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The main The main The main The main The main �� Foundation Day function was held in the main auditorium of Foundation Day function was held in the main auditorium of Foundation Day function was held in the main auditorium of Foundation Day function was held in the main auditorium of Foundation Day function was held in the main auditorium ofNNNNNational Pational Pational Pational Pational Physical Laboratory (hysical Laboratory (hysical Laboratory (hysical Laboratory (hysical Laboratory (NPL), N), N), N), N), New Dew Dew Dew Dew Delhi. The function was attendedelhi. The function was attendedelhi. The function was attendedelhi. The function was attendedelhi. The function was attended

by a large number of eminent scientists and dignitaries.by a large number of eminent scientists and dignitaries.by a large number of eminent scientists and dignitaries.by a large number of eminent scientists and dignitaries.by a large number of eminent scientists and dignitaries.

Shri KapilS i b a l ,Minister ofScience &Technologyand EarthS c i e n c e sand VicePresident,CSIR, wasthe ChiefGuest andgave away the CSIR Young Scientist Awardsand CSIR Technology Awards for 2007.Addressing the august gathering, Shri Sibalcalled upon the scientific community torededicate itself to serve the nation with muchgreater vigour. Stressing the need fordeveloping green technologies, Shri Sibal saidthat while Science is ‘understanding thenature’, Technology is ‘respecting the nature’.

Dr T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department ofScience & Technology and Director General,CSIR, extended a warm welcome to thedistinguished invitees and guests andannounced the winners of this year’s:• CSIR Young Scientist Awards• CSIR Technology Awards• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes• CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award• CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural

Development• CSIR Diamond Jubilee Invention Awards

for School Children

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Dr VikramKumar,Director,NPL,proposed avote ofthanks.

Prof. P.Balaram,Director,IndianInstitute ofScience (IISc),Bangalore,delivered theCSIRFoundationDay Lecture,titled‘Measuringand AssessingScience.’

Prof M.S. Swaminathan, FRS, M.S. Swaminathan ResearchFoundation, Chennai, was the Guest of Honour. In his address hestressed the importance of synergy among technology, public policyand social engineering for rapid progress.

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It is a privilege to have anopportunity to speak on the

occasion of Foundation Day of theCouncil of Scientific and IndustrialResearch. Since its inception in1942, CSIR has been one of theflagships of the scientificenterprise inIndia. In today’spresentation Iwould like toaddress a problemthat must concernall those whopractice anda d m i n i s t e rscience. This is theproblem ofmeasuring andassessing science.Objective assess-ments of thequality and quantity of scientificoutput are increasingly being madeby using the tools of Scientometrics.I will be providing a personal viewof scientometrics in the Indiancontext.

There are two kinds of scientificactivities that we can consider.Firstly, there is academic science,which is often of uncertain utility.Secondly, there is applied science,which generally has clear goals andtargets. But, we must remember anassessment that was once made inconnection with pharmaceuticalresearch leading towards drugdiscovery namely, “Success in the

laboratory does not always translateinto success in the marketplace”.

There are two ways of assessingscientific activities. One is simply touse personal judgments, which maybe informed or prejudiced. This iswhat most of us do when we say that

a particular scientific result is goodor bad or useful or useless. A moreelaborate and objective approachwould be to use impersonalquantitation and that is really thesubject matter of scientometrics.

The history of scientometricsreally begins with a remarkablepaper published by Eugene Garfieldover half a century ago. This paperwas entitled “Citation indexes forscience: A new dimension in


CSIR Foundation Day Lecture byProf. P. Balaram, Director,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

MEASURING AND ASSESSING SCIENCE

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documentation through associationof ideas” - E. Garfield, Science 122,108-111 (1955). Garfield borrowedthe idea of a citation index from thefield of law, a fact that might surelyplease our Minister for Science andTechnology who is an illustriouslawyer. Over the years, Garfieldinvented many wonderful ways ofabstracting, indexing andcorrelating information aboutscience and scientists. It was hiswork that led to Current Contents,the Science Citation Index, andJournal Citation Reports, eventuallyculminating in the Web of Science.When Garfield began he would

never haveanticipated therevolution thatwas to come inthe area ofc o m p u t e rtechnology andi n f o r m a t i o nscience (Figure1 p.324).

