1

INDIAN NATIONAL SCIENCE ACADEMY

BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR MARG, NEW DELHI - 110002

Minutes of the 85th Anniversary General Meeting of the Indian National Science Academy held on 16-18 December, 2019 at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. The following Fellows were present: Professor Ajay K Sood, President, INSA Professor Anurag Sharma, Vice-President (Fellowship Affairs) Professor JP Khurana, Vice-President (International Affairs) Professor Gadadhar Misra, Vice-President (Informatics and Publications) Professor AK Singhvi, Vice-President (Science & Society) Dr Anurag Agrawal Professor Madhoolika Agrawal Professor SK Apte Professor S Baskaran Professor Nita Bhandari Professor SV Bhat Professor Anil K Bhatnagar Professor Alok Bhattacharya Professor NM Bujurke Professor Supriya Chakraborty Professor Mamta Chawla-Sarkar Professor BM Choudary Professor Debashish Chowdhury Professor GP Dutta Professor Shankar Prasad Das Professor Sushanta Dattagupta Professor KRK Easwaran Professor SR Gadre Professor Lalit C Garg Professor Swapan K Ghosh Professor KC Gupta Professor PK Gupta Professor HA Haider Professor RV Jasra Professor Bhavnath Jha Professor AK Kamra Professor M Lakshmi Kantam Professor Tarun Kant Professor Sanjeev Khosla Professor Paturu Kondaiah Professor M Krishnamurthy Professor Tapas K Kundu Professor Sandeep Kunnath Dr Pawan Malhotra Professor Mahitosh Mandal Professor G Marimuthu Professor Neelesh B Mehta

2

Professor Parthasarathi Mitra Professor NK Mondal Professor ML Munjal Professor Ritabrata Munshi Professor R Nagaraj Professor Utpal Nath Professor J Padmanabhan Professor Veena K Parnaik Professor Sankar K Pal Dr Sneh Lata Singla-Pareek Professor G Parthasarathy Professor Manoj Prasad Professor PD Prasada Rao Professor AS Raghavendra Rao Professor K Ramasubramanian Professor AJ Rao Professor Ashit Baran Roy Professor Probir Roy Professor M Sabu Professor SK Saidapur Professor PV Sane Professor S Sankararaman Professor Utpal Sarkar Dr Chandrima Shaha Professor Shyam Lal Professor SK Singh Professor Yashwant Singh Professor Subrata Sinha Professor Kandasamy Subramanian Professor BC Tripathy Professor Prabodh K Trivedi Professor KC Upadhyaya Professor RK Varshney Professor MK Verma Professor MR Wani Professor Graner Andreas, Foreign Fellow In addition to the above Fellows who participated in the formal AGM, the following Fellows and other scientists (non Fellows) also attended different sessions during 16-18 December, 2019: Fellows: Professors V Chandrasekhar, Manju Bansal, Madhu Dikshit, Chanda Jayant Jog, Rentala Madhubala, HK Majumder, R Narasimhan, Sourav Pal, GP Pandey, SK Satheesh, Abhijit Sen, Shobhona Sharma, Yashwant Singh, GD Yadav, GC Mishra, Gaiti Hasan, Tom S Blundell, PK Garg, CNR Rao, Shekhar Mande, Srivari Chandrasekhar, Santosh Kapuria, Ashok Jhunjunwala, S Sivaram, LS Shashidhara, SC Lakhotia, Amitabh Joshi, Pankaj S Joshi, MS Raghunathan, Rajeeva Karandikar, R Balasubramaniam, Raman Parimala, RK Kohli, Gagandeep Kang, Rajesh S Gokhale, VM Katoch, Shinjini Bhatnagar, Anil K. Bhowmick, PK Chattaraj, Kedar Damle, D Dash, Amit Ghosh, Aswini Ghosh, Subrata Ghosh, AK Giri, H Ila, H Junjappa, Bhavanath Jha Arun K Joshi, Dinakar Kanjilal, Anil Kumar, AC Mishra, Ashwini Nangia, SS Rai, AV Rama Rao, Rajender

