Annual Report 2001 - 2002

Professional Bodies

Indian Academy Of Sciences, Bangalore

A brief report on each of the following activities of the Academy is given below :

Publications

Publications continue to be the major activity of the Academy. The eleven journals in various disciplines are published in varying frequencies and about 85 issues aggregating to nearly 10000 printed pages were published during the year. Several special issues on specific themes were brought out during the year. The journals are now available on the Internet

Annual Meetings

One scientific meeting in July 2001 was held in Bangalore and the other in November 2001 at Tirupati.. Two symposia on infectious diseases, and radar/microwave remote sensing were held.

Discussion Meetings

A three-day discussion meeting on "Architecture of Materials" was held at Orange County in Coorg during December 2001.

Science Education

To contribute to improvement in science education several programmes were undertaken by the Academy. The following are the main activities:

• Summer fellowships: About 100 summer fellowships were awarded to bright students and teachers throughout the country to work with fellows of the Academy on research-oriented projects.
  
• Participation of teachers in Academy meetings: About fifty teachers were invited to participate in the Academy meetings to provide them opportunities to attend scientific programmes as well as to interact with Fellows.
  
• Refresher courses for teachers: This is an important programme of two weeks duration to help teachers to improve their background knowledge and teaching skills.

Several Refresher Courses were also held during the year.

Lecture series for student/teachers

Academy arranges two or three-day lecture programmes on chosen topics at selected college and university departments for the benefit of local students and teachers. Speakers include fellows and others from nearby institutions. Three lecture series were arranged during the year.

The Academy makes special efforts to recognize talent among scientists at a comparatively young age by offering them: fellowships and associateships so as to act as an incentive in their scientific pursuits. Twenty-three new fellows and six new associates were elected during the year. Also elected were three new Honorary Fellows.

Indian National Academy Of Engineering, New Delhi

Summary Highlights of the Year

• In the 14th year of its founding, it was heartening that ten Fellows of the Academy received the Republic Day Honours by the Govt. of India.
• INAE-AICTE Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme selected eleven eminent experts from Industry and two from BARC under Industry-Institute Interaction.
• The Council elected thirty three Indian and one Foreign Fellow to the Academy during the year.
• Five students each at Doctoral & Master's levels and four at Bachelor level were selected for the Innovative Award for Students Best Projects from Engineering Colleges. Ten candidates were selected for the Young Engineer Award for their work in design and technology transfer, innovative development and engineering research.

The New President

At the 12th Annual General Meeting of the Academy, the new Council was elected with Prof. P Rama Rao, FASc, FNA, FREng, FNAE, FTWAS as President. The new Council assumed office from 1st January, 2001.

Research Projects

Indian Engineering Heritage

Railways

The Study Group held twenty one group meetings with managerial and technical experts at zonal, workshops and other units.

The Study Group has brought out the first Preliminary Report which deals with Chapters on Railways in India; History of Railway Organisation; Railway Gauge; Permanent Way; Railway Bridges; Railway Construction Projects; The Railway Locomotives & Others; Railway Stock; Mechanical Workshops; Production Units; D.C. Electrification; A.C. Railway Electrification; and Signalling & Telecommunication.

The Group is continuing its work to add on more input material on a number of topics identified by it.

Civil Engineering

The draft of the Monograph on Traditional Architecture of Kerala. by the Civil Engineering Group is under preparation.

Metallurgy

A Monograph on "Metallurgical Heritage of India" is under preparation on a CD ROM.

The Fellows

The thirty three Fellows were elected in 2000 effective for January 1, 2001. In addition to this, 1 foreign fellow was also elected. The total number of fellows as on 1 January, 2001

Indian Fellows - 378
Foreign Fellows - 15

Academy Business

The Council met five times during the year. Some of the important issues deliberated upon were :

• Finalisation of the engineering programmes for the next two years
  
• Prof. Jai Krishna Memorial Award
  
• Industry-Academy collaboration.
  
• INAE Staff Structure and Pay Scales

Publications

The Academy brought out the following publications during the year which were widely circulated to the Government, Academic Institutions, R&D Laboratories, Industry and others.

