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15 OCTOBER 2006 289

CSIR Foundation Day Celebrations

CSIR NEWS290


Twenty-sixth September isa very special day for theCouncil of Scientific &

Industrial Research (CSIR). It is theCouncil’s birthday! It was on thisday in 1942 the CSIR came intobeing. Every year, the 38laboratories/institutes of CSIR,spread all over the country,celebrate this day with great pompand gaiety. It is an occasion tocelebrate the accomplishments ofthe year that has gone by and planfor the future— to serve the nationwith still greater dedication. It is alsoan occasion to accord recognition toexcellence in science through thepresentation of awards and prizes.The main function, which is attendedby a large number of eminentscientists and dignitaries, is held inNew Delhi.

This year’s Foundation Daycelebrations in New Delhi hadseveral unique features. First of all,three major functions were heldinstead of the usual single function.The functions were held at VigyanBhawan, Hotel Le Meridien andCSIR Headquarters. In fact, thewhole day was full of celebration ofbest of science and best oftechnology. It saw the presentationof Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes(2006), CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award (2006) and thenewly instituted CSIR Award forS&T Innovations for RuralDevelopment by Prime Minister ofIndia and President, CSIR DrManmohan Singh; CSIR YoungScientist Awards (2006) and CSIRTechnology Awards (2006) by theMinister of Science & Technologyand Earth Sciences and

Vice President, CSIR Shri KapilSibal; and the CSIR DiamondJubilee Invention Awards for SchoolChildren (2006) by CSIR DirectorGeneral Dr R.A. Mashelkar.Shri Kapil Sibal also launched‘Geno Cluster’— a bioinformaticssoftware developed jointly by theInstitute of Genomics andIntegrative Biology and JalajaTechnologies under the NewMillennium Indian TechnologyLeadership Initiative (NMITLI)programme and released aCompendium entitled"Contributions of CSIR to AntarcticResearch: Collected Reprints.Science Safari, a film highlightingthe innovative and path breakingachievements in Science andTechnology in India — an initiativeby Ministry of Science &

Technology and Earth Sciencesand the National Geographicchannel was also screened on theoccasion.

Prime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh also delivered this year’sCSIR Foundation Day lecture.

Dr Manmohan Singh andShri Kapil Sibal in theiraddresses paid rich tributes toDr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar,FRS, Director General, CSIR,for orchestrating the CSIRtransformation into a user-focusedand market-oriented scientificindustrial organization, and thegalaxy of eminent scientistsattending the function gave astanding ovation to Dr Mashelkar.

Dr Mashelkar is due to lay downhis office on 31 December thisyear.

Prime Minister of India and President, CSIR Dr Manmohan Singh with the Minister of Science &Technology and Earth Sciences and Vice President, CSIR Shri Kapil Sibal (right) and CSIR Director

General Dr R.A. Mashelkar at the CSIR Foundation Day Function in Vigyan Bhawan

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T he Foundation Daycelebrations began with aglittering function held in

the morning at Vigyan Bhawan, NewDelhi. Attended by a host ofdignitaries and eminent scientists,it was a celebration of CSIR'scommitment to its mandate andrejoice the achievements of the pastyear.

Prime Minister of India DrManmohan Singh, who is alsoPresident of CSIR, presented:

· Nation’s most coveted award inscience & technology, the ShantiSwarup Bhatnagar Prizes for2006 to thirteen eminentscientists for their outstandingresearch contributions.

· CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award for 2006 toTejas Networks India Limited,a Bangalore-based innovation-driven company, fordevelopment of Next GenerationOptical (SDH/SONET)Networking products and theirsuccessful commercializationfrom India.

· Newly instituted CSIR Awardfor S&T Innovations for RuralDevelopment to Central

Leather Research Institute(CLRI), Chennai, in recognitionof its contributions to designing,developing and deliveringeffectively several criticaltechnologies impactingpositively the livelihood ofa large number of peopleengaged in the Indian leathersector.

(Please see pp.296-299 fordetails about the awards,citations and response of theawardees)

Dr Manmohan Singh alsodelivered the CSIR Foundation DayLecture (for PM’s lecture please seepage 292).

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister ofScience & Technology and EarthSciences and Vice President, CSIR,presided over the function and alsoaddressed the audience (for ShriSibal’s lecture please see page 294).

Mementoes were presented toPrime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh and to Shri Kapil Sibal ,Minister of Science & Technologyand Earth Sciences. Earlier, Dr R.A.Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR,had pointed out, to thunderousapplause from the audience that it

was the birthday of the PrimeMinister as well as the birthday ofCSIR.

Dr Mashelkar announced theawardees and read out the citations.

Shri Sanjay Naik, CEO of TejasNetworks India Limited, sincerelythanked CSIR in his briefAcceptance speech and said thatthe Tejas team was honoured toreceive CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award for 2006 (Pleasesee pp.297-298).

Announcing the first CSIRAward for S&T Innovations for RuralDevelopment, Dr Mashelkarremembered the contributions of DrT. Ramasami, former Director,CLRI and currently, Secretary,Department of Science andTechnology, Government of India,who could not be present at thefunction. Dr A. B. Mandal, ActingDirector and Dr S Naidu acceptedthe award on behalf of Team-CLRI.In his acceptance speech, Dr Mandalsaid that CLRI was honoured toreceive the Award (Please see pp.299).

Dr Mashelkar also deliveredthe Vote of Thanks (Please seepp.295).

CSIR Foundation Day Function at Vigyan Bhawan

Prime Minister presents Shanti Swarup BhatnagarPrizes, CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Awardand CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural

Development for 2006

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“I am very happy to be heretoday amongst a galaxy ofscientists and each one of you

are a nation-builder. I congratulateeach of the awardees gathered here,and the staff and employees of theCouncil for Scientific and IndustrialResearch on the 64th FoundationDay of CSIR. As the President ofCSIR Society, I am proud of theachievements of CSIR.

India can attain its rightful placein the comity of Nations and becomea major pole of the evolving globaleconomy only on the basis of a firmcommitment to reason andrationality and the inculcation ofwhat Jawaharlal Nehru used todescribe as the scientific temper.Science and technology, therefore,have to be pace setters in ourNation’s quest for a life of dignity andself respect for all our people andfor us to attain our rightful place inthe comity of Nations. I congratulatethe winners of our most covetedscience prize, the Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Award. Since 1961, whenPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrugave away the first of these prizes,these awards have acquired greatprestige within the community ofscientific researchers in our country.

