PGI-Chandigarh doc, Chandrayaan-3 scientists among 33 to get nat’l awards

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 8

Indian Space Research Organisation’s team behind the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 mission, PGI Chandigarh’s paediatric expert Jitendra Kumar Sahu and ICMR scientist Pragya Dhruv Yadav, whose research enabled Covaxin development, are among 33 scientists to receive the inaugural edition of National Science Awards.

Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskars were launched in 2023 amid a lot of controversy after the government disbanded all existing awards, including the famous Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award.

In the first edition, the awards are being presented under four categories — Vigyan Ratna for lifetime achievement; Vigyan Shri for scientists across ages; Vigyan Yuva for scientists below 45 years of age and Vigyan Team for collaborative work. Celebrated biochemist and biotechnologist Govindarajan Padmanabhan has been selected for first Vigyan Ratna award.

The ISRO team which successfully led Chandrayaan-3 mission (the third in a series of lunar exploration missions) has been awarded the Vigyan Team award for exceptional contribution to the mission’s success. Thirteen scientists have been awarded Vigyan Shri award and 18 have got Vigyan Yuva awards for their outstanding achievements in various fields of science and technology.

PGI Chandigarh’s Jitendra Kumar Sahu is among the 18 Vigyan Yuva awardees. Sahu is associated with the PGI’s advanced pediatrics centre.

Pragya Yadav, a celebrated scientist at ICMR’s ace lab — National Institute of Virology in Pune — had earlier set up India’s first Biosafety Level 4 lab at NIV-Pune. She also led genome sequencing from the first SARS-Cov2 case in India and isolated Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron variants of the virus. The virus neutralising the efficacy of Covaxin and Covishield was finally determined on the basis of these very isolates.

Awarded for exceptional work in medicine, Pragya was the principal researcher who created India’s first anti-SARS-Cov2 antibody test, when only two such testing kits were available globally and later conducted research to enable Covaxin development.

UP’s Faizabad girl Pragya is the first woman in her family to complete higher education. President Droupadi Murmu will facilitate all 33 awardees on August 23 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.