Indian scientists shocked as government scraps nearly 300 awards

Indian scientists were surprised to learn that the government plans to abolish nearly 300 science awards. Although many researchers acknowledge problems in selecting award winners, they say the decision to hire them without explanation is demotivating and won’t solve the problems.

The government is yet to announce the decision, but minutes of a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla last month and attended by senior officials from the Science and Health Ministries reveal details. For example, the country’s main science and technology funding agency, the Department of Science and Technology, retains only four of its 207 awards; the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research will abolish or merge six of its seven awards; and the Department of Earth Sciences will annul three of its four awards, according to protocol. The Departments of Atomic Energy, Space and Health will eliminate all of their 45 awards and introduce new awards for atomic energy and space research. Which awards are drawn is not mentioned, but can be deduced in some cases.

The government also plans to launch a new prize, the Vigyan Ratna Prize, which will be India’s version of a Nobel Prize, details of which have yet to be announced.

Researchers say the prizes up for grabs, many of which come with small cash prizes or grants, are important to the motivation and recognition they offer. Scientists are concerned about the message the decision to remove it will send to young scientists. “Their scrapping will demoralize the scientific community and weaken the pursuit of science in India,” says Soumitro Banerjee, physicist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, and secretary-general of the Breakthrough Science Society.

Without explanation

Scientists say they’re groping in the dark about the move. “Since the reasons for the drastic reduction in the number of existing awards are not publicly known, it is unclear what problem it was intended to address,” says biophysicist Gautam Menon of Ashoka University near Delhi.

“We need to understand the rationale behind the abolition of awards and the proposed vision of how to reform the award and award system,” says Vishwesha Guttal, mathematical ecologist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

A former senior science secretary said the government decided to review its science awards more than four years ago. But there appears to have been little, if any, follow-up to the initial discussion, which explains the scientists’ surprise at the move. Nature contacted several scientific department heads about the reasons for the abolition of the awards, but none had responded in time for publication.

Adding to the scientists’ concerns, there is no announcement of the country’s top scientific award, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, which is awarded by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and is normally presented by the Prime Minister on September 26.

Biased Choice

Many scientists acknowledge that there are shortcomings in the selection of some science award winners – such as B. Lack of inclusivity and transparency. For example, of the 97 recipients of the Bhatnagar Prize over the past 10 years, only 5 have been women. Male candidates from “the so-called best institutes in the country” are often chosen, says CP Rajendran, a geologist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore.

Tapasya Srivastava, a geneticist at Delhi University’s south campus, says that in some cases senior scientists or members of award selection committees select researchers based on their institutional affiliation rather than merit.

Rajendran says the system needs to be reviewed but that it should have been carried out by “a competent panel of independent observers” after careful discussions with everyone involved, including researchers. The way forward is to make the process fairer and more transparent by eliminating conflicts of interest on the part of selectors and encouraging self-nominations and team awards, he says.

“This is an opportunity to bring about concrete changes in the award system,” adds Srivastava.