I am heartened to learn that ofthe four hundred plus Bhatnagarprize winners, hardly any one have

left the shores of our countryand seeking employmentabroad. This is indeed reallycommendable. I hope thisyear’s awardees will alsodedicate themselves to theservice of India throughtheir commitment to thepromotion of science andtechnology in our country.

I also take this opportunity tocongratulate Tejas Networks and theCentral Leather Research Institute.I understand that CLRI’s work hasinfluenced the livelihoods of about1.4 million people in the Indianleather sector. May your exampleprove a pace setter in using scienceand technology to serve our Nation’sgoals and objectives.

What are the big challenges thatIndian science & technology facetoday? On the supply side, we haveto enhance the supply of skilledscientists and technologists. Thisneeds to be done through a judiciousbalancing of ‘expansion’, ‘inclusion’and ‘excellence’. On the demandside, we have to promote‘technology-led acceleratedinclusive growth’. Let me elaborateon these challenges.

Numbers is the first issue. Iunderstand that we have only 157scientists and engineers per millionpeople involved in Research &

Development. Korea has 50 timesmore and United States and Japanhave over 30 times more! Qualityand output is yet another issue. Inten years, I have been told Chinahas overtaken India in the numberof scientific research paperspublished in the internationallypeer reviewed journals. In fact theypublish three times our numbers.

Our Government is determinedto ensure an expansion of supply,demand and productivity in the areaof Science & Technology. After a gapof a hundred years, we are nowsetting up three new IndianInstitutes of Science, Education andResearch (IISERs). Each of theseinstitutes will be unique in terms ofintegration of science education andresearch.

Our best minds are not turningto science, and those who do, do notremain in science. This is a commonrefrain whenever I meet with theScientific Advisory Committee tothe Prime Minister. We must

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’sCSIR Foundation Day Lecture atVigyan Bhawan

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therefore find ways and means ofmaking these disciplines moreattractive to our children and to ouryoung. We have to redesign schooland college education to build on thenatural curiosity of our children.

We must also maintain theexcellence of current institutes ofhigher learning, who have alreadybeen recognized globally. This can beachieved only through therecruitment of the very best faculty.We must create an environmentconducive to the pursuit ofexcellence. It might appear thatexpansion, inclusion and excellenceare mutually contradictory objectives.I do not think so. With determinationand with some innovation, I am surewe can harmonize these objectivesand this we must do.

The process of expansion mustalso be inclusive and relevant. Ourreal challenge seems to be to get thebest minds in India to engage inproviding practical pragmaticsolutions to our many fold social andeconomic problems. Can you imaginethe impact if we had a good vaccinefor malaria? Can we imagine whatimpact a breakthrough in low cost fuelcells and photovoltaics fordecentralized power supply can haveon the life of our people? We musttherefore find ways and means bywhich the best scientific minds inIndia could be ignited to tackle thesebasic societal challenges. Science &Technology have an enormouspotential to enable us to meet thebasic human needs of our people. Wehave therefore to make determined

efforts to harness the vast latentpotential in full measure.

It’s often said that we live todayin an increasingly interdependentworld in which science andtechnological knowledge is growing atan unprecedented pace.International cooperation in scienceand technology developmenttherefore offers exciting opportunitiesin this globalised world that we livein. We need therefore coordinatedinternational efforts to addresscommon technological issues.Countries could cooperate in meetingthe energy needs of the world; intackling disease; in using technologyfor better education; and in meetingthe food requirements of the growingpopulation of the world. These areonly illustrative examples. Therecould be many more. We need toexplore mechanisms for makingcooperative global efforts possible andrelevant.

We ought to take note also of thegrowing privatization of science andtechnology in the advanced developedcountries. Multinational corporationsare playing today an increasing rolein the generation of new knowledgein areas such as biotechnology,pharmaceuticals, informationtechnology and energy. The challengebefore the world community thereforeis to find more pathways to sustainadequate incentives for the generationof new knowledge and simultaneouslyto make the fruits of this knowledgeavailable at affordable prices to thepoorer countries in the world. Weneed global action to harmonize these

twin requirements.In this context, the international

system for the protection ofintellectual property rights needs tobe adequately sensitive to both theseconcerns. Advances in science andtechnology have made a powerfulcontribution to globalization of theworld economy. The challenge aheadis to ensure that the evolving globaleconomy is so managed that itpromotes the interests of allcountries, rich and poor. Time is ripeto evolve concerted strategies to makeglobalization and the knowledgerevolution that is propelling it a winwin situation for the entirehumankind. India ought to be in theforefront of intellectual efforts to findmeaningful and purposeful solutionsto these global concerns.

I wish to congratulate once againall the award winners who havedistinguished themselves in theirrespective fields. I hope they willcontinue to be inspired to scale newpeaks of excellence.

To Dr Mashelkar, I have to sayyou have served our country andthe cause of science and technologywith the greatest distinction. Onbehalf of our people and ourGovernment, I wish to convey to youour grateful regards. We all are proudof your achievements but I concludeby expressing the hope and prayerthat perhaps we have not seen thebest of you still - the best is yet tocome. May your life and workcontinue to inspire generations ofscientists and technologists in ourcountry.”

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“It is indeed a privilege for meto welcome our respectedPrime Minister to the CSIR

Awards Function to do the honours.He has never hesitated to supportthe scientific community in its hourof need and has always recognizedthe centrality of science &technology in developmentalprocesses. Thank you Sir for beingwith us today and thank you for yourencouragement. This time around,the CSIR has introduced one morenational award – that is for S&TInnovations for Rural Developmentreflecting the enhanced nationalconcern for the disadvantagedsections of our society. The award isin addition to the two ongoingprestigious awards, the BhatnagarPrizes in Science – that are hailedas India’s Nobel Prizes and theDiamond Jubilee TechnologyAward. My hearty welcome to allthe awardees and their associatesand friends. I see in front of me agalaxy of luminaries from the IndianS&T community – my sincere thanksto you for bestowing upon CSIRyour blessings and good wishes. Ialso wish to welcome my friendsfrom the media, who spread themuch needed message of scienceand the achievements of ourscientists, to our people.

Sir, it was exactly twenty yearsago, in 1986, that Rajiv Gandhi, asPresident of CSIR labs wasconcerned with the disconnect

between CSIR laboratories and theutilisation of their outputs. He,therefore, ordered a review of thefunctioning of CSIR and itslaboratories. As a result, RajivGandhi directed CSIR to be morecustomer oriented and to raise onethird of its expenditure from outsideof government grants. This wasmeant not only to enhance earningsbut to inculcate financialaccountability and make CSIRresponsive to customer needs.Rajivji also hoped that this wouldmotivate other scientificestablishments to the discipline ofcommercial accountability.

