President presents Visitors’ Awards for research & tech development

New Delhi: The Visitor’s Award for research in the field of basic and applied science were presented by the President of India, Mr Ram Nath Kovind during the meeting of Vice Chancellors of Central Universities at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 2, 2018. Mr Kovind also presented the Visitor’s Award for technology development on the occasion.

The Visitor’s Award for research in the field of basic and applied science was jointly presented to two academics.

The first is Prof. Sanjay K. Jain, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, for his contribution to the development of a drug delivery system using folic acid conjugated liposomes containing oxaliplatin for targeted delivery of colon tumors.This has the potential to reduce toxicity, dosage, regimen and cost of cancer treatment.

The second winner is Prof Ashis Kumar Mukherjee, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Assam, for his research leading to clarity on the molecular complexity and toxicity of the components of the snake venom from different locales of India.This too has likely utility as a new drug for treatment of diseases.

The Visitor’s Award for technology development was presented to Prof. Ashwani Pareek, School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, for developing Stress Tolerant Rice of the Next Generation (STRONG). This has the potential to enhance farm incomes.

For selecting the winners, online applications were invited from all Central Universities for each category. A Selection Committee headed by Mr Sanjay Kothari, Secretary to the President and comprising eminent persons and academicians, assisted by a Sub Committee, chose the winners of the Awards.

Addressing the Vice Chancellors of Central Universities later, the President Kovind emphasized that universities must embrace technology in a big way to augment research and teaching resources as well as reach beyond physical campuses. “All of you must invest in Massive Open Online Courses to enhance your capacities,” he said.

“Universities should play a leading role in addressing the specific challenges faced by our nation. Many of these challenges require creative and innovative solutions. It is your paramount duty to ensure that your campuses emerge as spaces that nurture free expression and ideas, where experimentation is encouraged and failure is not ridiculed but is seen as learning, he added.