The alleged exclusion of three prominent scientists from the shortlist for the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) in the final round of selection has riled senior scientists, including some of the jury. , raising questions about the “loyalty” of. operation.
The three are: Suvrat Raju, a physicist at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research; Prateek Sharma, a physicist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; and Suman Chakraborty of IIT Kharagpur, winner of the 2022 Infosys Prize for Engineering and Computer Science.
This is the inaugural year of the RVP, where 33 awards were announced in four categories: Vigyan Ratna for lifetime achievement; Vigyan Shri for scientists of all ages; Vigyan Yuva for scientists below 45 years; and Vigyan Group for joint research work.
The RVP was established last year after abandoning existing science awards, including the highly coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for scientists under 45 – Vigyan Yuva is its location.
According to the selection process, academicians have to submit their lists to an executive committee, headed by the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Prime Minister and known as the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar Committee (RVPC), which then send the final list. in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The awards were announced by the government on August 7. After this announcement, The Indian Express noted that some members of the executive committee and expert committees sought clarification from the government on the details. which may have an impact on this year’s final list. awardees – and it was after the cancellation of some nominations.
Three weeks later, on 30 August, 26 scientists, all recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award wrote to PSA Ajay Sood raising concerns about the selection process.
Adding a twist to the debate is that two of the three scientists, Raju and Sharma, criticized IISc for its cancellation of the last-minute discussion on UAPA last year, which was to be chaired by student activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita. Both the physicists had also signed open letters on the Civil Rights Act and the NIA’s action in the Bhima Koregaon case.
When contacted, Sharma told The Indian Express that he was not aware that his name was being recommended by the RVPC and did not want to comment.
Suvrat said he found out that his name had been recommended by the executive committee when he received a “congratulatory message from a senior scientist involved in the selection process who believed, in good faith, that the decisions of the scientific committee were valid.” will be respected by the government.”
“Later, this scientist explained to me that my name was deleted,” said Suvrat, adding, “I think the identity of the people who were deleted is not very important. What is important is that the government’s actions are reveal the intolerance of opposition. All scientists in this country should be concerned about the consequences of such manipulation for academic freedom and democratic rights in scientific fields.”
Contacted Chakraborty of IIT Kharagpur, he said: “I don’t know if my name was in the final list. However, all awards have an element of subjectivity. I respect the final decision , and all winners deserve respect.”
Despite several calls and messages from The Indian Express, PSA Sood was not available for comment.
Interestingly, the information provided under “Selection Process” for these awards on the government website has a new statement added over the weekend which says: “RVPC will recommend nominations to the Honorable Minister of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.” Earlier, under the selection process, the website had only stated that all nominations for the award would be placed before the RVPC.
Meanwhile, in their protest letter, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awardees have asked the PSA whether the recommendations of the executive committee have been fully accepted or revised by other committees or authorities.
“In the latest case we ask that details of the nature of these committees and the methods used to reach their decisions be made public… In order to uphold the integrity of the Bhatnagar award, we seek assurances that the criteria and methods used to determine Vigyan. Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards are completely fair, transparent and free from extraneous considerations,” the letter said.
The signatories include TIFR theoretical physicist Shiraz Naval Minwalla; physicist Ashoke Sen at the International Center for Theoretical Sciences in Bengaluru; mathematician Indranil Biswas at TIFR; and Atish Dabholkar, who is currently the Director of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.
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