Hands-off approach: On the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar awards

The authorities has announced a list of 24 individual scientists and a crew as recipients of the second version of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) awards, conferred by the Centre for scientific achievement. As in 2024, this 12 months too has 4 broad classes: the Vigyan Ratna, Vigyan Shri, Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award and Vigyan crew award. The Vigyan Ratna and Vigyan Shri are for scientists who’ve made distinguished contributions over their lifetime, and up to date distinguished contributions respectively. The Yuva is for people underneath 45 and the last one for a crew endeavour in expertise improvement.

In idea, the whole variety of awards, underneath all classes, is capped at 56; although this 12 months, there are fewer than the 33 awarded final 12 months. The award announcement has been delayed by a number of months, however this might point out higher scrutiny of potential awardees. It is vital to notice that in contrast to earlier editions of nationwide science awards, for example the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awards, there isn’t any money element given for the RVP, to align with the spirit of the Padma awards. But scrutiny is a double-edged sword. Last 12 months, it emerged that some scientists have been instructed about being recipients, solely to learn later that their names had been dropped. Several outstanding scientists throughout India wrote to the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), demanding transparency in the technique of award choice. There have been considerations that components aside from scientific advantage — for example, criticism of presidency coverage and political ideology — might have performed a task. The PSA has not categorically responded to those calls for besides to level out that the choice committee, known as the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar Committee (chaired by the PSA and which incorporates Secretaries of Ministries and members of scientific academies), “recommended” awardees to the Minister of Science and Technology. It is just not express whether or not the Minister can overturn a suggestion made by the committee. The RVP awards have been instituted after the Ministry of Home Affairs and heads of science departments concluded in 2022 that there have been too many awards being given out by particular person scientific departments and, therefore, essential to trim them and lift their ‘stature’ to nationwide awards. While awards corresponding to the SSB awards too have been finalised in session with the Science Minister, the centralisation and the express try to make the RVP ‘Padma-like’, implies that they seem way more politicised than they must be. If the goal of the RVP is to extend ‘stature’, the authorities should be seen to have an explicitly hands-off strategy and let scientists decide the excellence of their friends.