Scientometricsand the tasks ofcounting papersand relevantcitations are

relevant only because scientistsmust publishtheir resultsin order tocommunicatet h e i rfindings toothers. Thiswas alwaysnot the case.C h a r l e sDarwin wasreluctant topublish hiswork, so toowas Isaac

Newton. But, in modern times,publications are the key toscientists’ success. A long time ago,Charles Dodson (more famouslyknown by his pseudoname LewisCarroll) said, “Man is an animal thatwrites letters”. In the context oftoday’s talk I can paraphrase this bysaying that “Scientists are animalsthat like to publish papers”. The keyto scientometrics lies in the list ofbibliographic citations that appearat the end of every publishedscientific article in all scholarlyjournals. These “reference lists”draw attention to prior work, related


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work and sometimes provide insightinto the intellectual relationshipsbetween apparently different fieldsof science. Information technology

noted that only 33 million were citedat least once. This conclusion thatonly 18% of all published materialis cited at least once must alarm allthose who are not initiated into thefield of scientometry (Figure 2p. 324).

But here, I must introduce a lawwhich will help us to think morekindly about publishing science. Thelaw is called Bradford’s Law and Imight also call it “A Law ofDiminishing Returns” in deferenceto the powerful role that economistsplay in the modern world. Onlyabout 20% contributions might beexpected to be significant (Figure 3p. 325).

Scientometrics like many otherfields also rest on some basic laws.In addition to Bradford there aretwo more: Lotka’s Law (Figure 4p.325) and Zipf ’s Law (Figure 5 p.325). I will leave it to yourimagination on how these two Laws,together with Bradford, helped inadvancing quantitative assessmentof science.

The CSIR has really propagatedthe use of scientometric analysis inIndia. In many years, as a simpleminded scientist, I have watchedwith growing dismay the enormous


now allows us to compile and analysecitation data from millions of articlespublished in the ever-growingscientific literature of the world.

Over the years, manycurious features havebeen highlighted byGarfield in his manyinsightful and oftenhumorous essayspublished in CurrentComments.

In an analysis of theworld’s scientificliterature between 1945and 1988, covering a totalof 175 million items, he

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influence that quantitativemethodologies have in rankingscientists, their journals and theirinstitutions. The parameter that hasbeen widely used is the “JournalImpact Factor” (Figure 6 p. 325).Often scientists are judged by theirlists of publications, which, in turn,are judged by the impact factor ofthe journals in which they arepublished. Ingenious approaches forassessment have been advanced. Forexample, there is the insidious“average impact factor”. Scientistshave become so self-conscious thatthey now decide the journals towhich they will send their paperson the basis of the latest impact

factors. Scientometrics and itsapplications have begun to affect thesociology of scientists. Inmentioning scientometric data, it isuseful to remember that journalimpact factors and related practicesvary widely across the manydisciplines of science (Figure 7 p.326).

In the rush to publish,contentious problems have arisen,where a large number of individualscontribute towards a scientificproject. These are some uniqueinfectious diseases which haveemerged. Two of the most commonare the “First Author Syndrome”and the unavoidable issue of

“Honorary Authors”. I need notelaborate on this to an audience,which presumably consists ofpublishing scientists.

Quantitative tools are useful forpolicy makers. Scientometrics is adangerous weapon in assessingindividuals; on the contrary, it is avaluable and sometimes essentialtechnique in assessing the scientificoutput of large institutions andnations. Many have viewed thereport published by a Japanesegroup from Shanghai some time ago,rating the top universities of theworld. The parameters they usedwere rigorous (Figure 8 p. 326). Thelist they produced (Figure 9 p. 326)

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may not necessarily have pleasedeverybody. But I must drawattention to one point. If we usedsimple prejudice (personaljudgment) we might have largelyagreed on the names of the top 10universities in the world. They areall in the United States or the UnitedKingdom. This is undoubtedly alegacy of history. A little later, DavidKing, the Scientific Advisor to theUK government, produced anassessment of the scientific impactof nations (Figure 10 p. 326). India’sposition must cause some concern.

Scientometrics is a constantlyevolving field. New parameters for

comparing the scientificachievements at periodic intervalsare being added to the literature. Iwould like to draw your attention tothe single number index known asthe “h index” (Figure 11-14 p. 326-27).

