Published Online on 10 December 2015

Proc Indian Natn Sci Acad 81 No. 5 December 2015 pp. 1245-1261  Printed in India.

ACADEMY NEWS

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (I), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The Annual General Meeting of the Academy was For his contributions to b-tagging at LEP and held during October 13-14, 2015 at IISER Mohali. establishing neural networks for particle physics During the two day’s event, several lectures by analyses. INYAS Fellows, a public lecture by Amod Vikraman Balaji (b 15.09.1962), PhD, Professor, Gupta, Department of Ophthalmology, PGIMER, Mathematical Institute, Kelambakkam. Chandigarh on Fostering Curiosity: A Primer in Promoting Scientific Temperament and a special For his major contributions to the theory of moduli lecture on The Dying Art of Writing and Reading by of vector bundles over curves and algebraic varieties Professor R Gadagkar, President INSA were delivered and for extending to higher dimensions the celebrated followed by the Council meeting. work of MS Narasimhan and CS Seshadri about the unitary representations of the fundamental groups of The Council announced the names of the algebraic curves and vector bundles over them. awardees of Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal (2016) and Etienne Wolff-Ramanujan Lecture Series- Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay (b 17.04.1968), PhD, 2015 to Nobel Laureate, Professor Venky Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Ramakrishnan, FNA, President of the Royal Society, For her contributions to genetic algorithm based London and to Professor , clustering with applications to image processing and President, INSA, respectively. computational . The Council at its meeting in October elected BV Rajarama Bhat (b 16.01.1966), PhD, Professor 34 Indian scientists as INSA Fellows, three overseas & Head, Stat-Math Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, scientists as Foreign Fellows and two scientists as Bengaluru. Pravasi Fellows. It also decided to offer the INSA Teachers Award to 12 outstanding teachers and INSA For his work relating to the theory of E-0-semigroup Young Historian of Science Award to two young to Hilbert C*-modules and for his subsequent work scholars. These are detailed below. on sum systems that led to significant extensions of Tsirelsen’s probabilistic constructions of such Fellows Elected 2015 (Effective from 01 January semigroups of type 2 and 3. 2016): Renee Maria Borges (b 25.02.1959), PhD, Professor (b 05.04.1965), PhD, Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Ecological Sciences, and Chair, and Genetics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru. For her novel findings in sensory ecology of nocturnal bees and significant contributions to the chemical For his discovery of genetic loci behind epilepsy and ecology of figs and fig wasps. hearing loss specific genes like EIG8 and HWE3 and Vani Brahmachari (b 06.06.1955), PhD, Professor, for showing the involvement of mutations in non- Epigenetics and Developmental Biology Group, Dr channel genes in epilepsy. BR Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, Tariq Aziz (b 02.04.1953), PhD, Senior Professor University of Delhi, Delhi. 1246 Academy News

For her understanding of epigenetic mechanisms of replicating helicase of H. pylori as a potential drug genomic imprinting and for discovering a novel target and for identifying key molecules in replication chromatin remodeling gene, INO 80. of P. falciparum and drugs that have shown promise in both in vitro and animal models. Asit Kumar Chakraborti (b 15.08.1954), PhD, Professor & Head of Department, Department of Kanak Lata Dikshit (b 01.07.1951), PhD, former Medicinal Chemistry, National Institute of Chief Scientist, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Punjab. Technology, Chandigarh.

For his notable contribution in unraveling the function For her life time contributions in the area of microbial of ionic liquids in catalysis and green synthetic hemoglobin through characterization of HbO in methodologies. Mycobacterium and her applied work on thrombolytic proteins leading to the development Niranjan Chakraborty (b 24.02.1958), PhD, Staff of a process which has been licensed to industry. Scientist-VII, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. (b 31.08.1970), PhD, Professor, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute For his work, using proteomics approach, on of Science, Bengaluru. molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to adverse environmental conditions leading to the For his contributions to understanding of structure- identification of differentially regulated organelle- function mechanisms controlling transcription in specific proteins for modulating responses of crops prokaryotes, using extra-cytoplasmic function sigma for better adaptation to stress. factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as model.