Sir, I must congratulate CSIRfor realising in ample measure thisexpectation of Rajiv Gandhi. Today,we find that CSIR’s external cashflow exceeds Rs. 340 crore perannum of which merely one-third isderived from the private sector. Sir,you will concede that CSIR’sperformance is all the morecreditable in view of the fact thatthe investment by Indian industryin R&D is a dismal half-a-percentor so of their sales turnover. Whobrought about this transformation?The credit for this goes to DrMashelkar and the CSIR family. Itall started with his pioneering reporton ‘Marketing of CSIRknowledgebase’ submitted while hewas still with NCL. Taking over asDirector General, CSIR heimplemented it with vigour and

single-minded zeal. He successfullypersuaded others to embrace theideas of ‘market responsiveness’ and‘customer satisfaction’ across theentire Indian S&T community. Todayscientific institutions and agenciesare vying with each other for raisingexternal financial resources. Aremarkable turnaround for IndianS&T.

As regards the utility of CSIR’sresearch outputs, it enjoys anenviable position globally amongstall publicly funded institutionsparticularly with respect to patents.I understand that its portfolio ofover 1000 domestic and foreign livepatents each is the highest in theworld achieved by any publiclyfunded institution. Moreover, CSIRalone accounts for more than one-third of all of the US patents grantedto Indian inventors so far.

The credit for elevating CSIR toa position of such primacy must togo the painstaking efforts andperseverance of Dr Mashelkar whohas over the years brought aboutpatent literacy, competence buildingand management of IP. Theturnaround commenced ten yearsago with Dr Mashelkar enunciating

Address by Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science &Technology and Earth Sciences, at CSIR Foundation

Day Function in Vigyan Bhawan

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the first ever Intellectual Property ManagementPolicy, by any publicly funded R&D. Then came thevictory for CSIR in the now famous ‘Haldi (ghati)battle’ at the USPTO; and more recently, with theinternational success in having ‘TraditionalKnowledge’ included in the International PatentClassification System.

Remarkably the transformation of CSIR to a‘market responsive’ organisation has not been at thecost of excellence in science, as has occurred withmost other publicly funded organisations in Europe,Australia & Africa. In the past decade, CSIR’s scienceoutput as reflected by the number of publicationshas more than doubled with the quality of papersalso improving from the average impact factor of 0.85in 1995 to over 2 in 2005, comparing favourably withthe best of Indian academic institutions. This is nomean achievement.

Sir, what has surprised me even more is thebagging of the first ever CSIR Award for S&TInnovations for Rural Development by the CentralLeather Research Institute of CSIR. Dr Ramasamiis unable to be here amongst us, nonetheless Icongratulate him and his erstwhile team ofcommitted and dedicated scientists at CLRI whohave helped the disadvantaged sections of our societyto vastly enhance their earnings and improve theirquality of life. This brings to light a little known facetof CSIR’s work for the common man.

There is no doubt Sir, that with these all-roundaccomplishments CSIR is a much admired researchorganisation both in India and internationally.However, the nation has still higher expectations fromCSIR. We would like to see CSIR being challengedto rise to much greater heights and excel its ownperformance. This is enunciated by Dr Mashelkarin his path setting White Paper on “CSIR 2021 :Vision & Strategy”; The nation would like to see theexternal cash flow of CSIR to reach the level of Rs.700 crore/annum with earnings of $ 40 million/yearfrom foreign sources before the end of the EleventhFive Year Plan. With committed leaders like DrMashelkar this is not beyond our grasp.

Once again, my hearty congratulations to theAwardees for their excellent achievements. You havedone the nation proud. We all salute your success.

Dr R.A. Mashelkar, FRS,Director General,CSIR, began by

pointing out, “Today is a special day. What we are seeingis the best of science, the best of technology making aglobal impact and the best of S&T making a local impact.”

He thanked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singhfor gracing the function and for kindly consenting to giveaway the awards. He said that the tradition of the PrimeMinister giving away the country's highest S&T honourshas continued as an unbroken trend since 1996 to thepresent day. He recalled Dr Singh's instruction to himat their first meeting after Dr Singh had assumed office:“…make hi-tech work for the poor”, and brieflymentioned the CSIR endeavors in this direction. In fact,Dr Mashelkar has delivered a popular lecture on thistheme at various fora, including the Indian ScienceCongress, drawing keen interest of the audience to servethe poor.

Dr Mashelkar also thanked Shri Kapil Sibal,Minister of Science & Technology and EarthSciences for “bringing new life, energy and hope toscience.”

He announced that this was his last public functionas DG, CSIR. He said, “As I step down …I can only saythat I have tried to do my very best to serve the nationand I hope that my best was good enough.” He thenrepeated the words of the Prime Minister (who in hisaddress on the occasion had said, “To Dr. Mashelkar, Ihave to say you have served our country and the causeof science and technology with the greatest distinction.On behalf of our people and our Government, I wish toconvey to you our grateful regards. We all are proud ofyour achievements but I conclude by expressing thehope and prayer that perhaps we have not seen the bestof you still - the best is yet to come...........”), and saidthat he would continue to serve the nation and humanitytill his last.

Vote of Thanks byDr R.A. Mashelkar

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Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes

Instituted in 1957, the ShantiSwarup Bhatnagar Prizes arethe most coveted S&T Prizes in

India. These prizes, each carryinga cash award of Rs 200,000, acitation and a plaque, are awardedannually for notable and outstandingresearch, applied or fundamental,in: (1) Biological, (2) Chemical, (3)Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean andPlanetary, (4) Engineering, (5)Mathematical, (6) Medical and (7)Physical Sciences. Any Citizen ofIndia engaged in research in anyfield of Science and Technology, whois not more than 45 years old on 31December of the year preceding theyear of the Prize, is eligible. He/sheshould have made, in the opinion ofCSIR, conspicuously important andoutstanding contribution to human

domains and ionic interactions inregulating the functional activity ofthe catalytic domains in proteins.

Dr Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale,National Institute of Immunology,New Delhi: Dr Gokhale’s work hasdiscovered a new family of long-chain fatty acyl-AMP ligases (FAALs)and has also elegantly elucidated‘biochemical crosstalk’ between fattyacid synthases and polyketidesynthases, which produce diverseunusual lipids of the complex cellwall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.His studies have significantlyexpanded our understanding of howpathogens evolve their geneproducts to generate metabolicdiversity.

