The state government would confer Haryana Vigyan Ratna and Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratna awards on eminent scientists of the state on the occasion of National Science Day on February 8 every year, and also double the award money from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a function in which governor Kaptan Singh Solanki conferred Vigyan Ratna awards upon 11 eminent scientists of the state at Haryana Raj Bhavan.
Solanki conferred Haryana Vigyan Ratna Award for 2012-13 on K C Bansal, former director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR), Pusa, New Delhi, for his contributions in the field of plant biotechnology. Genes discovered by him are used by national laboratories of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in developing drought/stress tolerant transgenic rice, wheat, chickpea, mustard, groundnut, tomato and tea. His pioneering work as director of the ICAR’s premier institute National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Pusa on evaluation of the entire wheat germplasm also got accolades from international wheat community and found an entry in the Limca Book of Records.
Similarly, Satish Kumar Gupta, emeritus scientist, J C Bose fellow and former deputy director, reproductive cell biology laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, was also honoured with Haryana Vigyan Ratna Award for 2013-14 for producing the first pregnancy detection kit sold for public use in the country, among other achievements. The scientists were presented with cash prize of 2 two lakh, citation, trophy and shawl.
Solanki also conferred Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratna Award on nine young scientists aged below 40 years and presented them with cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, citation, trophy and shawl, each.
They were Abhineet Kaushik, deputy general manager in BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi; Pradeep Kumar, scientist-E, research centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hyderabad; Deepak Sharma, assistant prof, department of biotechnology, IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand; Parveen Kumar, Scientist-E, (DRDO), Delhi; Savita Chaudhary, assistant proffessor, department of chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh; Abhinav Grover, assistant prof, school of biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sandeep Kumar, assistant prof, department of bio and nano technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar; Vinod Kumar, assistant prof, department of chemistry, Maharishi Markendeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala; and Anurag Kuhad, assistant prof of pharmacology, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
KNOW THE WINNERS
Abhineet Kaushik, who hails from Bhaproda village of Jhajjar, works as deputy general manager in BrahMos Aerospace (An India-Russia Joint Venture, under Ministry of Defence), New Delhi. He was awarded for his significant role in evolving the crucial methodology for alignment of Brahmos missile launcher for a ship based naval platform. He was honoured the Young Scientist Award in the year 2012 by defence minister.
Pradeep Kumar, who was born in Gujarwas village in Mohindergarh district, is currently working as a scientist at Research Centre Imarat (RCI), DRDO, Hyderabad. He has expertise in fiber optic sensors and components. He led the indigenous development of sensor optics for different grades of FOG for control, tactical and navigation applications of missiles, aircrafts, tanks etc.
Deepak Sharma, a resident of Gurugram, studied B Sc, M Sc and Ph D from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and is currently working as assistant prof in the department of biotechnology, IIT Roorkee. His research work had won him the prestigious INSA Medal for Young Scientist 2008. He was invited as a visiting faculty at the University of Maryland, USA and was selected as a founding member of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS).
Parveen Kumar who was born in village Nanhera of Panipat, is graduate from Regional Engineering College (REC) Kurukshetra in electrical engineering with gold medal and post graduate from IIT-Delhi. Currently, he is working as scientist-E at DRDO, New Delhi contributed as telemetry expert in the test, evaluation of missiles under Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP-Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul, Nag) and other DRDO’s programme such as Brahmos, Pilot less tracking aircraft.
Savita Chaudhary comes from a humble backgrond from village Farmana, Sonepat. She did her initial schooling in village and then shifted to Chandigarh. She completed her M Sc and PhD from Panjab University. Currently, she is working as assistant professor in department of chemistry, Panjab University and has made significant contributions in the field of nanochemistry. She has developed efficient means for the treatment of polluted water by using functionalised nanomaterials. She is credited with more than 50 publications.
Abhinav Grover, from Kurukshetra, did his graduation, masters and Ph D from IIT, Delhi. Presently, he is working as assistant professor and group leader, molecular modeling; biotherapeutics production laboratory at School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. He is a recipient of the prestigious NASI Young Scientist Award in 2014, INSA Medal for Young Scientists in 2013, Indo-Swiss Joint Research Fellowship, besides several others.
Sandeep Kumar, who is from Chandigarh and who did his M Tech and Ph D from Panjab University, is working as an assistant professor at Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar. He holds specialisation in nanotechnology for healthcare applications. He is working in the areas of water purification, environmental and healthcare sector and has published his research work in SCI journals.
Vinod Kumar, who was born in Butan Kheri village, Indri of Karnal, Haryana, did his M Sc and Ph D from Kurukshetra University. He is currently working as an assistant professor at Maharishi Markendeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana and has made a significant contribution in the field of organic synthesis particularly Azoles’ chemistry. He has developed greener synthetic routes in some cases.
Anurag Kuhad did his bachelors of pharmacy from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana, masters of pharmacy in Pharmacology and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He is working as an assistant professor of pharmacology at University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh. His research is focused towards development of phytochemicals for management of diabetic complications like neuropathy, nephropathy and associated cognitive decline.