Charusita Chakravarty (b 05.05.1964), PhD, Gagandeep Kang (b 03.11.1962), PhD, Professor Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute and Head, The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, of Technology Delhi, New Delhi. Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore. For her significant contributions in the area of order- For her outstanding investigation in community trial disorder phase transitions and use of energy landscape of the Rota virus vaccine and being the key person in analysis in phase transition in bulk liquids and finite generating data relevant for policy makers, on disease clusters as well as implementation of quantum effects burden, vaccine efficacy and safety. in path-integral Monte Carlo calculation. Pulugurtha Bharadwaja Kirti (b 15.09.1953), PhD, Gautam Kumar Dey (b 08.06.1957), PhD, Professor Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, University & Dean-Academic (Engg. Sciences), Homi Bhabha of , Hyderabad. National Institute, BARC, Mumbai. For his work on somatic hybridization involving For his monumental work on zirconium based Indian mustard and its wild relatives that resulted in amorphous alloys and engineering materials such as useful male sterile lines, two of which have been zirconium and nickel based alloys and for employing utilized for developing commercial mustard hybrids a variety of novel TEM techniques to unfold complex and for his contribution to characterisation of defence microstructures. related gene in wild species of Arachis, which (b 06.03.1968), PhD, provided novel insights in defence response and has Professor, Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, practical relevance. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. (b 21.10.1967), PhD, Professor H, For his fundamental contributions to DNA replication Department of Condensed Matter Physics and in two human pathogens, Plasmodium falciparum and Materials Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Helicobacter pylori leading to identification of unique Research, Mumbai. Academy News 1247

For his outstanding contributions in materials Trivandrum Ramakrishnan Ramadas (b research using state-of-the-art electron spectroscopic 30.03.1955), PhD, Distinguished Professor, Chennai instrument and for discovering new routes to study Mathematical Institute, Kelambakkam. correlated electron systems which has unraveled For his path-breaking contributions to mathematical many long-standing issues in materials science. physics, algebraic geometry and their varied (b 01.01.1966), PhD, Staff intersections and for some of his influential works in Scientist VI, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and the areas of Chern-Simons gauge theory, Jones Diagnostics, Hyderabad. polynomials, moduli of vector bundles and Frobenius splitting. For her pioneering contributions to mechanistic understanding of hijacking of host signaling pathways Vivek Vinayak Ranade (b 15.10.1963), PhD, Deputy by M. tuberculosis proteins for its own benefit. Director and Chair, Chemical Engineering & Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Amlan Jyoti Pal (b 26.05.1960), PhD, Senior Laboratory, Pune. Professor, Department of Solid State Physics, Indian For his contribution to studies of multiphase flows Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata. in a variety of reactors. For his research on low dimensional structures- both Chebrolu Pulla Rao (b 13.05.1954), PhD, Institute ‘soft’ organic materials, as well as inorganic structures Chair Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian that has shown how these molecules can be organized Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. by supramolecular engineering and how these molecular arrangements may be exploited for For his significant contribution in bio-inorganic applications ranging from solar photovoltaics to mimetics using carbohydrate and calixarene based organic transistors and memory devices. ligands.

Amit Kumar Patra (b 20.04.1966), PhD, Scientist- Khareedu Venkateswara Rao (b 10.02.1958), PhD, SG, National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Professor, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tirupati. Osmania University, Hyderabad.

For his outstanding contributions towards the For his outstanding research on the development of influence of the coupled processes between the E and transgenic crops resistant to pests and pathogens and F regions on the development of plasma irregularities for isolating stress-inducible genes from pigeon pea in the low latitude ionospheric E region and for which would be useful for protecting crop plants observing new class of 150-km echoes due to small against abiotic stress. scale structures in the low latitude ionosphere and (b 26.01.1962), PhD, Staff for proposing an interchange instability process Scientist VII, National Institute of , New involving a descending metallic ion layer as a Delhi. generation mechanism. For his innovative contributions in the area of Thalappil Pradeep (b 08.07.1963), PhD, Institute chemical biology & biochemistry to develop novel Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute chemo-enzymatic strategies for applications in of Technology Madras, Chennai. protein engineering, elucidating the mechanistic details of sortase-catalyzed reactions and for revealing For his significant contributions in the area of material that macromolecular crowding can act as a driving chemistry, specially in the area of metal nanoparticles force for reverse proteolysis. and the novel applications of these for catalysis, water purification and other areas. Arvind Kesarilalji Sahu (b 19.06.1963), PhD, Scientist G, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune. 1248 Academy News