3

Sangwan, Neelam Sangwan, Manmohan Sarin, Kalidas Sen, Maya Shankar Singh and BC Sinha. Other scientists (Non-Fellows) : Shri R Gopalakrishnan, Drs Jitendra Jadhav, Indranil Chattoraj, Anjan Ray, Gitanjali Yadav, Felix Blast, Bhushan Patwardhan, Arvind A, R Ramanujam, Andre Krolak, Ken-ichi Nakao, KP Singh, Amber Habib, MS Balasubramaniam, JR Bhatt, Asad Rahmani, Chandish R Ballal, Anurudh K Singh, K Srinath Reddy and Manish Gupta. During the Anniversary Meeting (16-18 December 2019) the following eight symposia, one award lecture, two public lectures and the anniversary address by President, INSA were organized: The inaugural session : Professor Sunil K Singh, FNA, Director, CSIR-NIO, Goa welcomed the participants and expressed his gratitude for holding this important event in his institution. He presented a brief overview on history and research activities of the institute. Opening remarks were given by Professor AK Sood, President, INSA and Dr Shekhar Mande, FNA, DG, CSIR. Professor AK Singhvi made a brief presentation of the entire 3-day programme. At this stage, President, INSA released a publication on Biomaterials Science and Implants : Status, Challenges and Recommendations by Dr Bikramajit Basu. In addition, Meghnad Saha, his Science and Persona through Selected Letters and Writings was also released. The vote of thanks were presented by Professor Singhvi. The inauguration was followed by the Presidential address on Science Without Borders by Professor AK Sood, President, INSA (Summary of the address and brief profile is given at Annexure-I, p/ 9) Symposium 1 : Science at CSIR- Future Outlook by Dr Shekhar Mande, FNA Symposium 2 : Science of Indias’ Tomorrow by Professor AK Singhvi, FNA Symposium 3 : Future Science Education and Research : What India Needs to do by

Professors SC Lakhotia, FNA and Amitabh Joshi, FNA Symposium 4 : Black Hole Physics by Professor Pankaj S Joshi, FNA Symposium 5 : Mathematics and Society by Professor Gadadhar Misra, FNA Symposium 6 : Biodiversity : Issues Science and Challenges by Professor RK Kohli,

FNA Symposium 7 : Future of Health Care by Drs Gagandeep Kang, FNA and Anurag

Agarwal, FNA Symposium 8 : Ethical and Scientific Dimensions of Treatment of Rare and Incurable

Diseases by Professors Alok Bhattacharya, FNA and VM Katoch, FNA (Summaries of the talks and the brief profile of the speakers are attached at Annexure-II, p/ 10-65)

4

INSA Award Lecture : Professor TS Blundell, Foreign Fellow delivered the PMS Blackett Memorial Lecture (2019) on Structural Biology, Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery: Fighting the Emergence of Resistance in Cancer and Mycobacterial Infections (Summary of the lecture and brief profile of the speaker is given at Annexure-III, p/ 66-67) Public Lecture : Bharat Ratna Professor CNR Rao, FNA delivered the Public Lecture on Climbing the Limitless Ladder of Excellence (Summary of the lecture and brief profile of the speaker is given at Annexure-IV, p/ 68) Shri R Gopalakrishnan, former Director, Tata Sons, Distinguished Professor, IIT Kharagpur delivered the Evening Lecture on Lessons and Reflections: The Science of Business and the Business of Science (Summary of the lecture and brief profile of the speaker is given at Annexure-V, p/ 69) Anniversary General Meeting 1. Condolence at the passing away of the distinguished Fellows and Foreign

Fellow:

The sad demise of Professors Anand Swarup Arya, Coluthur Gopalan, Sunil Kumar Mukerjee, Nurani Sivaramakrishna Narasimhan, Pran Nath Pandita, Sishta Venkata Seetharama Shastry, Badanaval Venkata Sreekantan, Nekkalapudi Chinna Subrahmanyam, Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan, Fellows and Professors Murray Gell-Mann, Michael G Rossmann, Ahmed Hassan Zewail, Foreign Fellows was reported. The obituary notes were read by the President, INSA and all those present stood in silence for a minute as a mark of respect to the deceased.

2. Confirmation of minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 26 July,

2019. The minutes of the General Body Meeting held on 26 July, 2019 were read by

Professor Anurag Sharma, Vice-President, INSA. These minutes were already uploaded on INSA website. No comments were received. Thereafter, the minutes were confirmed.

3. Announcement of the award of the General Medal / Lecture due for the year

2020. Professor Anurag Sharma announced the name of Professor RA Mashelkar, past

President, INSA for the INSA Medal for Promotion and Service to Science (2020) and Dr Madhu Dikshit, FNA for Daulat Singh Kothari Memorial Lecture. The Fellows present approved the names.

