The prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2010 that was announced on Sunday as part of the celebration of the foundation day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, saw nine awardees, among which three are women who have won it for the first time. The award is given for outstanding achievement in the field of science and technology. The award comprises a plaque, a citation and cash reward of Rs 5 lakh, which will be given by the PM at a later date.
Also, the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd’s Research and Development Centre in Faridabad has won the award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development 2009. The biological sciences award has been won by Sanjeev Galande of National Centre for Cell Science, Pune-Presently at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune and Shubha Tole of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. CSIR director general Samir Brahmachari said no awards have been given in the fields of earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences and mathematical sciences this year.
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Orissa: Unified Command meet September 30
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: With Left-wing extremists (LWEs) calling the shots in southern Orissa by killing about 10 people in a month, the state government has decided to convene the first meeting of the Unified Command on September 30.
The meeting to be presided by chief secretary B.K. Patnaik and attended by eight members of the newly formed Unified Command would give shape to the planned anti-Maoist operation in the state, official sources said.
While development commissioner is a member, the principal secretary home is the member convenor. DGP, inspector general (Operations) of CRPF, IG operations of state police, representative of IB and IG Intelligence of the state are also members of the unified command, notification for which was issued on August 3. It has become a matter of concern as the rebels continued to eliminate innocent civilians in Malkangiri and Koraput districts even as central para-military force (CPMF), including BSF jawans, were camping in worst-hit pockets.
Besides chalking out strategies for the ensuing anti-Maoist operation, the state-level Unified Command is likely to choose one of the three retired major generals as head of the operation. —PTI