For his seminal contributions to the understanding For his major contributions to origin of Indian of how virally encoded complement regulator-like populations that can be classified into two divergent proteins protect viruses against the host’s complement groups and for discovering association of MyBp3 attack and for mapping the functional determinants mutation to cardiac myopathy and the association of and species specificity in viral complement RAF1 mutation with childhood cardiomyopathy regulators. among South Asians. Chitra Sarkar (b 11.09.1955), MBBS, MD, FRC Gaddemane Dyavappa Veerappa Gowda (b (Path), Professor, Department of Pathology, All India 20.07.1955), PhD, Professor, TIFR-Centre for Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Applicable Mathematics, Bengaluru. For her outstanding work on the pathobiology of brain For his fundamental work in the areas of hyperbolic tumors, particularly gliomas and has identified unique conservation laws, control theory and numerical molecular alterations in pediatric glioma and approximation of conservation laws and for obtaining oligodendroglioma. an explicit formula for the entropy weak solution of (b 01.05.1964), PhD, Professor, convex conservation laws with boundary conditions, Theoretical Sciences Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre extending the earlier work of Hopf and Lax for the for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru. initial value problem. For his seminal contributions to the study of glass- (b 24.06.1966), PhD, Head, forming liquids, glasses, and other structurally Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of arrested states and to the phase behavior of liquid Technology Kanpur, Kanpur. water and silicon. For his significant contributions in conceptualizing Surinder Mohan Sharma (b 15.04.1952), PhD, new approaches to bio-mimetic soft materials and DAE Distinguished Scientist & Director, Physics synthetic models of protein aggregation. Group & Head, High Pressure & Synchrotron Radiation Physics Division, Purnima Laboratories, Foreign Fellows Elected 2015 (Effective from 01 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. January 2016): For his sustained work on studying materials under Jonathan R Ellis (b. 1946), Scientist, Clerk Maxwell extreme environments that has established some Professor of Theoretical Physics, Physics unique phase transitions, particularly high pressure Department, King’s College, Strand, London WC2R amorphization and for developing three synchrotron 2LS, UK. beam lines, namely X-ray diffraction under extreme For his contributions in the research fields of particle conditions, protein crystallography and IR absorption. physics, astrophysics, cosmology and quantum Dinesh Kumar Srivastava (b 20.06.1952), PhD, gravity. His novel ideas helped in the discovery of Distinguished Scientist & Director, Variable Energy the gluon. He pioneered phenomenological studies Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata. of supersymmetry and dark matter, string models, quantum gravity and the Higgs boson, and helped to For his pioneering work on the electromagnetic set up the CERN India Cooperation Programme with signatures of the formation of quark-gluon plasma in DST. relativistic collisions of nuclei and for the formation of quark-gluon plasma, evaluation of its temperature Mriganka Sur (b. 1953), Newton Professor of and the understanding of its spectra. Neuroscience and Director, Simons Center for the Kumarasamy Thangaraj (b 02.06.1963), PhD, Social Brain, Department of Brain and Cognitive Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-Centre for Cellular Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. Cambridge, USA. Academy News 1249

