National Academy of Agricultural Sciences

GUIDELINES FOR ACADEMY AWARDS

General

The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences has instituted various Awards for recognizing significant contributions of senior, middle level and young scientists to promote agricultural research. Memorial, Endowment and Recognition awards are presented biennially at the time of Agricultural Sciences Congress. Young Scientist Awards are given annually and are presented in the Annual General Body meeting of the Academy.

1.1       Inviting Applications / Nominations for the Awards

The Fellows of the Academy would be requested to suggest names of suitable candidates for various awards except Dr. A.B. Joshi Memorial Lecture Award. Each Fellow may nominate one person in his/her discipline for each award in the prescribed proforma which will be sent to them by the Academy. Dr. AB. Joshi Memorial Lecture Awardee shall be identified by the Executive Council and no application shall be required.

Once the nominations are received from the Fellows, a Scrutinizing Committee constituted for the purpose should short-list maximum upto 10 candidates for each award. If required, the Committee may also nominate persons suo moto for the awards.

The candidates short-listed by the Committee should be invited by the Academy to submit their applications on prescribed proforma. The applications should be forwarded by any one of the following officials.

Fellows of NAAS/Previous Awardees; DG/DDGs/ADGs of ICAR; Secretaries of Scientific Departments (Science & Technology, Biotechnology, Earth Sciences, Space, Atomic Energy); Presidents of Science Academies; Directors/Joint Directors of ICAR Research Institutes/NRCs/Project Directorates; Directors of Institutions of CSIR / ICMR; Vice Chancellors/ Directors/Deans of SAUs/ CAU; Chairman UGC / ASRB / BARC; Principal Scientific Advisors, GOI; Presidents of all Professional Societies in the field of Agriculture; Heads of CGIAR Centres; Chairman of NGOs engaged in R & D in Agriculture.

For Young Scientist Award, the application may be forwarded, besides the above persons, by the concerned Head of the Department/Institute/ University as the case may be.

1.2       Schedule

1.3       Giving larger publicity of the awards in the media

The Academy shall give wider publicity for these awards through NAAS and ICAR website, website of ICAR institutes and SAUs, ICAR Newsletters, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Current Science and one national leading newspaper. The announcement of the Awards should be sent to all the ICAR Institutes, Universities and other relevant organizations requesting them to nominate the promising candidates for the awards.

1.4       TA/DA for receiving the Award shall be paid to the awardee by the Academy. The awards shall be given at the Inaugural Session of Agricultural Science Congress.

2.         Memorial Awards

2.1.     These awards named after eminent persons who are deceased, are known for their distinguished services to the cause of Indian Agricultural Research, Education and Transfer of Technology. The Awardee’s contribution should have been recognized nationally/internationally and supported by significant publications. The Awardee shall be a distinguished scientist above 55 years in age. The period of assessing the contributions shall be life time upto the year of nomination. The six Memorial Awards are :

i.       Dr. B.P. Pal Memorial Award for Excellence in Agricultural Sciences: This award is the apex award of the Academy. It is given for singular outstanding overall contribution to agriculture. The awardee can be from any science relevant to agriculture. The award consists of a citation and cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-

ii.      Dr. K. Ramiah Award: For outstanding contributions in Agricultural Research in Plant Production.

iii.     Dr. K.C. Mehta Award: For outstanding contributions in Plant Protection

iv.     Dr. M.S. Randhawa Award: For outstanding contributions in Agricultural Administration, Transfer of Technology and Social Sciences.

v.      Dr. N.S. Randhawa Award: For outstanding contributions in Agricultural Engineering, Natural Resources Conservation & Management and Environment Sciences.

vi.     Dr. P. Bhattacharya Award: For outstanding contributions in Animal Sciences/ Animal Production Systems & Fisheries.

vii.    Dr. A.B. Joshi Award: For distinguished scientists/educationist who have made outstanding contribution in any branch of agricultural sciences

2.2.      The awards from Sl. No. (ii) to (vii) consist of a citation and cash prize of Rs. 50,000/-

2.3.      The number of Memorial Awards will be reviewed periodically after every five years or any time as decided by the Executive Council.

2.4.      The Judging Committee will be chaired by the President and will consist of four other Fellows to be nominated by the Executive Council. It would be constituted anew each time the awards are to be finalized. Its members will themselves be neither candidate for the awards nor related to the nominees.

2.5.      Selection will be made on the basis of nominations received alongwith the relevant information on outstanding contributions of each nominee.

3.         Endowment Awards

3.1       The Endowment awards shall be based on specific financial endowments made to the Academy either to perpetuate the memory of a distinguished agricultural scientist(s) / persons whose contributions / services to the cause of agricultural sciences / Indian agriculture made a distinct mark and should reflect the stature and dignity of the Academy, and the person concerned should be acceptable to the Academy as decided by its Executive Council. The Endowment Awards shall be treated at par with Memorial Awards for the purpose of selection of awardees, and carries a citation and cash prize of Rs. 50,000/-

3.2       Endowments may be made towards promotion of specific activities in the realm of the Academy’s functions. For instituting the Award a minimum donation of Rs. 20 lakhs from the donor as Corpus will be essential. The Award will be given once in two years at the Agricultural Science Congress and treated at par with any of the Memorial wards for the purpose of regulations. The Judging Committee for Endowment Awawrds shall be the same as for Memorial Awards. The three Endowment Awards are:

(i)         Dr. L.C. Sikka Endowment Award: The award will be given to an outstanding scientist for contributions towards ensuring food and nutritional security. The awardee can be from any branch of science relevant to agriculture.

