Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards 2022

Class24 13, Sep 2023

In September 2023, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) released the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awardees list for 2022. A total of 12 awardees were selected for the SSB 2022. Only 19 women have been awarded as of now. In 2020, only two women were awarded.

About Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Award:

This award was named after the first director general of CSIR, S.S. Bhatnagar, who served from 1942 to 1954.
It is being awarded for outstanding contributions to science and technology.
In 1958, the first SSB prize was presented.
Prize: ₹5 lakh (Cash), a citation, and a plaque
- Note: Initially, the prize money was ₹2 lakh, but later in 2008, it was raised to ₹5 lakh.
In addition to the cash prize, the awardees will also receive Rs. 15,000 as a monthly stipend up to the age of 65 years.
This is an annual award, presented in seven (7) scientific disciplines, which include -
1. Biology
2. Chemistry
3. Mathematics
4. Physics
5. Medicine
6. Engineering
7. Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Planetary sciences
Each award category can have multiple winners, with a limit of two individuals in each.

Eligibility of SSB award:

He/she should be an Indian citizen.
He/she should be involved in research in any field of science and technology.
OCI (Overseas citizen of India) and PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) working in India are also eligible.
The award is presented on the basis of the researcher's work done mainly in India during the last five years.

Note: The awardee names are made public on CSIR Foundation Day i.e. 26 September, by the Director General, CSIR and awarded by the Prime Minister of India.

List of 2022 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Awardee list:

Field of Study	Name
Biological Sciences	Ashwani Kumar (from CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMT)) Maddika Subba Reddy (from Centre for DNA Fingerprinting Diagnostics, Hyderabad)
Chemical Sciences	Akkattu Biju (from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru ) Debabrata Maiti (from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Bombay )
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences	Vimal Mishra (from IIT, Gandhinagar )
Engineering Sciences	Dipti Ranjan Sahoo (from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Delhi) Rajnish Kumar (from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras)
Mathematical Science	Apoorva Khare (from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru) Neeraj Kayal (from Microsoft Research Lab India)
Medical Sciences	Dipyaman Ganguly (Principal Scientist from Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata)
Physical Sciences	Anindya Das (from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru) Basudeb Dasgupta (from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR))

Who was Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar?

He was the Founder Director and first Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) (1953 – 1955).
He also served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Educational Adviser of Government.
Honours:
- He was awarded the Order of British Empire (OBE) in 1936.
- In 1941, he was Knighted Bachelor and elected Fellow of Royal Society, London in 1943.
- In 1954, he was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the President of India.

About CSIR:

It was set up by the Government of India in September 1942.
Headquarters: New Delhi
Director General, CSIR: Dr. (Mrs.) N. Kalaiselvi
Subsidiaries of CSIR: 37 laboratories; 39 outreach centres; 3 Innovation Centres