4. Announcement of name of recipients for Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary

Lecture for the year 2020.

Professor Anurag Sharma announced the names of Professors Sriram R Ramaswamy, FNA in Physical Sciences and NR Jagannathan, FNA in Biological Sciences. The Fellows present approved the names.

5

5. Announcement of name of recipient for Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary

Visiting Fellowship for the year 2019. Professor Anurag Sharma announced the name of Professor JP Khurana, FNA for Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship for the year 2019. The Fellows present approved the name.

6. Announcement of the award of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularization of

Science for the year 2020.

Professor Anurag Sharma announced the names of the awardees of Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularization of Science - 2020 as follows: a) Science popularization efforts in English language by a career media

personnel i. Dr Manoj Kumar Patairiya, Director, NISCAIR, New Delhi ii. Shri Hari Pulakkat, F 902, Purva Venezia, Yelahanka New Town, Bengaluru b) Science popularization efforts in English language by a career

scientist

i. Dr Vinay Baburao Kamble, 16 Aangan Apartments, Near JL Commerce College, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad

c) Science popularization efforts in any language other than English

either by a career media personnel or a career scientist

i. Shri Anant Pandurang Deshpande, B-5, Jalaram Jyot, VB Lane, Ghatkopar, Mumbai

ii. Professor R Ramanujam, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Chennai

The Fellows present approved the names.

7. To read as required under Rule 40(c) the name of nominees for election as INSA Fellow from 11 July, 2019 to 25 November, 2019.

Professor Anurag Sharma read the names of those whose nominations were received for election as INSA Fellow and Foreign Fellow.

8. To report Retirement/ Resignation / Appointment of staff of the Academy

during the year 2019.

Professor Anurag Sharma read the names of those employees of INSA who have superannuated/ resigned/ joined the services during the calendar year of 2019

6

9. Anniversary Address on Science Without Borders by Professor Ajay K Sood, President, INSA

President, INSA delivered the Presidential address on Science Without Borders. The brief summary and his profile is attached at Annexure-I, p/ 9.

10. Admission of Fellows under Rule 11

Professor Ajay K Sood, President INSA inducted 23 Fellows including one Foreign Fellow (list enclosed at Annexure-VI, p/ 70-72). The inducted Fellows took the oath, signed the Fellowship register and received the Fellowship scroll from President INSA. They were also presented with Fellowship tie and the lapel pin/ scarf.

11. Presentation of awards: a) INSA Medal for Young Scientists

b) INSA Medal for Young Historian of Science c) INSA Teachers Award

26 Young Scientists including one Young Historian received the INSA Medal from President INSA. In addition, 11 INSA Teachers Awardees received the INSA Teachers award from President INSA. The list is given at Annexure-VII, p/ 73-78.

12. Any other item. President, INSA mentioned the following three issues during the General Body meeting : Co-publishing with Springer : The Fellows were informed that the Academy is soon entering an agreement with M/s Springer for co-publishing INSA journals, Proceedings and IJHS. The third journal, IJPAM is already being co-published with Springer and its contract will be extended. The contract for publishing the books with Springer has already been signed. A book on Biomaterials Science and Implants : Status, Challenges and Recommendations by Dr Bikramajit Basu has been published which was released on 16th of December in the inaugural function of the Anniversary General Meeting. Modification in Rule 25 (vi) : President briefed the members about the ambiguity which exists in Rule 25 (vi) as compared to Rule 26. He mentioned that the new Council assumes office after the conclusion of Anniversary General Meeting where as Rule 26 states that the term of the President of the Academy will be for a period of three consecutive years. This year the Anniversary General Meeting will be over on 18th of December whereas the term of the President should go up to 31st December. In order to remove this ambiguity the Council agreed to modify Rule 25 (vi) as follows:

The new council shall assume office on the first day of each calendar year notwithstanding the date of the conclusion of the Anniversary General Meeting. The outgoing council members will lay the office on 31st December each year.