For his work on plasticity dynamics of the cerebral INSA Teachers Award 2015 cortex, experimental and computational approaches Professor Sanjeeva Reddy Cherkupally (b to neural networks and processing, cognitive 01.08.1955), Department of Chemistry, Kakatiya neuroscience and developmental disorders of the University, Warangal. brains. His demonstration of the visual and auditory system complementarily is a path breaking event in Professor Cherkupally Sanjeeva Reddy’s innovative neuroscience. and inspiring teaching and meticulous organization of seminars led the students take up careers in science Ronald Vale (b. 1959), Professor and Chair, and technology. His utmost care in shaping the young Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology minds of economically/socially backward students, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute awareness programs conducted at his own expenses (HHMI), The University of California, San Francisco, in rural areas about health, environment, female USA. education, and eradication of religious/superstitious For his pioneer discovery of motor proteins and beliefs show his quest in propagating science. understanding of their structure and function Professor Seema Jaggi (b 11.09.1965), Principal using single molecule biophysics. He is deeply Scientist, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics committed to developing high quality resources for Research Institute, New Delhi. science education and has pioneered iBioseminars, a source for online lectures in biology by eminent Professor Seema Jaggi has introduced several scientists from all over the world and innovative methods of teaching which includes use “microscopy4kids”, a project to supply microscope of audiovisual aids and on-line resources developed with digital camera for school education. an ‘eLearn Agriculture’ portal and a number of e- resources. She has developed new techniques and web Pravasi Fellows Elected 2015 (Effective from 01 solutions useful for students and researchers in January 2016): teaching and research work, published quality research papers and teaching/ training manuals. Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj (b. 1944), Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford Dr Sushama Dilip Joag (b 12.10.1953), Associate University, Stanford, USA. Professor & Head, Department of Chemistry, P.E.S’s Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce, For his contributions in wireless communications, in Pune. particular the development of MIMO technology, a practical technique for simultaneously sending and With a brilliant career, Dr Sushama Joag adopted receiving several data signals on the same radio teaching profession and with honesty tried to imbibe channel. This has revolutionized high speed wireless interest and love for science in undergraduate and services, and is at the core of the current high speed postgraduate students through clarity of concepts, WiFi and 4G mobile phones. integrated approach using modern pedagogy, self- developed teaching aids, and innovative co-curricular (b. 1968), Staff Scientist & programmes. She also extended her knowledge and Group Leader, International Centre for Genetic teaching skills to the school level. Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. Professor Prakash Keshavamurthy (b 14.07.1960), For his contributions in understanding the structural Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Sri principles that define molecular functions of malarial Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysuru. parasite’s proteins. His work on exploring novel targets for structure based drug design against malaria Dr K Prakash has practiced many novel methods of is commendable. teaching through which he is also trying to establish a close link between teaching and research, which 1250 Academy News have become inseparable parts of his professional life. researchers who always inspired to develop scientific He has co-authored a book titled “Geotechnical temper or ‘junoon’ and to ensure correct oral as well Engineering Characterisation of Coal Ashes”, which as written communication of scientific concepts. He is well received and is considered a valuable reference has devoted his entire career of 38 years for the book for post graduate studies. achievements for students of different levels from school to the university. Professor Rabindra Kishore Mishra (b 08.09.1963), Electronic Science Department, Professor Abbas Akbarali Rangwala (b Berhampur University, Odisha. 16.04.1938), Adjunct Faculty, Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai. Professor Rabindra Kishore Mishra is an excellent teacher who involves students totally in his subject Professor Abbas Akbarali Rangawala has interacted through careful preparation, technique, and strongly with students, in and outside the classroom, enthusiasm for subject with personal warmth, encouraging, arguing, and disagreeing with their intellectual vigour and pleasure in teaching. Despite physics and their ideas on life. He is an inspiration to being busy with research and administration he never others not only for teaching but also about how to gives impression of not having time to help students. give maximum to the students and to the society within the constraints of the system. Professor Joydip Mukhopadhyay (b 17.08.1963), Head, Department of Geology, Presidency University, Professor Teegavarapu Ramakrishna Rao (b Kolkata. 09.08.1939), Visiting Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Professor Joydip Mukhopadhyay has been teaching Education and Research, Mohali. geology for nearly three decades. He follows an intense interactive mode of teaching in order to Professor Rao in his 35-year teaching career has develop the skill of scientific reasoning among his transformed Ecology courses, which were students. He made fundamental contribution in traditionally viewed as a dull and descriptive by understanding the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere. biology students, into exciting and challenging His students unequivocally reaffirm his contribution subjects by his innovative teaching methods. He as teacher, guide and mentor. credits his teaching skills and the quality of the courses taught by him to the constructive feedbacks Dr Tushar Chaitanya Pandya (b 19.08.1961), that he receives from the students. Associate Professor, Department of Physics, St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad. Professor Ramajayam Sahadevan (b 26.07.1955), Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Dr Tushar Pandya is an excellent teacher and good Mathematics, University of Madras, Chennai. research worker. His popularity among the students is a reflection of the quality of his teaching and his Professor Ramajayam Sahadevan is an inspiring and commitment to the students. He is always passionate teacher who instills in students a desire to approachable and inspiring the students to take up study and learn mathematics. He is also an active careers in science. He is a fellow of Gujarat Science scholar and has made seminal contributions to the Academy and working for the popularization of theory of nonlinear differential equations. He is science since many years. passionate about helping students who struggle to understand the discipline’s abstract concepts. Professor Ravi Parkash (b 04.03.1950), Professor Emeritus (CSIR), Department of Genetics, Maharshi Professor Krishna Kumar Vellat (b 05.11.1948), Dayanand University, Rohtak. Visiting Professor, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar. As a teacher, Professor