Thinking about institutionalperformance, we might go wellbeyond the constraints of citationcounts and journal impact factors. Ilist in Figure 15 (p. 327) someparameters that might serve as aguide in assessing institutions. Indiatoday is faced with the formidablechallenge of creating many worldclass educational and researchinstitutions. In Figure 16 (p. 328)

s o m ei m p o r t a n tissues arehighlighted.All of us willagree thatthe mosti m p o r t a n tfactor inb u i l d i n gsuccess fu l ,p roduc t i veand happyinstitutions isto create an

ambience. This could be difficult.I have listed in Figure 17 (p. 328)some points that might beconsidered.

In concluding this address, Imust draw your attention toGarfield’s conclusion on the growthof science reached in the early yearsof scientometrics (Figure 18 p. 328).A recent critic of quantitativeanalysis made an interesting point.A commentary entitled “Measuresfor measures” (S. Lehmann et al.,Nature, 444, 1003, 2006) reached thefollowing conclusion “There havebeen few attempts to discover whichof the popular citation measures isbest and whether any arestatistically reliable...... Institutionshave a misguided sense of thefairness of decisions reached byalgorithm; unable to measure whatthey want to maximize (quality),they will maximize what they canmeasure”. I must conclude thepresentation on a more cheerfulnote by quoting a man who had littlelove for the quantitative method.Mark Twain famously identified“three species of mendacity, eachworse than the one before - lies,damned lies, and statistics”.


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I am happy to be here when theCSIR family is celebrating its 65th’

birth anniversary. CSIR owes itsorigin to the vision of Sir ArcotRamaswamy Mudaliar who wasMember for Commerce in theExecutive Council of the thencolonial Government. Its growth anddevelopment however was greatlyinfluenced by Jawaharlal Nehruwhose vision was converted intoaction by Dr S. S. Bhatnagar.Nehru’s passionate commitment toscience will be clear from thefollowing statement he made on 21January 1950 on the occasion of theinauguration of the NationalPhysical Laboratory, where we aremeeting today: “When I think of thetremendous adventure in Science inthe past and the tremendousadventure that I hope it is going tobe in the future, I am fascinated bythis prospect and I feel how muchbetter it would have been for me tobe the Director of this institution, ifI had the competence, than to be thePrime Minister”.

Over the years, CSIR has hadthe good fortune of having eminentPresidents, Vice-Presidents andDirector Generals as well asdedicated scientists, engineers andtechnologists. Shri C.Rajagopalachari who served asCSIR President during 1946-47mentioned in one of his addresses,“I hope the several nationallaboratories which are in the courseof establishment will soon grow upand put India prominently in themap of science in the world”. Thespeed with which the Jawaharlal

Nehru - Bhatnagar combinationstimulated the growth of CSIR willbe evident from the fact that elevennew laboratories came intoexistence during the short period of1950-53. Rajaji also advised CSIRscientists not to be discouraged bybureaucratic hurdles, but go aheadin their creative endeavour on theconviction, “we shall overcome “.Over the years CSIR has manyachievements to its credit. Its majorgoal has been to convert our naturaland human resources into jobs andwealth. It has however beencriticized for its inadequate linkageswith industry and for its lack of asharp focus in its research anddevelopment programmes.

Sir Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the double helixstructure of the DNA molecule oncesaid, “it is better to tackle 10fundamental problems and solveone, than tackle 10 trivial ones andsolve all”. Chasing too manyscientific butterflies will result ingetting none in the net. I recall inthe early seventies when I was aMember of the Executive Councilof CSIR and also a Member of theSarkar Committee which went intothe working of the CS1R, the thenPresident of CSIR, Indira Gandhi,emphasized the need for effectivepartnerships between CSIRinstitutions and small and mediumenterprises. Other than small farmagriculture and micro-retail, thesmall and medium enterprisesprovide the maximum opportunityfor employment to educated youth.Symbiotic relationships between

small and medium industries andCSIR laboratories will help to fosterjob-led economic growth.Curtailment of industrial pollutionis essential for the sustained growthof our industry and economic well-being. Internationally, it is nowaccepted that good ecology is alsogood business. In this connection, Iwish to pay a tribute to the work ofthe Central Leather ResearchInstitute, Chennai, which under thedistinguished leadership of Dr T.Ramasami, currently Secretary,Department of Science andTechnology and Director General,CSIR, developed a methodology bywhich numerous small tanneryowners can get together in the formof co-operatives for the control ofpollution. The leather and textileindustries occupy a very importantposition in our national economy.Both are unfortunately associatedwith water and soil pollutionproblems. CLRI combined socialengineering with pollution controltechnology to promote a dynamic


