research, both fundamental and applied, in the areas of chemical sciences, biological sciences, earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences, engineering sciences, mathematical sciences and physical sciences. It is named after the founder Director of CSIR, Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.

On the occasion, Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan presented CSIR Technology Awards for 2018 to under different categories to Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh (CSIR-IMTECH); Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata (CSIR-CGCRI); Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad (CSIR-IICT); Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), Dhanbad and Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), Dehradun.

IMTECH has won the award for development of clot buster drugs for thrombolytic therapy, while CGCRI got the award for an innovative technology for manufacturing of specialty material for immobilization of high level radioactive waste. IICT has been chosen for the award for transfer of technology for production of two chemicals. CIMFR and IIP have jointly won the award for their efforts for effective marketing of their knowledge bases. (India Science Wire)