Ravi Parkash has aimed to follow the footprints of his dedicated teachers and Professor Krishna Kumar Vellat, worked closely with Academy News 1251 his students at , grooming He congratulated the founding members and and motivating many of them to pursue research of introduced the concept of the young academies to high standards in mathematics. This also improved the audience. Dr Anindita Bhadra, Chairperson, the mathematics education in North Kerala through INYAS, briefly spoke about the dreams of the his students who entered teaching profession. founding members about the future of the academy. Professor Krishna continues to teach at NISER, She mentioned that the founding members had met Bhubaneswar, passionately, inspiring his students in at INSA in June to elect the core committee, and this Fortieth Year of Teaching. decided to promote the philosophy of science among children and common people, and to help young INSA Young Historian of Science Award 2015 scientists in India to network among themselves and Dr K Mahesh (b 31.12.1980), PhD, Research with young scientist across the world through Associate, Science & Heritage Initiative - SandHi, international programs of the Global Young Academy, Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit, which has already recognized the INYAS, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai included it in its global map. After this brief introductory session, the following six talks were For his excellant appraisal of the proof of the Surface delivered. Area of a Sphere given by Bhaskaracharya in his famous work Siddhantasiromani (12 Centuary CE). Plus or minus? With connections to a 1000 year old unsolved problem by UK Anandavardhanan, IIT Dr Rohit Sharma (b 19.07.1986), PhD, Assistant Bombay Professor, Abhilashi Ayurvedic College and Research Institute, Abhilashi University, Mandi, Himachal Dr Anandavardhanan’s talk, though based in pure Pradesh. mathematics and dealing with one of the oldest problems in mathematics was lucid and tailored for For his analytico-pharmaco-clinical studies on the the non-specialized audience. He spoke of the role of Bhavana Samskara on Guduchi (Tinospora congruent number problem, and discussed this cordifolia) Churna and its effect in controlling problem in relation to the question of fixing the sign Madhumeha (Type 2 Diabetes) based on ancient of certain arithmetic quantities. Indian texts. Climate Change: What Can We Learn From Past? Report on the symposium ‘Numbers, Dogs, Stars by Rajeev Saraswat, NIO, Goa and much more…’ organized by INYAS at the INSA AGM held at IISER Mohali on October 14th, Dr Saraswat, involved in investigations of climate 2015 dynamics, informed the audience that though the increase in global temperatures post industrialization Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS), is unequivocally attributed to anthropogenic founded at the GBM of INSA in 2014, came into greenhouse gas emissions, natural climatic changes formal existence in May 2015 with the selection of have also been causing drastic changes in atmospheric its 20 founding members by INSA. INYAS was asked green-house gas concentrations. A precise to organize the scientific symposium at the Annual reconstruction of the earth’s past can provide General Meeting of INSA, hosted by IISER Mohali, information regarding various feed-back mechanisms, in October 2015. The symposium was aimed to especially the climate sensitivity to changes in green- showcase the academic diversity and strength of the house gas concentrations. The archives of past climate newly founded young academy. Accordingly, INYAS include corals, tree rings, ice cores and marine decided on talks by six of its members working in a sediments, which provide a well preserved, different fields. continuous and long-term record of past climate. Dr The symposium began with opening remarks by Saraswat spoke of how his team studies biotic remains Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar, President, INSA. in marine sediments to reconstruct past climate. Their 1252 Academy News research suggests that warming is not only a modern which allows him to study a variety of theories and trend but the earth has experienced warmer waters the links between them – a particularly interesting than today in the past also. case being the surprisingly close ties between gravity and Yang-Mills theory. Physics and Chemistry of Spintronic Nanocrystals by Ranjani Viswanatha, JNCASR, Cooperation and conflict in dog families by Anindita Bhadra, IISER Kolkata Dr Viswanatha works in field of spintronics, an interface of chemistry and physics. She spoke of the Dr Bhadra, who works on street or free-ranging dogs, challenging difficulties in producing the spoke about the social dynamics of dog groups being semiconductors with a small percentage of magnetic studied by her group for the last six years. She talked dopants, the materials most preferred for spintronics. about a series of experiments carried out to test the Her own work aims at the synthesis of uniformly well-known theory of parent-offspring conflict in the doped semiconductor nanocrystals with a context of dogs. Their work revealed interesting constructive use of diffusion of dopants out of the conflict between the mother and her pups beyond the nanocrystal with a wide range of dopants like Mn, stage of weaning suggesting that after weaning, the Fe, Co and Ni. Her work is showing promising results, mother tends to more concerned in replenishing her with interesting and extremely important magnetic, energy reserves for investing in future offspring, optical and magneto-optical responses compared to rather than in the current offspring. Interestingly, there earlier materials. seems to be cooperation between related females, as sometimes females tend to take care of each other’s Evolution of Indian Astronomy: From “Verses” pups. Thus the dogs present an interesting social to “Phrases” by Venkateshwara R. Pai, SASTRA system, with both cooperation and conflict present University, Thanjavur within family groups. Dr Pai, a historian of astronomy gave a fascinating AWARD LECTURES talk on the journey of numbers and numbers systems used in India since the time of Aryabhatta. He spoke Professor Krishna Sahai Bilgrami Memorial of verses and phrases that were used in the ancient Medal (2015): Dr Yadvinder Singh, INSA Senior times to denote astronomical sums, and the pros and Scientist, Department of Soil Science, Punjab cons of each system. His talk, with a generous Agricultural University, Ludhiana delivered Professor sprinkling of Sanskrit explained in English by Dr Pai Krishna Sahai Bilgrami Memorial Medal Lecture on kept the audience engaged through the discussion of Managing Crop Residues for Nutrient Cycling, the evolution of number systems in India. Improving Crop Productivity and Reducing Air Relating the forces of Nature by Sudarshan Ananth, IISER Pune Although Quantum field theory can produce mixed reactions in an audience of diverse scientific backgrounds, Dr Ananth held the attention of the audience while talking of his own explorations in the arena of quantum field theory. Three of the four forces of Nature, he said, are described by quantum Yang– Mills theory with remarkable precision. However, the fourth force, gravity, described classically by the Einstein-Hilbert theory, lacks a consistent quantum description. He described a purely symmetry-based Dr Yadvinder Singh delivering Professor Krishna Sahai Bilgrami framework used to derive quantum field theories, Memorial Medal Lecture (2015) at IARI, New Delhi Academy News 1253