Address by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, FRS,M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

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hockey and parks. Earmark areas forHindu temples, Mohammedanmosques and Christian churches”.Jamsetji Tata was thus not onlyconcerned with the production ofsteel, but also with improving thequality of life of the inhabitants ofJamshedpur. Fortunately, Nehru andS. S. Bhatnagar inculcated the samephilosophy in the design of thecampuses of CSIR institutes. JRDTata who was Chairman of ‘TataSteel for forty-six years (1938-84) alsoset the following guiding principle.“Nothing is worth attempting thatwill not benefit the nation” Tata Steelis now 100 years old and has beenfollowing the philosophy, “Grow oldalong with me - the best is yet tobe”. This is a good principle for allinstitutions growing old, in order toinstill the principle of sustaineddynamism.

This approach is particularlyimportant since CSIR’s Xlth planpaper states that the emphasis willbe on “technology led acceleratedinclusive growth”. CSIR should helpto bridge the technological, digital,gender and genetic divides whichare now leading to the emergenceof a shining urban India and asuffering rural India. We are now ina favourable environment forleapfrogging in many areas of humanand national development. Forexample, modern information andcommunication technology has madeit possible to take the rightinformation at the right time and atthe right place through acombination of the Internet and -community radio or cell phone.Small-scale fishermen operatingcatamarans can now access data onwave heights and location of fishshawls through the cell phone. Tobridge the rural-urban divides in the

application of science andtechnology in day-to-day life, CSIRstarted in the early nineteenseventies a science based integratedrural development project in theKarimnagar district of AndhraPradesh. This programme initiatedunder the leadership of DrNayudamma did not yield theexpected results since there waslittle synergy among agriculture,animal husbandry, fisheries andindustrial technologies. In contrast,the Chinese Academy of Sciencesinitiated over 25 years ago a SPARKprogramme in villages based on theprinciple, “Innovation is the soul ofa Nation”. The major aim was tocreate opportunities in rural area forskilled non-farm employment. InChina, the strategy for ruralprosperity included concurrentattention to on-farm and non-farmemployment. The SPARKprogramme, which helped to shiftover 100 million rural men andwomen from farm to non-farmemployment within seven years,grew into what was subsequentlycoined as “Township and VillageEnterprises (TVEs)”. This was thebeginning of the economicrevolution in China. A recent bookedited by former AgricultureMinister He Kang titled, “China’sTownship and Village Enterprises(2006)” describes in detail theevolution and progress of this uniquemovement linking agriculture,industry and business in a mutuallyreinforcing manner. China’s abilityto become a global outsourcing hubfor manufactured products is largelydue to the emergence of TVEs.

On the occasion of the 60thanniversary of our “Tryst withDestiny”, I request CSIR toconsider initiating a PAN-CSIR

leather industry free of pollutionproblems. It is only through synergyamong technology, public policy andsocial engineering that we canachieve rapid progress in improvingthe productivity, profitability andsustainability of both small and largeindustries.

It would be useful for CSIR toset up a Joint Scientific Panel withthe Indian Council of Social SciencesResearch in order to bring about thedesired synergy between scienceand society. For achieving integratedexpertise in technology developmentand social engineering, we need anew breed of professionalscommitted to the following principleenunciated by Albert Einstein,“Concern for man himself and hisfate must always form the chiefinterest of all technical endeavoursin order that the creation of ourminds shall be a blessing and not acurse” It would be useful if CSIRestablishes a Staff College wherestaff members ranging from youngscientists to Directors can getexposed to methods of combiningscience and technology withhumanism and ethics . In fact theNational Institute for AdvancedStudies (NIAS) was established atBangalore by JRD Tata for thepurpose of breeding professionalswho combine scientific humanismand humanistic science. This yearmarks the centenary of theestablishment of the Tata Steel atJamshedpur. It will therefore beappropriate to quote Jamshedji Tata,the founder of this pioneeringcompany , “ Be sure to lay widestreets planted with shady trees,every other of a quick-growingvariety . Be sure that there is plentyof space for lawns and gardens.Reserve large areas for football,