Chemical Sciences

Dr Srinivasan Sampath, IndianInstitute of Science, Bangalore: DrSampath has made outstandingcontributions in developingsupercapacitors and nanobimetallicsand their novel applications.

Dr K George Thomas,Regional Research Laboratory,Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Thomashas made significant contributionsto photoresponsive nanomaterialsand their applications.

Earth, Atmosphere,Ocean & Planetary Sciences

Dr Gufran-ullah Beig, IndianInstitute of Tropical Meteorology,

knowledge 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.

Shanti Swarup BhatnagarPrize-winners for 2006

Biological Sciences

Dr Vinod Bhakuni, CentralDrug Research Institute, Lucknow:Dr Bhakuni has made outstandingcontributions to our understandingthe role of noncatalytic structural

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize-winners with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Kapil Sibal and

CSIR Director General Dr R.A. Mashelkar

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Pune: Dr Beig has made significantcontributions related to middle andupper atmospheric response toanthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. His prediction ofmesospheric cooling by 2 to 4k/decade has serious futureimplications.

Dr Pulak Sengupta, JadavpurUniversity, Kolkata: Dr Senguptahas made fundamental contributionsto an understanding of grain-scalereaction mechanism and itsapplication to ultra-high temperatureregional scale metamorphism.

Engineering Sciences

Dr Ashish Kishore Lele,National Chemical Laboratory,Pune: Dr Lele has made pioneeringcontributions by probing micro andmesostructure of polymeric materialsand relating it to the macroscopicdynamical and equilibrium propertiesusing a combination of theory andexperiments.

Dr Sanjay Mittal, IndianInstitute of Technology, Kanpur:Dr Mittal has made fundamentalcontributions to the understandingof flow instabilities in the presenceof fluid-structure interactions,specially when structure is flexibleand interactions are highly dynamicand unsteady.

Mathematical Sciences

Dr Vikraman Balaji, ChennaiMathematical Institute, Siruseri: DrBalaji has made significantcontributions to moduli problems ofprincipal bundles over algebric

varieties, in particular on theUhlenbeck-Yau compactification of theModuli Spaces of µ-semistable bundles.Further his work on holonomy groupsfor stable bundles on surfaces issignificant.

Dr Indranil Biswas, TataInstitute of Fundamental Research,Mumbai: Dr Biswas is a veryproductive mathematician who hascontributed significantly to algebricgeometry, centering around moduliproblems of vector bundles. He isalso an acknowledged expert onmoduli of parabolic bundles.

Medical Sciences

Dr Virender Singh Sangwan, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad:Dr Sangwan has made outstandingcontribution to the application oflimbal stem cell biology to restorevision to victims of corneal injury.

Physical Sciences

Dr Atish Dabholkar, TataInstitute of Fundamental Research,Mumbai: Dr Dabholkar hasestablished how quantum theorymodifies the entropy of black holesand made pioneering studies onsupersymmetric solitons in stringtheory.

Dr Sanjay Puri, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi: DrPuri has made outstanding contributionto understanding problems innonequilibrium statistical physics, suchas kinetics of phase ordering, includingthe effects of confined geometries, as wellas the role of defects in phase separationdynamics.

CSIR DiamondJubilee Technology

Award for 2006awarded to TejasNetworks India

Limited, Bangalore

The CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award, givenannually, was instituted in

commemoration of CSIRDiamond Jubilee in 2003. It isgiven for technologicaldevelopment in the country byIndian innovators and whichmeets the highest globalstandards. The award carries acash prize of Rs ten lakh, a shieldand a citation.

The CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award for 2006 wasawarded to Tejas Networks IndiaLimited, a Bangalore-based next-generation company, by PrimeMinister Dr Manmohan Singh atthe CSIR Foundation Dayfunction at Vigyan Bhawan, NewDelhi.

Citation“Tejas Networks India

Limited”, an innovation-drivencompany has been conferred withthe CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award 2006 forDevelopment of Next GenerationOptical (SDH/SONET) Networkingproducts and its successfulcommercialization from India.

Tejas products aredifferentiated by their embeddedsoftware intelligence, which

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enables advanced features such asauto-discovery of network topology,automated end-to-end provisioningthrough an easy-to–use, web-basedNetwork Management System(NMS) that simplify operation andmanagement of optical networks.

The cost-effective modular butscalable products are targeted at anentire range of networks startingfrom small and medium customersto large carrier-class networks tocover the complete gamut of carrier-access requirements. Thetechnological edge that Tejas hasacquired is reflected in the immensecustomer acceptance that it hasachieved. Besides being the leadingequipment supplier to Indiantelecommunication carriers andservice providers, Tejas has alsomade its presence felt in globalmarkets by deploying tens ofthousands of Tejas equipment acrossthe globe in various customernetworks in over 50 countries.

Continuing with its leadershipposition in this technology, Tejas isnow well poised to leverage its R&D

prowess tod e l i v e rb r e a k t h r o u g hproducts in thefield of“ P a c k e t i z e dO p t i c a lT r a n s p o r t . ”These productsare designed tocombine thefeatures of Next-Generation ofS D H / S O N E Twith MPLS in aseamless way,enabling TejasNetworks to

have a significant footprint across theglobal telecom industry.”

Shri SanjayNaik, CEO ofTejas NetworksIndia Limiteds i n c e r e l ythanked CSIRin his briefA c c e p t a n c espeech and saidthat the Tejasteam washonoured. Heexpressed thanks that such a youngcompany was chosen for thisprestigious award. He told theaudience that six years ago, Tejas wasset up in Bangalore with a vision tostart a major telecom company. Ithas been a tremendously excitingjourney and that global equipmentcompanies are choosing Tejas as apartner. He emphasized that thiswas a situation where India wasdeveloping a product that globalMNCs were taking up instead of theother way around and that this givesencouragement to go on.

Central LeatherResearch Institute,

Chennai gets theFirst CSIR Award

for S&TInnovations for

RuralDevelopment

The CSIR Award for S&TInnovations for RuralDevelopment has been

instituted from this year (2006)to recognize those S&Tinnovations that have helpedtransform the lives of ruralpeople or alleviated the drudgeryof the rural people or havehelped in generation ofemployment. Only successfulS&T innovations that have beenimplemented at ground level areconsidered for the award. Theaward carries a cash prize of Rs10 lakh, a shield and a citation.

Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh gave away theCSIR Award for S&TInnovations for RuralDevelopment at the elegantfunction at Vigyan Bhawan,New Delhi, to the CentralLeather Research Institute(CLRI), Chennai.

CitationThe CSIR Award for S&T

Innovations for RuralDevelopment has been given toCLRI in recognition of itscontributions to designing,developing and delivering

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh presenting the CSIR Diamond JubileeTechnology Award for 2006 to Tejas Networks India Limited, Bangalore

Shri Sanjay Naik, CEO ofTejas Networks IndiaLimited delivering the

acceptance speech

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Dr A.B. Mandal, Acting Direc-tor, CLRI and Dr S. Naidu receivedthe award on behalf of Team-CLRI.In his acceptance speech, DrMandal said that CLRI washonoured to receive the first CSIRAward for S&T Innovations for Ru-ral Development. His reminiscencestook the audience back in time tothe early days ofCLRI when Sir C.V.Raman had paid avisit. Sir Raman hadasked about thekind of researchCLRI could do andthe erstwhile Direc-tor of CLRI wasquick to point outthat the shoes of thedistinguished visitorwere made ofleather — the resultof high science. DrMandal concludedby saying, “We re-dedicate ourselves

effectively several criticaltechnologies impacting positivelythe livelihood of a large number ofpeople engaged in the Indian leathersector.

CLRI has made several S&Tinnovations, which are suited tovillage micro-enterprise sector. Abasket of critical technologies ofsocio-economic relevance to nearly1.4 million people engaged directlyin rural leather sector has beendesigned, developed and deliveredeffectively. These technologiesinclude innovative methods forrecovery and fuller utilization ofcarcasses of fallen animals invillages, improved vegetable tanningand standardized production of opentype ethnic footwear (Kohlapuri).The main connecting feature of S&Tinnovations of CLRI is in renderingthe relatively small economies ofscale associated with low investmentcapacities of village micro-enterprises.

The design intervention inAthani region for quality productionof ethnic footwear has made adifference to the rural economy ofthe region. The technology packagesdeveloped and delivered by CLRI ina large number of locations in thecountry are in practice and serve asmodels for replication of these S&Tinnovations for rural development.The missionary zeal of CLRI indelivering the technology packagesis unique.

Announcing the Award, Dr R.A.Mashelkar, remembered thecontributions of Dr T. Ramasami,former Director, CLRI andcurrently, Secretary, Department ofScience and Technology,Government of India, who could notattend the Award function.

to carry for-ward them a n d a t e .The successof CLRI isthe success ofCSIR andthus, thecountry.”

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh presenting theCSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development to

Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai.

Group photo of the representatives of ‘Team Tejas’ and ‘Team CLRI’ withDr Manmohan Singh, Shri Kapil Sibal and Dr R.A. Mashelkar

Dr A.B. Mandal, ActingDirector, CLRI, giving the

acceptance speech

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The CSIR Foundation Daycelebrations at Hotel LeMeridien, New Delhi,

included the presentation of theCSIR Young Scientist Awards andCSIR Technology Awards for theyear 2006, the launch of ‘GenoCluster’ — a bioinformaticssoftware developed jointly by theInstitute of Genomics andIntegrative Biology and JalajaTechnologies under the NewMillennium Indian TechnologyLeadership Initiative (NMITLI)programme and release of aCompendium entitled"Contributions of CSIR to AntarcticResearch: Collected Reprints .Science Safari, a film highlightingthe innovative and path breakingachievements in Science andTechnology in India — an initiativeby Ministry of Science & Technologyand Earth Sciences and the NationalGeographic channel was aired forthe first time.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister ofScience & Technology and EarthSciences and Vice President, CSIR,graced the occasion with his augustpresence and gave away the awards,launched the Geno Cluster and

released the compendium onAntarctica. A memento waspresented to Shri Sibal by Dr R.A.Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR.

Shri Kapil Sibal’s Speech

Casting away his preparedspeech, Shri Sibal chose to speakfrom his heart in an address thattouched the audience deeply withits eloquence. He congratulated allthe awardees and reiterated that hewould remain a part of the CSIR

family and the S&T fraternity always.He quoted Alan Lightman at the

beginning of his speech and that setthe mood for the rest of the evening.“All of the scientists I've known haveat least one more quality incommon: they do what they dobecause they love it, and becausethey cannot imagine doing anythingelse. In a sense, this is the realreason a scientist does science.Because the scientist must. Such acompulsion is both blessing andburden. A blessing because the

CSIR Foundation Day Function at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science & Technology andEarth Sciences, presents CSIR Young Scientist Awards and

CSIR Technology Awards for 2006 and releases‘Geno Cluster’ and Compendium on Antarctica

CSIR Foundation Day Function at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. Seated on the dais (from right)Dr R.A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR; Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science & Technology and

Earth Sciences, and Dr Vikram Kumar, Director, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi

15 OCTOBER 2006 301


creative life, in any endeavor, is agift filled with beauty and not givento everyone, a burden because thecall is unrelenting and can drownout the rest of life."

Excerpts from the speech

“...it is this unrelenting call thatmade Dr R.A. Mashelkar and all thescientists here, what they are. It isall about romance & about thedream that all is possible. The boybegan a career not knowing whereit would take him. He joined NCL.He took up leadership of CSIR foreleven long years and now finds itdifficult to say goodbye. Thattouches me. He cannot think of lifewithout that romance — thatachievement. This has also been myexperience with the scientificcommunity.”

“Not intellect, but characterdefines a scientist and there is anabundance of character in this halltoday.”

“The PM was right (whiletalking about Dr Mashelkar earlierat Vigyan Bhawan) that the best isyet to come. But when you talk ofretirement and correlate it with age,it is just a number, a cipher. Can youretire your experience? You have touse it. It is this experience that willallow you to achieve much morewith much less energy. Inemployment you can take a day offbut not in retirement.”

“I am reminded of a saying bySir Winston Churchill. He said, “Wemake a living by what we get, wemake a life by what we give.” Thankyou for giving me the opportunity tohave come to know you.”

“I know the heart of a scientist,the passion within and recognize it.

“The flight from mind tomarket is an exciting flight and Ihave observed this. The scientists donot need the skies, it is not thegalaxies they want ….”

“The sense of frustration in acold-blooded, unrelentinglyautocratic heartless system and Iunderstand this. The lack of finance,slow movement of files,bureaucracy…but we have to workwithin the system.”