7

For a Rule to be revised, the issue is put to vote by the entire Fellowship after it is debated in the Council and the subsequent General Body Meeting. However, for this year, as a special case, the Council proposed that the new Rule will be immediately applicable subject to endorsement in the Anniversary General Meeting. The issue will, however, be sent to all the Fellows for voting subsequently so that it is reflected in the Year Book properly. The members present in the AGM agreed to the proposal of the Council and accepted that the present council will continue up to 31st December. This issue will, subsequently, be put to vote to the entire Fellowship. Contribution to Corpus fund : The Fellows were mentioned that INSA has floated a request for generous donation to its corpus fund. Some Fellows have already contributed. They will be beneficiary of 50% income tax rebate under section 80G of income tax act. He requested the others to contribute suitable donation to this fund. 13 a. Presentation of mementos to outgoing Officers and members of the Council

of INSA.

The outgoing member of the Council, Professor Anurag Sharma, Vice-President was felicitated. President, INSA presented him a shawl as a token of respect. (Other members: Professors NR Jagannathan, PP Chakrabarti, Madhu Dikshit, Chanda J Jog, GP Pandey, SK Satheesh, V Ramgopal Rao, Additional Member (Representative Govt. of India, DST nominee) were not present during this function). President profusely thanked the members of the Council for their continued support to him in carrying out the programmes during his tenure as a President of the Academy.

13 b. Presentation of memento to outgoing President, Professor Ajay K Sood

At this stage Dr Chandrima Shaha, FNA, President-Elect was invited to the dias. She presented the shawl and an album containing representative photographs highlighting the major activities of INSA during the tenure of the President-ship of Professor Ajay K Sood. Professor Shaha thanked Professor Sood for guiding the Academy and initiating many new programmes under his leadership. She expressed confidence that his support and guidance will be useful to the Academy for times to come.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

70

Annexure-VI

Fellows (w.e.f. 1st January, 2020)

1.Sundarababu Baskaran (b 1961), PhD, Institute Chair Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. For developing domino strategies for the assemblage of natural products of biological interest. 2. Nita Bhandari (b 1955), MBBS, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director, Centre for Health Research and Development, Society for Applied Studies, New Delhi. She is a clinical scientist working in population based research with high impact on Child Health Nutrition in the developing world. 3. Supriya Chakraborty (b 1969), PhD, Professor (Virology), Molecular Virology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. For his significant contributions in understanding biology of plant-virus interactions. He has deciphered novel functions of viral proteins in replication and the stimulation of viral genome transcription in crop models such as tomato, cowpea and okra. 4. Mamta Chawla-Sarkar (b 1970), PhD, Scientist-F, Division of Virology, ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata. For making substantial research contribution towards understanding host-pathogen interaction and viral pathogenesis for targeted drug development for influenza A and Rota viruses, diseases of global concern.

5. Pramod Kumar Garg (b 1963), MBBS, MD, DM, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. For his research on the pathophysiology of chronic pancreatitis has led to its identification as a genetically determined disease with new genetic mutations (4 in India). He has developed a non surgical treatment of acute pancreatitis. 6. RakshVir Jasra (b 1952), PhD, Senior Vice-President (R&D), R&D Centre, Reliance Industries Limited, Vadodara Manufacturing Division, Vadodara. For his significant contributions to the development and commercialization of chemical processes based on innovative catalytic and adsorption phenomena. 7. Sanjeev Khosla (b 1969), PhD, Staff Scientist-VI, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad. For his outstanding contribution in dissecting the mutual epigenetic modulations between Mycobacteria and its host cells. 8. Manchikanti Krishnamurthy (b 1969), PhD, Professor H, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad. For his pioneering contributions to the experimental study of intense, ultrashort laser interactions with clusters, in particular the demonstration of the counter-intuitive, near complete neutralization of highly charged ions to produce MeV neutral atom beams, and his lateral stride in the generation of high brightness hard x-ray emission from plasmas produced in biological cells.