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Project relating to the generationof opportunities for skilled, non-farm employment in rural India.Such a rural non-farm livelihoodinitiative may be started, to beginwith in the 31 districts identifiedby the Government of India asagrarian hotspots, leading tosuicides by farmers. There is avast array of technologies in CSIRlaboratories in relation to post-harvest processing and valueaddition, biomass utilization andefficient natural resourcesmanagement, which if transferredto the field will bring immense joyand benefit to rural families nowin distress. The PAN-CSIR RuralNon-farm Livelihood Initiativecould develop partnership withthe appropriate institutions ofICAR, CSIR, DST, DBT, DIT,Agricultural and Animal SciencesUniversities, Women’sUniversities etc, as well as withChina’s TVE. CSIR’s NewMillennium Indian TechnologyLeadership Initiative couldinclude such a programmedesigned to create multiplelivelihood opportunities in ruralIndia. We are on the threshold ofremarkable changes in scienceand technology. What is nowimportant is to ensure that thereis equity in access to the newmarvels of science. This was thepurpose for which CSIR wasestablished and was nurtured bysuccessive Prime Ministers andthe Central and StateGovernments. On this day itwould be useful to go back to thebasics and rededicate ourselves tothe cause of sustainable humansecurity and happiness. I wish theCSIR continued success in thisimportant goal.

SHANTI SWARUP BHATNAGARAWARDS: 2007

Instituted in 1957, the Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Prizes are the mostcoveted S&T Prizes in the country.These prizes, each carrying a cashaward of Rs 200,000, a citation and aplaque, are awarded annually fornotable and outstanding research,applied or fundamental, in (1)Biological, (2) Chemical, (3) Earth,Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary,(4) Engineering, (5) Mathematical, (6)Medical and (7) Physical Sciences.Any citizen of India engaged inresearch in any field of Science andTechnology, who is not more than 45years old on 31 December of the yearpreceding the year of the Prize, iseligible. He/she should have made,in the opinion of CSIR,conspicuously important andoutstanding contribution to humanknowledge and progress –fundamental or applied- in theparticular field of endeavour, whichis his/her specialization. The prizeis awarded on the basis ofcontributions made through workdone primarily in India during thefive years preceding the year of theprize.

Eleven scientists have beenselected for the Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Prize for the year 2007:

Biological SciencesDr Upinder Singh BhallaNational Centre for BiologicalSciences, Bangalore

andDr Narayanaswamy SrinivasanIndian Institute of Science,Bangalore


Chemical SciencesDr Amalendu ChandraIndian Institute of Technology,Kanpur

andDr A. AjayaghoshNational Institute for InterdisciplinaryScience and Technology (NIST),Thiruvananthapuram

Earth, Atmosphere,Ocean & Planetary Sciences

Dr Anil BhardwajVikram Sarabhai Space Centre,Thiruvananthapuram

Engineering SciencesDr Rama GovindarajanJawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research,Bangalore

andDr Budaraju Srinivasa MurtyIndian Institute of TechnologyMadras, Chennai

Mathematical SciencesDr B. V. Rajarama BhatIndian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

Medical SciencesDr Pundi Narasimhan RangarajanIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Physical SciencesDr Yashwant GuptaNational Centre for RadioAstrophysics, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, Pune

andDr Pinaki Majumdar

Harish-Chandra Research Institute,Allahabad

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CSIR Technology Awards, given annually, were instituted in 1990 with a view to fostering and encouraging in-house multi-disciplinary team efforts and external interaction for technology development, transfer, marketing

and commercialization

‘Team CLRI’ at Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, wins the CSIR Technology Award- 2007 forPhysical Sciences including Engineering

and‘Team IIP’ at Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehra Dun, wins the CSIR Technology Award- 2007 for InnovationEach of the above awards carry a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a plaque and a citation.


CSIR TECHNOLOGY AWARDS 2007

Team IIP — winners of CSIR Technology Award 2007 for Innovation withShri Kapil Sibal; Dr T. Ramasami; Prof. M.S. Swaminathan;

Prof. P. Balaram and Dr Vikram Kumar

‘Team CLRI’ has won the award fordeveloping chemo autotrophic activated carbonoxidation (CAACO) technology for thetreatment of wastewater. The technologyinvolves biological and catalytic oxidationscoupled in a single reactor. Biological oxidationof constituents of wastewater is accomplishedby the immobilized aerobic and anaerobicbacteria (chemo autotrophs) in the meso poresof activated carbon and catalytic oxidation iscarried out at the active sites of activatedcarbon.