“I have worked hard to changethe system, to together lay thefoundation of a new India, a newvision of what we want out of lifeand give to our people & daresay inthe future it will be achieved.”

“Science is all about people. Itis a journey of discovery—notexperiments. The more we discover,the more we learn that we do notknow.”

Shri Kapil Sibal congratulatedthe winners of the CSIR YoungScientist Awards and CSIRTechnology Awards for the year2006.

Launching the Geno-Cluster, abioinformatics software developedjointly by the Institute of Genomicsand Integrative Biology and JalajaTechnologies under NMITLI, ShriSibal pointed out that NMITLI isthe largest public-private-partnership R&D initiative of theGovernment of India. In a short spanof time, the programme has severalsignificant achievements to itscredit. These include the TBmolecule, herbal formulations forPsoriasis, low cost computer,weather forecast system, Bio-

informatics products, etc, withGeno-Cluster being one of them.

Releasing the compendium:Contributions of CSIR to AntarcticResearch: Collected Reprints, theMinister said that the publicationconsists of published papers fromnational and international SCIjournals pertaining to scientific workcarried out by CSIR scientists andthus provides a comprehensive viewof the work carried out by CSIRscientists during the last 25 years inAntarctic research.

This publication is an importantcontribution for CSIR — anorganization that has participated inall 25 expeditions without a breakand, which has been in the forefront,contributing significantly toAntarctic research.

Shri Kapil Sibal spoke glowinglyabout his experiences on the icycontinent: “I have visited Antarcticaand am delighted with the bookreleased today”…… “In Antarctica,I discovered the enormity ofnature…and discovered theirrelevance of the human being. Asthey say, life is a stage and we play alittle role…some with flying coloursand some not.”

With reference to the screeningof Science Safari, Shri Kapil Sibaldrew the audience’s attention to thetheme, “Think Beyond.” “That,” hesaid, “is what we have been tryingto do at the Ministry of S&T. Thiswould be a tribute to the man — agreat son of India, Dr Mashelkar.”He invited the audience to give astanding ovation to Dr Mashelkarand there was thunderous applausefrom the audience that got up to itsfeet to cheer the Director General.

CSIR NEWS302


Earlier, Dr R.A. Mashelkar,Director General CSIR,delivered the Welcome

Address.Dr Mashelkar began by

welcoming Shri Kapil Sibal “…ouradored, respected, beloved,Minister…guru, guide and friend toCSIR and the entire S&Tfraternity”, and then expressed hishappiness at the fact that on the dayof CSIR’s Foundation, “…CSIRitself has figured in a big way at theNational Awards given away earlierthis day at Vigyan Bhawan. At theSSB Prize award ceremony therewere three scientists from CSIRwho got this award. They are DrVinod Bhakuni of Central DrugResearch Institute, Lucknow, Dr K.George Thomas of RRL,Thiruvananthapuram and Dr AshishLele of National ChemicalLaboratory, Pune.” He pointed outthat, “CSIR is not meant to do onlyscience, but also use this science forthe good of the nation.” He spokeabout the CSIR Award for S&TInnovations for Rural Development,which has been instituted from thisyear (2006) to recognize those S&Tinnovations that have helpedtransform the lives of rural peopleor alleviated the drudgery of therural people or have helped in

has been the best year for CSIR interms of both science and business.He emphasized that the public andthe media’s perception of CSIR hadgone up. Entire chapters are beingdevoted to CSIR’s turn around inManagement books and people ofthe stature of the World BankPresident want CSIR’s story to betold to leaders such as PresidentPutin. He then struck a note ofcaution. “Of course, there are greatexpectations too. We have to movefrom third to fourth gear and if thereis a fifth gear, we have to discoverit.”

On a personal note he thankedeveryone, “…for the trust andconfidence the people of this countryreposed in a young boy who wentbarefoot till the age of twelve andwho studied under streetlights…Iam beholden to this country. I havedone my very best and hope that itis good enough. But as the PrimeMinister has said. “The best is yetto come,” I shall continue to servetill end. I thank you all for thiswonderful opportunity.”

Dr Vikram Kumar, Director,National Physical Laboratory, NewDelhi, delivered the Vote of Thanksfollowing which Science Safari wasscreened.

generation of employment. He saidthat he was proud that thecommittee actually selected a CSIRlaboratory for the award. “I amproud that on one hand we are doingthe best in science and on the otherhand we are contributing to society.CSIR technology is making adifference in the lives of people—many of them poor people.”

Dr Mashelkar spoke about theemerging concept of the “Triplebottom line,” which in practicalterms, means expanding thetraditional corporate culture to takeinto account the environmental andsocietal performances in addition tofinancial performance. This he saidwas what CSIR’s work was all aboutand then he elaborated on the“essence of CSIR.”

He reiterated the PM’sstatement earlier this morningat Vigyan Bhawan about the needto “promote, technology-ledaccelerated inclusive growth” andstressed the need to “include thosewho are excluded. This is preciselywhat CSIR is, and should be, doing.”

On a more sombre note hepointed out, “This would be the lastyear that I am attending theFoundation Day as DG, CSIR. I amlaying down office on 31 Decemberthis year.” He then recalled the daysof 1995 when he had just assumedoffice and took what he said was, “asnapshot of what we were then andwhat we are now.” “There is causeto be happy…CSIR has evolved inmany ways…and the current year

Welcome address by Dr R. A. Mashelkar,Director General, CSIR

Vote of thanks byDr Vikram Kumar,Director, NationalPhysical Laboratory,New Delhi

15 OCTOBER 2006 303


CSIR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDS

Chemical Sciences

Dr Rajkumar Banerjee, IndianInstitute of Chemical Technology,Hyderabad, for his significantcontributions to targeted cancertheory using molecular levelapproach.

Dr Srinivas Hotha, NationalChemical Laboratory, Pune, for hisimportant contributions to develop-ment of novel diversity orientedpathways for synthesis of chiral,oxygen-rich chemical libraries forapplications as chemical geneticprobes.

Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean,and Planetary Sciences

Dr Sandip KumarMukhopadhyay, Central Salt &Marine Chemicals Research

Institute, Bhavnagar, for hissignificant contributions to ourunderstanding of estuarinebiogeochemical processes and to theemission of greenhouse gasemissions from coastal wetlands.

Dr Prakash Kumar, NationalGeophysical Research Institute,Hyderabad, for his contributionsto the understanding of lithosphere-aesthenosphere boundary whichwill have impact as the model forregional plate tectonics for Indianplate.