• NDE Science & Technology for Quality Improvement
  
• Radiation Processing of Food Products
  
• INAE Young Engineer Awardees 2000
  
• Lecture Series

Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi

Highlights of Activities

• The Council assumed office after the Anniversary General Meeting on 29 December 2000 at the S.N.Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata.
• Five scientific seminars/symposia on Atmospheric Sciences, Science Education and Research in Universities, Genomics, Science and Society and Water Resources Management were organized.
• Seventeen medal/lecture awards were announced. Fifteen Award Lectures were delivered during General Meeting and under the aegis of Local Chapters. Nine Scientists below the age of 32 years were awarded INSA Young Scientists' Medal.
• The Academy has initiated a programme on "Science and Society" for public understanding of science through discussion meetings, lectures, science information notes and publications. Recently, the Academy had organized discussion meting on "Use of Genetically Modified Plants in Agriculture", "Intellectual Property Rights in Biology", "Use of Animals in Biomedical Research" and "Use of Non-Iodized Salt".

The lectures on the following topics were also organized by the Academy;

• Image Processing Everywhere by Dr. BL.Deekshatulu on April 5, 2000
  
• Know Your Brain by Prof. P.N.Tandon on June 2, 2000
  
• The Wonder World of Crystals by Prof. Krishan Lal on August 30, 2000
  
• Science Popularisation in Brazil by Prof. E.W.Hamburger on February 27, 2001
  
• Role of S&T in India's March into 21st Century by Dr. R.A.Mashelkar on February 28,2002
  • The Academy continued Research Support to Research Professors (4), Senior Scientists (40), visiting Fellows (14), Projects of Young Scientists Medal Awardees (27) and for Organising Conferences (31).
  • The Indian National Commission on History of Science approved 13 new projects. In all, there are now 36 on-going research projects - 12 in Ancient Period, 11 in Medieval Period and 13 in Modern Period. History of Technology (modern Period): Volume III, History of Astronomy in India (revised edition ) and the proceedings of the seminar on the 'Concept of Sunya' are under print. Four issues of Indian Journal of History of Science (IJHS) alongwith two special supplements viz. Research Projects on History of Science sponsored by Indian National Science Academy : Status Report - 1996-2000; and Cumulative Index of the IJHS : Volumes 1-35 were also published. A two-day workshop on History of Science Research in India : Future Directions was organized jointly with NISTADS.
  • In pursuance of the scientific collaboration and exchange programmes established with the prominent 32 science academies in Europe, Asia, North and Central America and CIS Countries, 98 Indian Scientists visited abroad and 65 foreign scientists visited India. Apart from this, the Academy nominated 68 Indian scientists to undertake their visit during the year 2001-2002. The new bi-lateral agreements were signed with the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal 2000 was conferred to Prof. Bruce Alberts, President, US National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Darshan Ranganathan, FNA received the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship for 2000. The JC Bose Memorial Lectureship- 1999 was awarded to Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, FNA. The Academy through an endowment received from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, instituted the INSA-JRD Tata Fellowship to encourage scientists, technologists and researchers from developing countries including Asia (except India) to pursue their research and training in Indian Scientific Research Institutions in all areas of Science and Technology. The Academy in association with the KK Birla Foundation jointly instituted an 'INSA-KK Birla Foundation Asia Science Lecture Programme'. The main objective of the lecture programme is to promote understanding,interaction and cooperative spirit in Asian Region by recognizing eminent scientists/ persons who have established themselves as leaders. The 4th Indo-German Seminar on 'Molecular Electrochemistry' was held in Dresden, Germany.
  • The Academy supported the visits of 332 scientists and 75 Young Scientists for various conferences/ seminars abroad. Six international meetings were organized in India under the sponsorship of ICSU and ICSU affiliated subject unions.
  • The Academy's Library added 180 books in English and 47 in Hindi and received 800 journals on various disciplines of science and technology mostly under the exchange programme. Citation analysis was carried out for about 5139 research articles published during past two decades using the CD-based SCI database. Four issues of Science Information Notes were brought out alongwith Hindi issue.
  • INSA with the Inter Academy Panel on International Issues and Inter Academy Council have taken initiative of preparation of a document on science education. Under this programme, three workshops will be organized one each in Africa, Europe and Latin America.
  • Twelve issues of the Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IJPAM), six issues each of PINSA- A (Physical Sciences) and PINSA- B (Biological Sciences), and six issues of INSA News (English and Hindi versions) were published besides other publications.

Several special publications were also brought out.

The Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata

The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is the largest organisation of Indian scientists and technologists representing all disciplines of science and technology. It is the only organisation in India where scientists from different disciplines and younger scientists in particular can participate. ISCA brings together scientists both from India and abroad for mutual interaction in the cause of national development. During the annual session of ISCA, representatives from similar associations throughout the world participate.