Pollution at IARI, New Delhi on October 28, 2015. INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Professor GN Ramachandran 60th Birthday Nominations/Election of Indian scientists for Commemoration Medal (2015): Dr Amitabha various positions at International Council for Chattopadhyay, Outstanding Scientist, CSIR-Centre Science (ICSU) and its different Unions for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad l Professor Ajit K Kembhavi, Inter University delivered Professor GN Ramachandran 60th Birthday Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune Commemoration Medal Lecture on Lessons from has been elected as Vice-President, International GPCR-Cholesterol Crosstalk: Implications for Astronomical Union (IAU) for the term 2015- Health and Disease at Guha Centre for Genetic 2018. Engineering and Biotechnology (GCGEB), Kolkata on November 6, 2015. l Professor VP Dimri, Distinguished Scientist, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Professor Vishwa Nath Memorial Lecture (2009): Institute, Hyderabad has been nominated for the Professor , Senior Professor and Dean membership of International Union of Geodesy of Studies, Bose Institute, Kolkata delivered Professor & Geophysics (IUGG) Capacity Building and Vishwa Nath Memorial Lecture on Defining the Education Committee for the term 2015-2019. Pathway of Transcription Initiation at Guha Centre l Professor RB Singh, Delhi School of for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Economics, Delhi University has been (GCGEB), Kolkata on November 6, 2015. nominated for the membership of ICSU The Satyendranath Bose Medal (2015): Professor Scientific Committee for ‘Health and Wellbeing J Maharana, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar in the Changing Urban Environment: a Systems delivered the Satyendranath Bose Medal Lecture on Analysis Approach’ for the term 2016-2018 and String Theory at Indian Institute of Technology has also been re-nominated for the position of Madras, Chennai on November 17, 2015. Vice-President, International Geographical Union (IGU) for the term 2016-2020. Professor Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar Memorial Lecture (2015): Professor SK Khanduja, Indian Workshop/ Symposia/ Conference supported by Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), the Academy Mohali delivered Professor Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar l Professor Chitra Mandal, Acting Director, J.C. Memorial Lecture on Irreducible Polynomials at Bose National Fellow, Head, CSIR-Innovation IISER, Mohali on November 18, 2015. Complex, Kolkata attended AASSA International Symposium on Global Health Issues in Asia during October 19-21, 2015 hosted by Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology in Daejeon, Korea. l The International Conference on Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringienis (BACILLUS ACT 2015) was organized by National Committee for International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) during October 27-31, 2015 at New Delhi. l A workshop on ‘Big and Open Data’ was jointly Professor SK Khanduja receiving the citation of the award lecture from Professor N Sathyamurthy, FNA. Professor organized by INSA-CODATA National RC Mahajan, FNA was also present on the occasion Committee and Indian Institute of Public 1254 Academy News