CLRI has also developed a packed bedreactor (CAACO Reactor) for the treatment ofwastewater. The CAACO technology has beenimplemented in more than 50 installations totest its efficacy for the treatment of wastewaterdischarged from different industries, software parks, residential colonies, etc of varying capacities.

‘Team IIP’ has won the award fordeveloping new catalysts for sweetening oflighter and heavier petroleum fractions. IIPafter consistent R & D efforts has developednovel sweetening catalysts namely cobaltphthalocyanine sulphonamide for extractivesweetening of LPG/ lighter petroleum fractionsand cobalt phthalocyanines dichloride for fixedbed sweetening of heavier petroleum fractions.Successful trial run of cobalt phthalo-cyaninessulphonamide catalyst was undertaken in FCCLPG Merox unit of BPCL Mumbai and LPGMerox unit of RIL, Jamnagar and the performancewas found comparatively better than the commercial catalyst. IIP has filed 21 patents for this innovation. CurrentlyIIP is in the process of transferring the know how for the commercial production of these catalysts. The catalysts,being techno-economically superior, have the potential of replacing the existing catalysts world over.

Team CLRI — winners of CSIR Technology Award 2007 for Physical Sciences,including Engineering with Shri Kapil Sibal; Dr T. Ramasami;

Prof. M.S. Swaminathan; Prof. P. Balaram and Dr Vikram Kumar

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Introduced in 1987, these awards are open to scientists working in CSIR system who have not attained the ageof 35 years by 26 September of the preceding year. The awards are given annually for outstanding contributions

made by the young scientists, based on work done primarily in India, in the following fields: Physical Sciences(including instrumentation); Chemical Sciences; Biological Sciences; Engineering Sciences; and Earth,Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences. The scientist should be a regular employee of CSIR, holding a postof Group IV (Scientist ‘B’ or above) and should have joined the CSIR laboratory on or prior to 26 September ofthe previous year. The awards carry a citation, a plaque and a cash prize of Rs 50,000 with a grant of rupees tenlakh spread over a period of five years for pursuing research project independently.

The recipients of the CSIR Young Scientist Awards for the year 2007 are as follows:

Chemical Sciences

Dr M. JayakannanChemical Science & Technology DivisionNational Institute for Interdisciplinary Science andTechnologyThiruvananthapuram

and

Dr Souvik MaitiProteomics and Structural Biology UnitInstitute of Genomics & Integrative Biology [IGIB]Delhi

Engineering Sciences

Shri Rabibrata MukherjeeCentral Glass & Ceramic Research InstituteKolkata

and

Dr Sundergopal SridharIndian Institute of Chemical TechnologyHyderabad

Physical Sciences

Dr N. VijayanMaterials Characterization DivisionNational Physical LaboratoryDr K.S. Krishnan MargNew Delhi

No Awards were given in the areas of BiologicalSciences and Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & PlanetarySciences.


CSIR YCSIR YCSIR YCSIR YCSIR Young Scientist Aoung Scientist Aoung Scientist Aoung Scientist Aoung Scientist Awwwwward-winners with ard-winners with ard-winners with ard-winners with ard-winners with Shri Kapil Sibal; Dr TShri Kapil Sibal; Dr TShri Kapil Sibal; Dr TShri Kapil Sibal; Dr TShri Kapil Sibal; Dr T. Ramasami; Pr. Ramasami; Pr. Ramasami; Pr. Ramasami; Pr. Ramasami; Prof. M.S. Swof. M.S. Swof. M.S. Swof. M.S. Swof. M.S. Swaminathan; Praminathan; Praminathan; Praminathan; Praminathan; Prof. Pof. Pof. Pof. Pof. P. Balaram and Dr V. Balaram and Dr V. Balaram and Dr V. Balaram and Dr V. Balaram and Dr Vikram Kumarikram Kumarikram Kumarikram Kumarikram Kumar

CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDS 2007

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CSIR DIAMONDJUBILEE

TECHNOLOGYAWARD 2007

The CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award, given annually,

was instituted in commemoration ofCSIR’s Diamond Jubilee in 2003. It isgiven for technological development inthe country by Indian innovators andwhich meets the highest globalstandards. The award carries a cashprize of Rs 10 lakh, a shield and acitation.

The CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award for 2007 goes toMahindra and Mahindra Limited forthe development andcommercialization of Scorpio.

