Indian scientists shocked as government scraps nearly 300 awards

Indian scientists were surprised to learn that the government plans to scrap nearly 300 science awards. Although many researchers acknowledge problems in how award winners are selected, they say the decision to discontinue them without explanation is demotivating and will not fix the issues.

The government has yet to announce the decision, but minutes from a meeting chaired by the home secretary, Ajay Bhalla, and attended by senior officials in the science and health ministries last month reveal details. For instance, the country’s main science and technology funding agency, the Department of Science and Technology, will retain just four of its 207 awards; the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research will scrap or merge six out of its seven awards; and the Ministry of Earth Sciences will cancel three of its four awards, according to the minutes. The departments of atomic energy, space and health will axe all of their awards, 45 in total, and introduce new awards for research in atomic energy and space. The awards that will be culled are not named, but can be inferred in some cases.

The government also plans to introduce a new prize, the Vigyan Ratna award, which will be India’s version of a Nobel prize. The details are yet to be provided.

Researchers say that the awards to be culled, many of which come with small cash prizes or grant funding, are important for the motivation and recognition that they offer. Scientists worry about the message that the decision to axe them will send to young scientists. “Scrapping these will demoralize the scientific community and weaken the pursuit of science in India,” says Soumitro Banerjee, a physicist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, and general secretary of the Breakthrough Science Society.

Without explanation

Scientists say that they are in the dark about the move. “Since the rationale for reducing the number of existing awards so drastically isn’t publicly known, it is unclear what problem this was supposed to address,” says biophysicist Gautam Menon at Ashoka University near Delhi.

“We need to understand the rationale behind the scrapping of awards, as well as knowing the proposed vision on how the granting and awarding system will be reformed,” says Vishwesha Guttal, a mathematical ecologist at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore in Bengaluru.

A former senior science secretary said that the government had decided to review its science awards more than four years ago. But there seems to have been little, if any, follow-up of the initial discussion, which explains scientists’ surprise over the move. Nature contacted several science-department heads about the rationale for scrapping the awards, but none had responded in time for publication.

Adding to scientists’ concerns is the absence of any announcement about the country’s highest science honour, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize — which is awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and usually given on 26 September by the prime minister.

Biased selections

Many scientists acknowledge that there are flaws — such as a lack of inclusivity and transparency — in the process of selecting some science-award winners. For instance, of the 97 recipients of the Bhatnagar award in the past 10 years, only 5 have been women. Those selected are often male candidates from the “so-called best institutes in the country”, says C. P. Rajendran, a geologist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru.

Tapasya Srivastava, a geneticist at the University of Delhi South Campus, says that in some cases, scientists in senior positions or on award-selection committees choose researchers because of their institutional affiliations, rather than on the basis of merit.

Rajendran says that the system needs to be reviewed, but that this should have been undertaken by “a competent body of independent observers” after careful discussions with all stakeholders, including researchers. The way forward is to make the process more equitable and transparent, by eliminating conflicts of interest on the part of selectors and encouraging self-nominations and team awards, he says.

“This is an opportunity to bring about tangible changes in the award system,” says Srivastava.