Administration in academy premises during SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS DURING November 5-6, 2015. Effective exploitation of SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2015 Big Data depends fundamentally upon the Ø The Joint Session of IAP Executive Committee, international culture of ‘Open Data’ which IAC Board and IAMP Executive Committee involves sharing of data and their availability were held during September 28-30, 2015 in for re-use and re-purposing. It not only offers Academy premises. Around 51 delegates novel possibilities for commercial innovation, including Presidents of IAP/IAC/IAMP member but also for greater involvement of a wider academies, representatives, delegations, ranges of stakeholders and citizens in co- observers and invited guests participated in the production of knowledge, and for deeper event. There were two joint sessions and one democratic engagement with the ways that closed meeting of the Inter Academy knowledge is created and used. Partnership Board. Overseas Visits by INSA Delegations During this event, the following two key note l Professor SC Lakhotia, Vice-President, INSA addresses were delivered: visited China to participate in the IAMP Symposium on Exploring Traditional Medicine l Dr Dinakar M Salunke, Vice-President INSA held during September 23-24, 2015 in Beijing. & Executive Director, Regional Centre for l Dr Anindita Bhadra, Assistant Professor, IISER, Biotechnology, Faridabad delivered a lecture on Kolkata & Chair, INYAS attended on November Bioclusters for translating biotechnology for 4, 2015 the IAP-Hungarian Academy of societal needs: ongoing Indian experiments on Sciences Young Scientists’ a side event of the September 28, 2015. World Science Forum held during November l Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific 4-7, 2015 on the theme: The Enabling Power Adviser to the Government of India delivered a of Science held in Budapest, Hungary. talk on Science Advice to Governments: Role l Professor R Gadagkar, President INSA, on the of PSA’s Office on September 29, 2015. invitation of Korean Academy of Science & Technology (KAST), visited Korea to Ø Dr Arun Kumar Kallare Puttaraje Gowda, Head, participate in 2015 Inter Academy Seoul Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Centre for Science Forum (IASSF) held during November DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics, Hyderabad 11-12, 2015. attended the 12th Annual Meeting of Science l The Academy nominated 16 INSA Fellows to and Technology in Society (STS) forum as attend the 13th General Conference and 26th Future Leader held during October 4-6, 2015. General Meeting of The World Academy of He also attended a special event on Dialogue Sciences (TWAS) which was held at Vienna, between Nobel Laureates and Future Leaders Austria during November 18-21, 2015. on October 3, 2015 in Kyoto, Japan.