71

9. Sandeep Kunnath (b 1973), PhD, Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Centre for Applicable Mathematics, Bengaluru. For his significant contributions in the study of Hardy-Sobolov-Mazya equations, particularly discovering a hyperbolic symmetry in the solution and developed analytical tools to study semilinear elliptic PDE’s in the hyperbolic space. 10. Pawan Malhotra (b 1960), PhD, Group Leader, Malaria Biology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. For his outstanding contribution in dissecting the key components of the malarial parasite and the development of therapeutic strategies. 11. Neelesh Bhogilal Mehta (b 1975), PhD, Professor, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering,Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. For his fundamental contributions to the modelling, design, analysis, and optimization of cellular systems, cooperative relaying, cognitive radio, and green sensor networks. 12. Ritabrata Munshi (b 1976), PhD, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. For his internationally acclaimed work on the theory of L-functions. His work in the sub-convexity problem for higher rank L-function is path breaking. 13. Utpal Nath (b 1965), PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. For his pioneering work in the field of leaf morphogenesis. His work has given insights on leaf growth patterns and its planar geometry using genetic and genomic tools in model plants. 14. Janardhan Padmanabhan (b 1960), PhD, Senior Professor (H) and Dean, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. For outstanding contributions in solar wind turbulence on magnetosphere and atmosphere. 15. Bhaskar Saha (b 1964), PhD, Scientist-G, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune. For his outstanding contribution in elucidation of novel immune response and signaling mechanisms in cancer and infectious diseases. 16. Sethuraman Sankararaman (b 1957), PhD, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. For his significant contributions to modern acetylene chemistry and N-heterocyclic carbene chemistry. 17. Sneh Lata Singla-Pareek (b 1969), PhD, Group Leader and National Officer, Plant Stress Biology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. For her pioneering contributions on the role of the glyoxalate pathway in stress tolerance. She has unveiled the cross-talk between different stress responses for plant adaptation. She has developed marker-free transgenic rice for abiotic stress tolerance.

72

18. Kandaswamy Subramanian (b 1957), PhD, Distinguished Professor and Dean, Visitor Academic Programmes, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune. For his fundamental contributions towards our theoretical understanding of astrophysical magnetic fields, especially their generation through the turbulent dynamo process and their possible primordial signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. 19. Prabodh Kumar Trivedi (b 1969), PhD, Senior Principal Scientist, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow. For his major achievements in basic science applications to crop improvement. Notable publications are in pathway engineering of secondary metabolites in plants and in environmental biotechnology. Developed GM model plants for insect resistance and animal bone health. 20. Mahendra Kumar Verma (b 1966), PhD, Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur For his seminal contributions in the field of MHD turbulence based on results from high performance computer simulations based on the well-known code TARANG which he conceptualized and developed, and his analysis of turbulence based on renormalization group theory. 21. Mohan RamchandraWani (b 1965), PhD, Scientist-G (Professor), National Centre for Cell Science, University of Pune Campus, Pune. For his outstanding and original contributions in the area of bone and cartilage remodeling and regenerative medicine. He demonstrated for the first time that IL-3 prevents pathological bone loss and stimulates new bone formation.

Fellow (w.e.f. 1st January, 2019)

1. Anurag Agrawal (b 1972), MBBS, MD, DM, PhD, Director, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi. Dr Anurag Agrawal has shown that obesity or Air pollution related cellular stress precipitates asthma by affecting the cellular metabolism of Air way epithelial cells. He has shown how donation of mitochondria by stem cells can correct the cellular functions. His contribution to eHealth would enhance health care delivery.

Fellow (w.e.f. 1st January, 2018) 1. Kedar Damle (b 1970), PhD, Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Kedar Damle, whose insightful and original approach to condensed matter physics has led him to propose and provided evidence for interesting phases and phenomena, and suggest experimental systems where they may be seen, establishing him internationally as one of the most prominent India-based condensed matter physicists of his generation.

Foreign Fellow (w.e.f. 1st January, 2020) 1. Andreas Graner (b 1957), Executive Director, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany. Professor Graner has been at the forefront of plant breeding by developing genomic tools, mapping of agronomic traits and identifying the underlying genes in barley and wheat. In addition, he has explored new ways to deploy genomic information for the advancement of both conservation management and utilization of ex situ collections.

73

Annexure-VII

INSA MEDAL FOR YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDEES- 2019

1. Dr Mainak Bose (b 1986), PhD, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany.

For discovering important steps of miRNA regulation involving biogenesis, turnover and exosome-mediated transport between mammalian cells. His work in the context of Leishmania contributes important therapeutic angles in macrophages.

2. Dr Anirvan Chakraborty (b 1985), PhD, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Indian

Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, Nadia.

For his fundamental contributions in developing statistical methods for infinite dimensional data. His work provides useful and interesting insights into probabilistic models for high dimensional data.

3. Dr Abhik Narayan Choudhury (b 1984), PhD, Department of Materials Engineering, Indian

Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

For his outstanding contributions to the development of phase field models to address microstructural evolution in complex systems and in their experimental validation.

