Don’t deprive scientists of funds, incentives

IT’S the Nobel season, when the global scientific community awaits with bated breath the announcement of the winners. The medicine or physiology Nobel this year has been awarded to scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their path-breaking work about how a molecule called messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) interacts with the human immune system. This understanding led to the development of mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 during the pandemic.

These vaccines do not contain virus particles or inactivated viruses like traditional vaccines, but just instructions that make human cells to produce necessary proteins or antibodies against a virus. The mRNA vaccine technology has opened avenues for developing vaccines against emerging viruses quickly as well as vaccines for known infectious diseases. A few Indian researchers have been collaborating with Nobel-winning scientists and a couple of Indian vaccine manufacturers have developed the capacity to manufacture mRNA vaccines. It is another demonstration that Indian scientists are working in cutting-edge areas of science and that Indian companies are capable of technology-based manufacturing.

While India can bask in the reflected glory of this Nobel, the country last week formally did away with the ‘Indian Nobel’ — the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, instituted in 1957 in memory of one of the greatest founders of scientific infrastructure in modern India. On September 26, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) gave away the last set of Bhatnagar prizes on its foundation day. It was announced that awards will be replaced with a new set of science awards from the next year, as directed in an order issued last year by the Ministry of Home Affairs about the ‘transformation of awards and decorations’, including the Bhatnagar prize.

The Bhatnagar prize was meant for scientists below the age of 45 for outstanding contribution (applied or fundamental) to any branch of science and engineering and carried a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. The new science awards (Vigyan Puraskar) will not have any cash component at all. The Bhatnagar prize had become the most coveted and prestigious award among scientists not solely because of the prize money but due to several other factors. The prestige of any award depends on who is giving the award, who have been the previous recipients and what have they gone on to do.

On all these counts, the Bhatnagar prize stood out. Though it was given by the CSIR, the prize had a pan-India reach and its recipients went on to do wonderful things for Indian science. For instance, Dr MS Swaminathan, who passed away last week, was given the Bhatnagar prize in 1961 while he was a young scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. Vikram Sarabhai, CNR Rao, Jayant Narlikar, MK Vainu Bappu, UR Rao, Obaid Siddiqui, Rustom Jal Vakil and Madhav Gadgil were among dozens of scientists who got the prize early in their careers. By abolishing the prize or changing its character, the government has erased the heritage built over the past 65 years.

The award abolition spree goes beyond the Bhatnagar prize and the CSIR. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and even independent bodies such as the Indian National Science Academy — which is financially supported by the government — have been told to replace the existing set of awards with a smaller set. ICAR had awards with cash components ranging from

Rs 1 lakh to 10 lakh. Some of them also had well-thought-out provisions for additional budgetary support for research and money for foreign training of the winner.

Is the move to make all science awards ‘cashless’ just about cost-saving? It does not appear to be so because the total prize money involved would not be more than Rs 1 crore or Rs 2 crore. Is it too much for an aspiring science superpower? The motive seems to be to erode the autonomous nature of the research councils and their functioning. Though they are all government-funded, they are supposed to function as autonomous societies or councils. The second reason seems to be to centralise the process for the selection of award winners.

Scientific prizes play several functions in advancing scientific research and promoting science in general — for scientists as individuals and for the institutions they work for. Prizes and fellowships of science academies are among the highest forms of recognition scientists get from their peers. They are considered professional recognition, so it was important that a body like CSIR administered the Bhatnagar prize. Awards bring recognition to new lines of research and top scientific achievements, as has happened with mRNA vaccine technology. They also perform a cultural function in society. Award winners become role models for young students and aspiring scientists, and help attract school students to pursue science and engineering.

For scientists, the cash component of the prize also matters. They often work under difficult and trying circumstances to pursue their scientific goals and not all their discoveries and inventions become commercial success or ensure them sustained funding. It is a struggle even in a developed economy like that of America, as illustrated in the experience of Nobel laureate Kariko. Her work was not recognised, and she was demoted and forced to resign from the University of Pennsylvania. After this, she started working as senior Vice-President at BioNTech, which developed an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine based on her technology. Moderna was another company to develop the mRNA vaccine.

The government needs to provide all necessary incentives to scientists and institutions if it wants India to remain at the forefront of science, technology and innovation — higher funding for R&D; state-of-the-art research infrastructure; flexibility for scientists to work with the industry and vice-versa; more awards, recognition and cash prizes; and greater investment in science education. All this should be done with respect for autonomy and least political interference and. As a nation, we must celebrate the work of scientists with respect and responsibility, not with mere lip service and non-cash awards.