Engineering Sciences

Dr P. Thanikaivelan, CentralLeather Research Institute,Chennai, for being instrumental inthe innovation of a new pollution freeroute to leather processing of greatindustrial significance.

CSIR Young Scientist Award -winners for 2006 with Minister of Science & Technology andEarth Sciences Shri Kapil Sibal and CSIR Director General Dr R.A. Mashelkar

Introduced in 1987, these awardsare open to scientists workingin CSIR system who have not

attained the age of 35 years by 26September of the preceding year.The awards are given annually foroutstanding contributions made bythe young scientists, based on workdone primarily in India, in thefollowing fields: Physical Sciences(including instrumentation);Chemical Sciences; BiologicalSciences; Engineering Sciences; andEarth, Atmosphere, Ocean andPlanetary Sciences. The scientistshould be a regular employee ofCSIR, holding a post of Group IV(Scientist ‘B’ or above) and shouldhave joined the CSIR laboratory onor prior to 26 September of theprevious year. The awards carry acitation, a plaque and a cash prizeof Rs 50,000 with a grant of rupeesten lakh spread over a period of fiveyears for pursuing research projectindependently.

CSIR Young ScientistAward-winners for 2006

Biological Sciences

Dr Mohammad Sohail Akhtar,Central Drug Research Institute,Lucknow, for providing intriguinginsights into the role of structuraldomains of Streptococcushyaluronate lyase and of ionicinteractions in modulating thefunctional activity and stability ofthis enzyme.

CSIR NEWS304


With a view to fostering andencouraging in-housemulti-disciplinary in-

house team efforts and externalinteraction for technologydevelopment, transfer, marketingand commercialization, CSIR in1990, instituted two sets ofTechnology Awards, viz. TechnologyShields, and Technology Prizes.

Technology Shield

One shield each of Process andEngineering Technology, is awardedfor major multidisciplinarytechnological contributions thathave a sustained and visibleeconomic, industrial and societalimpact. The award comprises aprestigious rolling shield, a citation,a plaque and a grant of uptoRs 30 lakh for a specific project tothe awardees.

Technology Prizes

One prize each in the fourtechnological areas of Biological,Chemical, Engineering andMaterials Technology is awarded toindividual(s) or a team from CSIRand to the contributors external toCSIR for a specific and outstandingtechnological achievement. EachTechnology Prize comprises a cashaward of Rs 200,000, a citation anda plaque.

A fifth prize for BusinessDevelopment and TechnologyMarketing of value Rs 100,000 isawarded for making significantcontributions to enhancing of

business for CSIR knowledgebase.The Prizes are shared among

the individuals or members of theteam; a plaque and a citation isawarded to each member of thegroup(s).

During the period of last sixteenyears, on an average only half ofthese have been awarded, signifyingthe rigour and true high standardsthat these awards maintained. Thus,these Awards, over the years havecome to enjoy a very high reputationinternally as well as externally.

Winners of the CSIRTechnology Awards for

2006

No Technology Shield wasawarded this year and among theCSIR Technology Prizes only that

for Chemical Technology and thePrize, for Business Developmentand Technology Marketing werepresented:

CSIR Technology Prize forChemical Technology

“Awarded to Team IndianInstitute of Petroleum (IIP),Dehradun, comprising A.K.Chatterjee, U.C. Agarwal, R.C.Ghildiyal, V.K. Bhatia and N.N.Kulsrestha for developing comb typepolymeric wax crystal modifier anddewaxing aid additives forproduction of LOBS.

The wax crystal modifier is aversatile tailored comb-typepolymeric filter aid additive toenhance slurry filterability duringdewaxing/deoiling operations and

CSIR TECHNOLOGY AWARDS

Recipients of the CSIR Prizes for 2006 with Shri Kapil Sibal and Dr R.A. Mashelkar

15 OCTOBER 2006 305


very effective at small dosages fora wide range of feed stocks andoffers many advantages overother commercial additives.

It prevents agglomeration/amorphous lumping or gelformation during crystallizationwhich may impede filtration andleads to higher unit throughputand lower consumption ofsolvent and other utilities. M/sDorf Ketal, Mumbai is producingand marketing the additive.”

Prize for BusinessDevelopment and

Technology Marketing

“Awarded to Team CentralLeather Research Institute,Chennai, for significantlyenhancing the business andmarkets for its knowledgebase.

CLRI has emerged ascustomer sensitive and globallycompetitive research instituteduring last decade. It hasintroduced technologypartnership models for businessprocess and adopted incomeapproach model for pricing toshare knowledge, developtechnology and strategic assetswhich has led to a sustainablecumulative aggregated growth ofover 15-17% in its External CashFlow over a prolonged period often years.”

Dr A SubbaRama Naidureceived the award on behalf ofTeam CLRI.

A t the CSIR Foundation Dayfunction held in Le Meridien,Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of

Science & Technology and EarthSciences, launched the Geno Cluster, abioinformatics software developed jointlyby the Institute of Genomics andIntegrative Biology (IGIB) and JalajaTechnologies under the NewMillennium Indian TechnologyLeadership Initiative (NMITLI)programme.

Geno Cluster is a suite of high-endsoftware applications based on concepts,which are fundamental to comparativegenomics. The tools primarily aim topredict genes, protein functionality andvirulence factors and work in tandem toprovide a platform conducive to cuttingedge research in the in-silico design ofnovel drug molecules and vaccines. Thehighly sophisticated Artificial NeuralNetworks (ANNs) are employed toidentify genes/non genes/virulent factors.The high accuracy of the resultsemphasizes the success of the machinelearning and statistical biology concepts.The software package includes a numberof stand-alone software tools namely,

Gene ‘D’cfer, Proteome calkulator andSeapath as well as PL-HoSTFAdeveloped by IGIB independently.

Launching the bioinformaticssoftware, Shri Kapil Sibal pointed out thatNMITLI is the largest public-private-partnership R&D initiative of theGovernment of India. In a short span oftime, the programme has severalsignificant achievements to its credit.These include the TB molecule, herbalformulations for Psoriasis, low costcomputer, weather forecast system, Bio-informatics products etc, with GenoCluster being one of them.

He further said that the NMITLIprogramme is poised to charter newterritories. It would not only build oninnovation driven technology niches foreconomic and industrial development ofthe country but also to explore anddevelop newer models for innovationdevelopment.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Dr R.A. Mashelkar,Dr Samir Brahmachari, Director, IGIB,Dr D. Yogeshwara Rao, Head, TNBD(CSIR), and representative of JalajaTechnologies shared the dais on thishappy moment.