4. Dr Tanmay Neelesh Deshpande (b1984), PhD, School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of

Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

For his outstanding contributions to the field of “Geometric Representation Theory”. His work on character sheaves on unipotent and solvable groups is highly commendable and has opened up the area.

5. Dr Siddhesh Balkrishna Ghag (b1986), PhD, Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-

DAE CEBS), University of Mumbai, Mumbai.

For his focussed work to develop banana for wilt resistance. He deployed a defensin protein from Petunia and developed Fusarium wilt resistant transgenic banana, used SiRNA strategy against a transcription factor to control the pathogen, developed somaclonal mutants and is currently working on biocontrol. His evaluation of different strategies could lead to the development of agronomically good banana lines with resistance to this important disease.

6. Dr Gnanasekaran Gunadayalan (b1986), PhD, Department of Botany, Madras Christian

College, Chennai. For his contributions in plant taxonomy using field data and modern tools with special reference to genus Andrographis and family Acanthaceae are highly commendable.

7. Dr Anukul Jana (b 1984), PhD, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad,

Hyderabad.

For his exploratory studies of low-valent low-coordinate main group compounds, their applications in developing novel catalysts and materials, and reactions of diradicals.

74

8. Dr Geetharani K (b1984), PhD, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

For her contributions to the development of cost effective and earth abundant metal catalysts for the synthesis of organoboranes as synthetic intermediates for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and functional materials.

9. Dr Siddhesh Shashikant Kamat (b 1985), PhD, Department of Biology, Indian Institute of

Science Education and Research, Pune.

For uncovering lipid changes in PHARC human disease where he showed important changes in lipase function. Currently he is mapping lipid epoxide changes during cellular oxidative stress. His collaborative help is significantly contributing in other areas of work involving lipid vesicle recycling and proteome charges.

10. Dr BidyaBinayKarak (b1984), PhD, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology,

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

For his fundamental contributions to our understanding of how the 11-year sunspot cycle is produced by the dynamo process. His work led to a comprehensive theory of the large fluctuations in the sunspot cycle, especially the Maunder minimum. He also carried out state-of-the-art 3D simulations of the dynamo process.

11. Dr Rohan Jayant Khadilkar (b1987), PhD, Department of Cellular and Physiological

Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Canada.

For uncovering mechanistic description of ARF1-ASrig mediated cross-talk in the endosomal pathway relevant for stem cell maintenance in Drosophilahematopoiesis. Interestingly the same interaction plays important role in NFKb pathway.

12. Dr Mudasir Ahmad Khanday (b 1985), PhD, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, USA.

For his research in vivo system in rats has advanced our knowledge in delineating the neurophysiological and neurochemical regulation of rapid eye movement sleep.

13. Dr Nikhil Kunjalli Lokesh (b 1988), PhD, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin.

For his work that unraveled the physiology and molecular basis of “early” and “late” chronotypes exhibited by circadian rhythms in Drosophila.

14. Dr Puneet Kumar Patra (b1988), PhD, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of

Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur.

For his innovative molecular simulation methods to study the energy transport in low-dimensional systems using molecular simulations, and the development of novel thermostats for non-equilibrium systems.

15. Dr Raghavendra S Patwardhan (b 1984), PhD, Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.

For his significant contributions in the field of radiation biology. He undertook exploration to search for radiation modifying strategies which would be of help to cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. He has identified baicalein and cholorophyllin as putative radio protectors with potential for immediate phase 1 trial.

75

16. Dr Rishi Raj (b 1984), PhD, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Patna.

For innovative techniques that significantly enhanced phase-change heat transfers in zero gravity environments.

17. Dr Irfan Rashid (b 1984), PhD, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir,

Srinagar.

For his outstanding research on implications of changing climate and other anthropogenic forcings on glacier dynamics & hazards, snow cover changes, land system-alpine vegetation dynamics, lake & wetland health over Jammu and Kashmir region.

18. Dr Namisha Sharma (b 1987), PhD, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New

Delhi.

For her significant contributions towards understanding the small RNA-mediated defense response in tomato against Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV). She demonstrated the novel role of miR159-MYB33 regulatory module in facilitating disease resistance by activating Sw5-mediated HR mechanism and also developed a novel method for developing transgenic tomato cultivars tolerant to ToLCNDV infection.