The objectives of the Association are as follows :

(i) to advance and promote the cause of science in India;
(ii) to hold an annual Congress at a suitable place in India;
(iii) to publish proceedings, journals, transactions, etc.;
(iv) to popularise science.

Introduction of Focal Theme

In 1976 ISCA introduced the Focal Theme of national relevance which is now discussed during the annual session and several plenary sessions are organised around various facets of the Focal Theme in which scientists and technologists as well as policy makers and administrators interact with one another.

Task Force

Department of Science and Technology constituted a permanent Task Force involving representatives of ISCA and Chiefs of different agencies and voluntary organisations in 1980-81 who are responsible for implementing various recommendations on the Focal Themes. Every year follow-up actions on recommendations made in the previous Science Congress are discussed at a general session during the annual Congress.

Young Scientist Award Programme

The programme enables young scientists to present their proposed research work with opportunities to exchange ideas in the relevant scientific problems with their counterparts and specialists. For excellent presentations, upto 25 such scientists are given ISCA Young Scientist Awards every year.

Publications

The year under report witnessed a significant number of publications brought out by the Association. Proceedings of the Eighty Eighth Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress Association were published. The issues of quarterly journal "Everyman's Science were brought out in time.

89th Indian Science Congress

The 89th Indian Science Congress was held under the auspices of the Lucknow University, from January 3-7, 2002. The focal theme of the Congress was "Health Care, Education and Information Technology". Over 5000 delegates from India and abroad attended.

Following awards for 2001-2002 were conferred to the respective recipients during the 89th Indian Science Congress:

1. Asutosh Mookerjee Memorial Award - Prof.P.N.Srivastava, Gurgaon
2. C.V.Raman Birth Centenary Award - Prof.S.S.Jha, Mumbai
3. Srinivasa Ramanujan Birth Centenary Award - Prof.H.P.Dixit, New Delhi
4. Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award - i) Prof.A.S.Paintal,Delhi ii) Prof.J.V.Narlikar,Pune
5. M.N.Saha Birth Centenary Award - Prof.G.S.Agarwal, Ahmedabad
6. P.C.Mahalanobis Birth Centenary Award - Prof.K.R.Parthasarathi, New Delhi
7. J.C.Bose Memorial Award - Dr.M.V.S.Valiathan, Manipal
8. P.C.Ray Memorial Award - Prof.C.L.Khetrapal, Lucknow
9. H.J.Bhaba Memorial Award - Prof.R.Natarajan, Chennai
10.B.P.Pal Memorial Award - Dr.(Mrs.) Manju Sharma, New Delhi
11. Jawaharlal Nehru Prize - Midnapore Science Centre, Midnapore, West Bengal

Besides the above awards, 4 Millennium Plaques of Honour were also given to eminent scientists.

The programme of the Congress consisted of Plenary Sessions, Public lectures. Besides these, 16 concurrent technical sessions were held in different sections namely: i) Agricultural Sciences, ii) Anthropology & Archaeology, iii) Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, iv) Botany, v) Chemistry, vi) Computer Sciences, vii) Earth System Sciences, viii) Engineering Sciences, xi) Material Sciences, x) Mathematics, xi) Medical & Veterinary Sciences, xii) Physics, xiii) Physiology, xiv) Psychology & Educational Sciences , xv) Statistics, xvi) Zoology, Entomology & Fisheries.

National Academy Of Sciences, India, Allahabad

The objectives of the Academy, established in 1930, are cultivation and promotion of Science and Technology in all its branches; providing a national forum for publication of research work; holding symposia/ seminars on scientific topics of national relevance; organizing a Science Library including section for students of plus two level; organizing meetings and discussions on scientific and technological problems; promoting scientific and technological research concerned with the problems of national welfare.

The research journal, Proceedings of the Academy, being published regularly in two sections covering Physical and Biological Sciences, is now running into its 71st Volume. The Academy also publishes a research journal, National Academy Science Letters, now running into its 24th Volume. The other special publication of the Academy is History of the Academy entitled "Stepping Stones (1930-2000)".

The Academy during the year has organized one symposia "Coping with Natural Hazards" besides the 71st Annual Session at Pune.

For promotion of excellence, the following awards were given :

• P. Sheel Memorial Lecture Award
  
• B.P.Pal Memorial Lecture Award and
  
• The National Academy of Sciences, India-Science Teacher Award.

The Academy during this year has elected 2 distinguished scientists as Foreign Fellows, 50 distinguished scientists as Fellows and 32 scientists as Members.