Announcing the award CSIRDirector General Dr T. Ramasami saidthat with the development of Scorpio,Mahindra & Mahindra had joined ahandful of companies, which havedesigned and produced world classvehicles. This development hasenabled the company to move intointernational league of automobilemanufacturers. Its cutting edge dieselengine technology, voice-assist system,lower NVH (noise, vibration andharshness) and 5 zone cushionsuspension make every drive anexhilarating experience. The productwith its style, convenience, comfort andsafety is popular with individuals andinstitutions in India and abroad. TheCSIR Diamond Jubilee TechnologyAward, it is hoped, will inspire andmotivate the industry further to takeup many more daring and challenginginitiatives.

CSIR AWARD FOR S&T INNOVATIONSFOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Developmentwas instituted in 2006 to recognize those S&T innovations that

have helped transform the lives of rural people or alleviated thedrudgery of the rural people or have helped in generation ofemployment. Only successful S&T innovations that have beenimplemented at ground level are considered for the award. Theaward carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a shield and a citation.

The CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development– 2007 has been jointly won by

National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang for “Improvement ofSustainable Yak Husbandry Practices in Himalayan Region”

andNimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Phaltan

alongwith National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, for “Use ofthe FecB (Booroola) gene in Deccani breed of sheep, to increaselamb production and thereby the incomes of Shepherds”.

Announcing the award the CSIR Director General Dr T.Ramasami pointed out that in the Himalayan region of the country,the life revolves around Yak. On one hand the animal is source ofproducts such as milk and wool and service for agriculture andtransportation, while on the other, when dead it is used for producingleather, implements, rugs, tents and bones are used for carving,etc. A major limitation with this species has been its poorreproductive efficiency due to its inherent problems of late maturity,poor estrus expressivity, seasonality of reproductive pattern andprolonged inter-calving intervals.

Drastic decline in yak population in India and all over the worldhas become a cause for concern. Thus, conservation of yak geneticresources has got worldwide attention. NRC-Yak has successfullystandardized the protocol for super ovulation, embryo recovery andtransfer in yak. Due to this unique effort, the dwindling Yakpopulation has been stabilized in the states of Arunachal Pradesh,Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The age forattaining puberty has also decreased as a result yaks are nowproducing one calf/year instead of the earlier record of 1 calf/3 years.The rural communities in Yak inhabited states are getting benefitedtremendously from this research effort as they get more produceand services by rearing the yak. Further, the Centre has producedthe first ever female yak calf “MISMO” in the world through embryo


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transfer technology.DrRamasami further said thatlike most other breeds ofsheep in India, Deccani sheephave a comparatively lowreproductive rate, producingone lamb every 10 to 12months. More than 80% ofthe income of shepherdsrearing Deccani sheep comesfrom sale of lambs. NARI incollaboration with NCL hassuccessfully introduced FecBgene in Deccani sheep toenhance lamb production. Anew strain of Deccani sheepwith higher productivitycalled ‘NARI Suwarna’ hasthus been developed. TheFecB gene carrier ewesproduces twin lambs at everyalternate lambing, giving anaverage litter size of 1.5compared to 1.0 in theDeccani. This increase is highenough to bring about asubstantial increase in theshepherd’s income and wouldthus transform gradually therural economy.

This award to NRC-Yakand NARI alongwith NCLwill inspire all those in theprofession and business ofinnovation for ruraldevelopment in the countrynot only to accelerate theirefforts of innovating more andmore but also to implementthem successfully at groundlevel. Such a huge effort wouldhelp transform lives of ourrural brethren on one handand bring in vibrancy in ruraleconomy gradually on theother, said Dr T. Ramasami.

CSIR DIAMONDJUBILEE INVENTION

AWARDS FORSCHOOL CHILDREN

FOR2007

The CSIR Diamond JubileeInvention Awards for School

Students were instituted on theWorld Intellectual Property Day (26April, 2002), with a view toencouraging the school students toinnovate, and generating greaterIPR awareness among them. Thecompetition is open to bonafideschool students, below eighteenyears of age. Sixty prizes can begiven; the first prize carries Rs50,000. CSIR not only gives theseawards but also helps in filingpatents for the inventions that arepatent worthy.