19. Dr Tarun Kumar Sharma (b1985), PhD, Center for Biodesign and Diagnostics, Translational Health Science & Technology Institute, Faridabad.

For his expertise in aptamer based diagnostics and his significant contributions in the field of TB diagnostics. These tests which appear to perform better than the existing nucleic acid amplification tests and antibody based ELISA are in the process of commercialisation. He is also involved in the process of developing aptamer based assay for detection of snake venom.

20. Dr Pallavi Singh (b 1985), PhD, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge,

Cambridge.

For her pioneering work to identify and delineate the key role of a mitogen activated protein kinase in conferring submergence tolerance in rice.

21. Dr Anjani Kumar Tiwari (b1986), PhD, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of

Technology Kanpur, Kanpur.

For innovative experiments on random lasing in scattering media and for devising methods to control lasing properties in interesting cavity geometries.

22. Dr Chandni U (b1985), PhD, Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, Indian

Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

For her innovative and challenging experimental work on electron transport in a variety of low-dimensional systems and structural transitions and critical phenomena in shape memory systems.

23. Dr Supradeepa VR (b 1984), PhD, Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian

Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

For development of efficient cascaded Raman fibre lasers with tunable wavelength for high power laser applications.

76

24. Dr Sneha Yadav (b1984), PhD, Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

For her outstanding contribution towards understanding of low latitude ionosphere specific to Indian longitudes under varying space weather conditions.

25. Dr Vikas Yadav (b1989), PhD, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke

University Medical Center, USA.

For his contributions in involvement of RNAi in Cryptococcus centromere structure and their dynamics.

INSA Young Historian of Science Award-2019 Dr Aditya Kolachana (b 1984), PhD, Research Scholar, Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. For his significant contributions to the advancement of studies in the history of Indian astronomy by way of analysing the unpublished manuscripts such as the Lagnaprakaraṇa of Mādhava, and the Candrārkī of Dinakara.

77

INSA TEACHER AWARDEES 2019

1. Professor Sankar Bose (b 1968),Department of Geology, Presidency University, Kolkata. For his significant contributions to teaching in Earth Science and mentoring students to pursue research. 2. Professor Goutam Brahmachari (b1969), Department of Chemistry, Siksha-Bhavana (Institute of Science), Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. For his noteworthy contributions in Chemistry education and teaching at Master‟s level. 3. Dr Raka Vasant Dabhade (b1965), Department of Physics, Fergusson College, Pune. Professor Raka Vasant Dabhade has enthused students at the undergraduate level, through an „Astro-Club‟ which has fostered the spirit of free enquiry and research. Her roles in outreach and in training students to engage in the same are exceptional. 4. Dr Sagarika Vivek Damle (b1967), Department of Life Sciences, KishinchandChellaram College, Mumbai. For initiating a unique UG research program. This, UGC approved, 18 months program has enabled many UG students to publish research papers on diverse topics such as RAPD analysis of plant diversity, analysis of phytochemicals in indigenous plants. She has involved students in plantation of indigenous species for urban greening. 5. Professor Sudipta De (b 1966), Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. For his teachings in emerging interdisciplinary areas, has inspired a large number of students. 6. Professor Paramartha Dutta (b 1966), Department of Computer and System Sciences, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. For inspiring a large number of students with his excellent teaching and research. 7. Professor Debashis Ghoshal (b 1964), School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. For integrating his research in fundamental Physics with teaching of a wide-ranging subjects, thereby mentoring students not only at his home institution but at other places also. He has played an outstanding role in identifying and nurturing research talent from across the country. 8. Professor Sanjay Kumar (b1966), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. For his continued excellence in Undergraduate Chemistry teaching to engineers. 9. Professor Rohit Manchanda (b 1964), Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. He is an accomplished teacher, communi-cator and an award-winning writer of fiction. He has used his communication skills to regularly give talks in schools and colleges for science popularization. He is rated highly by IIT students, and has won IIT Bombay Excellence in Teaching Award thrice.

78

10. Professor Neela Nataraj (b1968), Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. Professor Neela Nataraj has excelled in her teaching with her noteworthy contributions. 11. Dr S Sathyakumar (b 1965), Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. For his extraordinary teaching and motivational skills to draw young students to challenging areas of high altitude and mountain ecology; and Biodiversity conservation and management in trans-boundary landscapes.