Government’s Shift in Scientific Awards and Scholarly Influence

• In 2023, the Indian government replaced numerous awards conferred to scientists by various science ministries and institutes with the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP), a more defined set of awards with specific categories and well-defined eligibility criteria.
• The government announced the awards’ inaugural winners on August 7, but some scientists included in the list sent to the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) were omitted from the list.
• The PSA confirmed all procedures stipulated on the RVP website had been followed, but the page displaying the procedures was modified to include a new rule: the head of the RVP committee would “recommend” the final list to the Science Ministry.
• The government has been trying to shut down the threat of opposition to its policies and world view emanating from academia, a space the Hindutva programme has failed to breach by choking funding and revenue, using bad science or pseudoscience, interfering in administrative matters, and even using violence.
• The government’s attempts to understand the power of good scholarship and the spirit of studentship are criticized for failing to understand the power of good scholarship and the spirit of studentship.
• The government’s attempts to control the awarding process seem to be an attempt to bring scholars in line by hijacking their reward mechanisms. Stewardship of the awarding process is to be transferred to the Anusandhan National Research Foundation in a few years.