This year only two prizes, onethird prize and one fifth prize havebeen given:

Third Prize (Rs. 15,000/- )Miss Neha Lalit SharmaClass: 10, Fr Agnel MultipurposeSchool, Sector 9A, VashiNavi MumbaiTitle: Herbal formulation tocontrol Rhipicephalus spp.(Brown Dog Tick)

Fifth Prize (Rs. 5,000/-)Shikhar BhandariClass: 11, B.V.B. Mehta VidyalayaK.G. Marg, New DelhiTitle: Multiple Use of a TwoWheeler Scooter

Dr Pijush Pal Roywins National Mineral

Award

Dr Pijush Pal Roy, Scientist ‘F’,Central Institute of Mining

and Fuel Research (CIMFR),Dhanbad, has made noteworthycontributions towards widening thehorizons of geosciences and theirapplications. A recipient of theNational Mineral Award-2005 ofMinistry of Mines, Government ofIndia (presented in 2007). Dr Royis head of the Blasting Departmentand also the coordinating scientistof the Respiratory ProtectionLaboratory, Mine Stowing, SlopeStability, Hydrology and VentilationDepartments of the institute.During his nearly 22 years of stayat CIMFR, he has worked in morethan 150 mines and quarries and15 prestigious hydroelectricprojects of the country.

Dr Roy’s early research workwas on the mechanics of thinlylayered laminated materials andtheir dynamic characteristics underinitial, couple and thermal stresses.He has made original contributionsto the analysis of prestressedmaterials, in particular to those offinely layered media, using aninteresting transformation. Thestudy was jointly carried out by DrRoy and Prof. L. Devnath of theCentral Florida University, USA.This particular study helped geo-scientists in determining thepropagation characteristics oflaminated medium when subjected

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to dynamic loading. It also helpedin the study of physical minemodelling.

Since 1986, Dr Roy’s focus hasbeen on rock blasting researchincluding blasting mechanism,physical characteristics andinnovative blast design models, costoptimization, safety andproductivity. He has developedvibration predictor equations;burden-spacing equations;fragmentation analyzing scale;damage characteristics of surfacestructures and their evaluation;vibration, air-overpressure andhuman response standards,methodologies for best use of non-electric initiation systems; theoryand principle of air-deck blasting;mathematical equations related toenergy balance in rock blasting; useof additives (sawdust & rice-husk)in ANFO for cost-effective optimumblasting in limestone mines andtechno-economic evaluation ofdrilling and blasting operations.

Dr Roy’s research on thepropagation, prediction and controlof ground vibrations due to surfaceand underground blasting is wellrecognized. He has scientificallyestablished the physical aspects ofthe problem and extensivelyexperimented in different categoriesof mines under varying geo-miningconditions. Such studies aresupported by huge experimentaldata and mostly cited in scientific

forum andinstitutionalresearch work.He has alsoscientificallya n a l y z e ddrilling andb l a s t i n goperations ino p e n c a s tmines anddeveloped anumber ofp r e d i c t i v emodels whichare being usedby the minemanagement.

Burden and Spacing formulaedeveloped by Dr Roy are also usefultools for researchers and practicingengineers for optimization of blastpattern. On many occasions,CIMFR scientists use them for blastdesign purposes in various industry-sponsored projects of the institute.He was instrumental in implementationof non-electric initiating devices (Shock-Tube Systems) in Surface and U/Gmines for eco-friendly blastingoperations. The device is now widelyused in almost 80% mines in India.

The fragmentation analyzingscale developed by Dr Roy is beingused in designing face orientationfor newly developed mines andquarries. As an example, UCIL hasused this technique for their proposedBanduhurang Opencast Mines.

Dr Roy and his group haverecently released a handyBG-Folder and ‘INCAB’ software(in Java-Swing) language for fielduse after extensive fieldinvestigations in Blasting Gallery(BG) panels, pertaining to an S&Tproject of the Ministry of Coal andMines.

Dr Roy is the author of 2 books(published both in India and abroad),2 guidelines and nearly 89 scientificpapers published in international/national journals and seminar/symposia proceedings. In additionto the National Mineral Award, hehas also received Young ScientistAward of CSIR-1989, First CMRI-Whittaker Award-1993 and HindustanZinc Limited Medal of theInstitution of Engineers (India)-1997.

Dr P. Pal Roy of CIMFR receiving the National Mineral Award fromShri Sis Ram Ola, Minister of Mines, Government of India.

Dr T. Subbarami Reddy, Minister of State for Mines,Government of India is also seen

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30 OCTOBER 2007 321 - niscair.res.in · for School Children CSIR Foundation Day Celebrations. ......

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