# Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar

Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar is a National Award instituted by the Government of India to recognize the contributions of outstanding researchers in the fields of science, technology and innovation.

## Background

The institution of this award was announced in January 2024 and the names of the first set of awardees were announced on 7 August 2024. The awards were distributed on 22 August 2024, a day ahead of the National Space Day. The award consists of a certificate signed by the President of India and a medallion.

## Eligibility

Scientists, technologists and innovators working in Govt. or private organizations in India who have done highly impactful research, discovery or innovation are eligible for the award. Moreover, such persons of Indian origin and working abroad are also eligible for the award.

## The selection process

The nominations for the award are initially scrutinized by a 17-member panel headed by the Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt of India from a list of nominated persons. Other members of the panel are Secretaries of the six Science Ministries/Departments (DST, DBT, CSIR, MoES, DoS and DAE), four select Presidents of the Science and Engineering Academies and six distinguished scientists and technologists from different fields of Science and Technology. Nominations can be made by any individual, institution, State Govts, Depts/Ministries of Govt of India, heads of national science bodies, etc.
The panel recommends names to the Minister of Science and Technology who performs the final selection of awardees. In 2024 the inaugural year of the award, the Minister is believed to have overruled the scientific committee to exclude scientists seen as critical of the government leading several scientists to write to the government objecting to this method of selection.

## Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar awardees of the year 2024

The following are the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar awardees of the year 2024.
| Sl. No. | Award | Name | Field/Domain | Institute/Organisation/University |
| 1 | Vigyan Ratna Award | Prof. Govindarajan Padmanabhan | Biological Sciences | Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru |
| 2 | Vigyan Shri | Dr. Anandharamakrishnan C | Agricultural Science | CSIR - National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram |
| 3 | Vigyan Shri | Dr. Avesh Kumar Tyagi | Atomic Energy | Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai |
| 4 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Umesh Varshney | Biological Sciences | Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore |
| 5 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Jayant Bhalchandra Udgaonkar | Biological Sciences | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune (IISER), Pune |
| 6 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Syed Wajih Ahmad Naqvi | Earth Science | CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow |
| 7 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Bhim Singh | Engineering Sciences | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-D), Delhi |
| 8 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Adimurthi Adi | Mathematics and Computer Science | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K), Kanpur |
| 9 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Rahul Mukherjee | Mathematics and Computer Science | Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) |
| 10 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Dr Sanjay Behari | Medicine | Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram |
| 11 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Lakshmanan Muthusamy | Physics | Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli |
| 12 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Naba Kumar Mondal | Physics | Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata |
| 13 | Vigyan Shri | Prof. Annapurni Subramaniam | Space Science and Technology | Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru |
| 14 | Vigyan Shri | Prof Rohit Srivastava | Technology and Innovation | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-B), Mumbai |
| 15 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Krishna Murthy S L | Agricultural Science | Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad |
| 16 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Swarup Kumar Parida | Agricultural Science | National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi |
| 17 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi | Biological Sciences | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal |
| 18 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Aravind Penmatsa | Biological Sciences | Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru |
| 19 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Vivek Polshettiwar | Chemistry | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai |
| 20 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Vishal Rai | Chemistry | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal |
| 21 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Roxy Mathew Koll | Earth Science | Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune |
| 22 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Abhilash | Engineering Sciences | CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur |
| 23 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti | Engineering Sciences | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-M), Chennai |
| 24 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Purabi Saikia | Environmental Science | Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi |
| 25 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Bappi Paul | Environmental Science | National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar |
| 26 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Mahesh Ramesh Kakde | Mathematics and Computer Science | Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru |
| 27 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Jitendra Kumar Sahu | Medicine | Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh |
| 28 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Pragya Dhruv Yadav | Medicine | ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune |
| 29 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Urbasi Sinha | Physics | Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru |
| 30 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Digendranath Swain | Space Science and Technology | ISRO-Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Thiruvananthapuram |
| 31 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Dr. Prashant Kumar | Space Science and Technology | ISRO-Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad |
| 32 | Vigyan Yuva- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award | Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal | Technology and Innovation | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-M), Chennai |
| 33 | Vigyan Team | ISRO - Team Chandrayaan 3 | Space Science and Technology | Indian Space Research Organisation, Bengaluru |