Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: DTE
Context: Twelve male scientists were awarded India’s top Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (SSB) for Science and Technology in 2022. The awards were announced at the inaugural session of the CSIR-NIScPR’s One Week One Lab Programme.
- However, no female scientists have been chosen for this year
- The awards were last announced in 2021
About the award and CSIR:
| Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize | Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) annual Prize for Science and Technology, established in 1957. Named after Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, the founder-director of CSIR. Since its inception, only 19 women scientists have been the recipients of the SSB award |
| About CSIR | Council of Scientific and Industrial Research was established by the Government of India in 1942 (HQ: New Delhi) as an autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and development organisation in India and also among the world’s largest publicly funded R&D organisations |
| Comprises 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Complexes, and 5 units. | |
| The Ministry of Science and Technology operates autonomously under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. | |
| Scope | Encompasses various fields including physics, genomics, nanotechnology, mining, aeronautics, and more; Conduct scientific and industrial/applied research of national importance |
| Structure | President: Prime Minister of India (Ex-officio); Vice President: Union Minister of Science and Technology (Ex-officio) |
| Initiatives | Addressing COVID-19 through technology verticals including diagnostics, drug repurposing, and more. |
| Developing indigenous technologies like Head-Up-Display for aircraft, solar trees for clean power, and lithium-ion battery fabrication. | |
| Agriculture initiatives such as Bacterial Blight blight-resistant rice, white-fly resistant cotton variety, and more. | |
| Healthcare projects like Genomics and other omics technologies for medical decision support and Ksheer-scanner for milk adulteration detection. | |
| Food and nutrition efforts including Double-Fortified Salt to address anemia. |