Geno Cluster

Launching of Geno Cluster: ‘Team IGIB- Jalaja Technologies’with Shri Kapil Sibal, Dr R.A. Mashelkar and Dr D.Y. Rao

CSIR NEWS306


CSIR has been in the forefront in Antarctic Research. Infact, it has participated in all the 25 Indian expeditions,without interruption, and contributed a great deal both

in terms of scientific papers as well as creating appropriateinfrastructure for carrying out research.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science & Technology and EarthSciences, released a compendium entitled: Contributions of CSIRto Antarctic Research: Collected Reprints at the CSIRFoundation Day function held in Le Meridien, New Delhi. Thecompendium consists of papers pertaining to scientific workcarried out by CSIR scientists in Antarctic research andpublished in national and international SCI journals, and thusprovides a comprehensive view of the contribution of CSIRscientists in the area during the last 25 years.

Releasing the publication, Shri Kapil Sibal observed that thispublication is an important contribution for CSIR—anorganization that has participated in all 25 expeditions withouta break and, which has been in the forefront, contributingsignificantly to Antarctic research. He spoke glowingly abouthis own experiences on the icy continent. “I have visitedAntarctica and am delighted with the book released today.” “InAntarctica, I discovered the enormity of nature…and discoveredthe irrelevance of the human being. As they say, life is a stageand we play a little role…some with flying colours and somenot.”

Compendium entitledContributions of CSIR to Antarctic Research:

Collected Reprints

S cienceSafari ,a film

highlightingthe innovativeand pathb r e a k i n gachievementsin Science andTechnology inIndia – aninitiative by Ministry of Science &Technology and Earth Sciences and theNational Geographic channel was aired forthe first time.

Prior to screening of the film, Shri KapilSibal in his address drew the audience’sattention to its theme, “Think Beyond.”“That,” he said, “is what we have been tryingto do at the Ministry of Science &Technology. This would be a tribute to theman — a great son of India, Dr Mashelkar.”He invited the audience to give a standingovation to Dr Mashelkar and there wasthunderous applause from the audience thatgot up to its feet to cheer the DirectorGeneral.

Science Safari —A film

Release of the Compendium entitled: Contributions of CSIRto Antarctic Research: Collected Reprints

15 OCTOBER 2006 307


Dr R.A. Mashelkar presents CSIR DiamondJubilee Invention Awards for School Children

At a function held at CSIR Headquarters

in the afternoon,Dr R.A. Mashelkar,

Director General, CSIRpresented ‘CSIR Diamond Jubilee Invention Awardsfor School Children’ for 2006. The function was attendedby Shri Nikhilesh Jha, Joint Secretary; Dr NareshKumar, Head, RPBD; Shri R.K. Gupta, IPMD; ShriY.K. Sharma, Deputy Secretary, and a large number ofscientists and officers of CSIR and school students.

The CSIR Diamond Jubilee Awards for Inventionof School Students were instituted on the WorldIntellectual Property Day (26 April, 2002), with a viewto encouraging the school students to innovate, andgenerating greater IPR awareness among them. Thecompetition is open to bonafide school students, beloweighteen years of age. Sixty prizes can be given; the

CSIR Foundation Function at CSIR Headquarters, New Delhi

Dr R.A. Mashelkar addressing the award ceremony for‘CSIR Diamond Jubilee Invention Awards for School Children’

at CSIR Headquarters. Seen on the dais from right are:’ Shri Nikhilesh Jha, Joint Secretary; Dr Naresh Kumar, Head, RPBD;

and Shri Y.K. Sharma, Deputy Secretary, CSIR

first prize carries Rs 50,000. CSIR not only gives theseawards but also helps in filing patents for the inventionsthat are patent worthy.

View of audience at Le Meridien

CSIR NEWS308


Printed and Published by V.K. Gupta on behalf of National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (CSIR),Dr K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi -110 012 and printed at NISCAIR Press, Dr K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi -110 012

Editor: Dr B.C.Kashyap; Associate Editors: Meenakshi; Vineeta Singhal; Editorial Assistant: Neelima Handoo;Design: Pradip Banerjee; Sarla Dutta; Production: Kaushal Kishore

Phone: 25846301 Fax: 25847062 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Website:http://www.niscair.res.inFor subscription: The Sales & Distribution Officer, NISCAIR; E-mail: [email protected] Annual Subscription: Rs 200 Single Copy: Rs 10.00

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For the year2006, afterr i g o r o u s

scrutiny of theentries received,only six could qualifyfor these awards —two for the thirdprize, one for thefourth and three forthe fifth prize. Nonewas found suitablefor the first prize (Rs50,000) or the secondprize (Rs 25,000).

The winners are:THIRD PRIZE(No. of Prizes – Two of Rs 15,000/-each)

G. Karthik, of the Bala VidyaMandir, Senior Secondary School,Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai,Tamilnadu, for developing a newcompound using ionic liquid andheteropolyacid

Shikhar Bhandari of the B.V.B.Mehta Vidyalaya, K.G. Marg, New

Delhi, for developing a Cycle Boat

FOURTH PRIZE(No. of Prizes – One of Rs. 10,000/-)

Sayali Arun Kulkarni of theFergusson Junior College, Pune, fordeveloping a Water absorbentformulation of bio-degradableorganic material and a mouldingmachine therefor

Winners of CSIR Diamond Jubilee Invention Awardsfor School Children for 2006

FIFTH PRIZE(No. of Prizes – Threeof Rs. 5,000/- each)

Varun Mittal ofthe S.D. PublicSchool, B.U. Block,Pitampura, New Delhifor developing amethod of preparationof chinaberry (Meliaazedarach) fruitextract oil useful forfeeding, growth andfecundity of diamondblack moth(DBM)Plutella xylostella

Neha LalitSharma of the FR

Agnel Multipurpose School, Sector9A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, fordeveloping a novel dermal applicatorfor animals, useful for dispensingliquid formulation

Himanshu Gaur of the KendriyaVidyalaya, O.L.F, Raipur, DehraDun, Uttaranchal, for developing amultipurpose angle detector.

Winners of the ‘CSIR Diamond Jubilee Invention Awards for School Children’ withDr R.A. Mashelkar and Shri R.K. Gupta , Head, IPMD, CSIR

View of audience atthe function atCSIR Headquarter

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