(ii)        Dr. (Ms.) Prem Dureja Endowment Award: The award will be given to an outstanding woman scientist for her contribution towards overall contribution to agriculture.

(iii)        Dr. N.G.P. Rao Endowment Award: The award will be given to an outstanding scientist for contributions in the area of crop sciences.

4.         Recognition Awards

4.1.      These awards are for distinguished contributions to the advancement of knowledge/ technologies in the relevant scientific disciplines of the particular area of agricultural sciences for which the award has been instituted. The research contributions should be based on work carried out in India as evidenced by publications in scientific journals of repute and products and technologies developed. The period of assessing the contributions shall be upto the year of nomination. The awards shall be made to distinguished scientists in the age group of 35-55 years in the following areas:

1. Plant Improvement including Genetics and Plant Breeding, Plant Genetic Resources, Plant Physiology, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Seed Technology and Post-Harvest Technologies for all Field Crops and Horticultural crops.
2. Plant Protection including Agricultural Entomology, Plant Pathology, Nematology, Microbiology, Agricultural Chemicals and Organic Chemistry.
3. Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences including Natural Resource Management, Soil Science including Soil Microbiology, Water Management (other than Soil and Water Engineering), Environmental Sciences, Agronomy, Agricultural Physics, Agricultural Meteorology, Forestry and Agro-forestry.
4. Animal Sciences including Animal Genetics & Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Physiology, Animal Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Animal Production, Animal Reproduction, Animal Health, Animal Products Technology, Dairy Science, Poultry Science, Fisheries Resource Management and Aquaculture including Fish Genetics & Breeding, Fish Nutrition, Fish Pathology, Fish Biotechnology, Fish Biosystematics & Fish Processing &Technology.
5. Agricultural Engineering including Farm Machinery & Power, Soil & Water Engineering, Agricultural Process Engineering, Value addition and Post-Harvest Technology, Food Technology, Textile Chemistry and Computer Application in Agriculture.
6. Social Sciences including Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Statistics, Extension Education, Bioinformatics, and Community Science, including Food Science and Nutrition.

4.2       Each award consists of a citation and a citation and cash prize of Rs. 30,000/-

4.3       The Judging Committee shall be from the Fellowship and consist of:

(a)        Chairman, to be nominated by the President of Academy

(b)        Convener of the concerned Sectional Committee

(c)        Two Members of the concerned Sectional Committee or Fellows of the concerned section to be nominated by the President

(d)       One Member from a different section to be nominated by the President.

(e)        The Judging Committee would be constituted anew each time the awards are to be finalized.

(f)        The Judging Committee Members will themselves be neither candidates for the award nor related to the nominees.

5.         Young Scientists’ Awards

5.1       The primary objective of this category of awards is to encourage young scientists of promise and creativity through their contributions to agricultural sciences after obtaining Ph.D. degree.

5.2       Scientists below the age of 35 years are eligible for this award.

5.3       There will be eight awards, one in each area of the following area of agricultural sciences:

1. Crop Sciences, covering Genetics and Plant Breeding, Plant Genetic Resources, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Seed Technology and Post-Harvest Technologies for all field crops.
2. Horticultural Sciences, covering Genetics and Plant Breeding, Plant Genetic Resources, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Seed Technology and Post-Harvest Technologies  for all horticultural crops.
3. Animal Sciences, covering Animal Genetics & Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Physiology, Animal Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Animal Production, Animal Reproduction, Animal Health, Animal Products Technology, Dairy Sciences and Poultry Sciences.
4. Fisheries Sciences, covering Fish Genetics & Breeding, Fish Nutrition, Fish Pathology, Fish Biotechnology, Fish Biosystematics, Fish Processing &Technology, Fisheries Resource Management and Aquaculture.
5. Natural Resource Management Sciences, covering Agricultural Meteorology, Agronomy, Environmental Science, Forestry, Agroforestry, Soil Science including Soil Microbiology, Water Management (other than Soil and Water Engineering) and Agricultural Physics.
6. Plant Protection Sciences, covering Agricultural Chemicals, Agricultural Entomology, Plant Pathology, Nematology, Microbiology and Organic Chemistry.
7. Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Farm Machinery & Power, Soil and Water Engineering, Agricultural Process Engineering, Value addition and Post-Harvest Technology, Food Technology, Textile Technology and Computer Application in Agriculture. 
8. Social Sciences, covering Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Statistics, Extension Education, Bioinformatics, and Community Science, including Food Science and Nutrition

5.4       The Judging Committee will comprise of all the members of the concerned Sectional Committee, the Convener being the Chairman.

5.5       Selection will be made on the basis of nominations received in the prescribed proforma.

5.6       Each award will consist of a citation and cash prize of Rs. 25,000/-.