Support for Visiting Scientists during September- Ø The Inter Academy Exchange Committee at its November 2015 meeting on October 15, 2015 selected 58 Indian l 24 Indian scientists were supported by the INSA scientists to visit abroad under the various for attending various international conferences bilateral exchange programmes. The Committee abroad. also selected one distinguished senior scientist l Eight Indian and nine foreign scientists visited for the INSA Chair named after Professor PC abroad under INSA Bilateral Exchange Ray and one middle level outstanding scientist Programme. for INSA Chair named after Dr BP Pal. Academy News 1255

History of Science Seminar and Meeting of international traditional medicinal system since time National Commission immemorial. Professor Nagendra Kumar Singh (IARI, Delhi) talked on mango focussing on its origin, A seminar on The Indian Heritage: a Genomic View diversity and genome sequence, which are expected under the convenorship of Professor Partha P to fast track the improvement mango varieties for Majumder, Director, National Institute of Biomedical higher productivity, disease resistance and better Genomics, Kalyani was organized at IICT, quality. The paper of Ray Ming (University of Illinois, Hyderabad, during October 8-10, 2015. USA) on sacred lotus, an ornamental plant having The theme of the seminar was planned and agricultural, medicinal, cultural and religious coordinated by Partha P Majumder importance was presented by Professor Majumder (National Institute of Biomedical Genomics) and D in Dr Ming’s absence. Dr TNC Vidya (JNCASR, Balasubramanian (Chairman, Research Council for Bengaluru) spoke on Asian elephant which has shared History of Science), FNA. During the inaugural a long and rich cultural relationship with humans, session Professor Majumder provided a perspective but is now endangered in the country, largely because of the seminar while Professor Balasubramanian of its habitat loss. Dr Sandeep Sharma (Smithsonian presented a brief account of India’s rich biodiversity Conservation Biology Institute, Washington) spoke and its cultural and heritage significance. The seminar about India’s national animal tiger and its ecosystem was also addressed by Professors S Chandrasekhar, across India and how its habitat degradation and Director IICT and C Mohan Rao, Director, CCMB. fragmentation along with organized hunting and Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar, President INSA illegal poaching has reduced the population to an all- and Chairman, Indian National Commission for time low of less than 2000 individuals. Samuel History of Science could not attend the seminar due Zschokke (University of Basel, ) made to some unavoidable circumstances. comparative study of the Indian (or Greater One- horned) rhinoceros, one of only five extant rhinoceros The seminar covered the history of genetic species living exclusively in India (mainly Assam) researches of diverse species of flora and fauna native and in Nepal. His lecture addressed questions like to India. Professor HY Mohan Ram, (Srinivasa how genetically distinct are the two populations, and Ramanujan Professor, INSA) presented a short list how large are their genetic diversities. Dr Analabha of plants, the Indians have valued for their well-being, Basu (National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, culture and esteem. The talk covered the origin, use Kalyani) provided genetic evidence of how India may and heritage significance of banyan (Ficus have been populated, the nature and extent of its benghalensis), the national tree of India, neem genetic diversity and genetic structure among the (Azhadiracta indica), sandalwood (Santalum album), extant populations of India using the uniparental amla (Emblica officinalis), coconut palm (Cocos markers like mtDNA and Y-chromosome. nucifera), parijata or shefalika (Nyctanthes arbor- tristis) and haldi (Curcuma longa), the most common The presentations by the history of science household spice. Lecture on iconic fauna by Professor project investigators were followed after the seminar Raman Sukumar, (IISc, Bangalore) covered the on October 9th, in which the progress reports of the genomic history of elephant, tiger and insects such on-going projects and new proposals received for as ants, honey bee and praying mantis. Professor support were presented. This was followed by the Akhilesh Tyagi’s talk on rice genome dwelt mainly joint meeting of Indian National Commission and on origin, domestication and improved production Research Council in which seventeen ongoing of rice through decoding of its genomic sequences. projects were renewed and seven new proposals were Dr Ajit Kumar Shasany (CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow) approved. The meeting concluded with the selection spoke on the importance and use of holy basil (tulsi) of two INSA Young Historian of Science awardees as an important ingredient in Indian and some for the year 2015. 1256 Academy News

SCIENCE & SOCIETY PROGRAMME Besides IACS, I visited as per the original plan, to other Kolkata based premier academic institutions The Academy has established an Inter Academy Panel such as SNBNCBS, CGCRI and SINP. Among these on ‘Ethics in Science’. The Panel is expected to institutions, the lab/facility visit and in depth develop guidelines for ethical conduct of science interactions with Professor A Barman of SN Bose which will be adopted by all the Academies and other Institute on ‘measurement of magnetization dynamics research institutes across the country. The first of thin nanostructured magnetic alloy films through meeting of this committee was held on September time resolved magnetooptic kerr measurements 18, 2015 at IASc, Bengaluru. (TRMOKE)’ and Dr D Bhattacharyya of CGCRI on INSA Chairs Awardees ‘fabrication and characterization of thin film devices constituted of multi layers of nanostructured Professor AS Paintal Chair Award (2015-16) multiferroic composites’ seem to forge fruitful near to long term research collaborations between premier Report by Professor Saibal Roy, Science Irish (Tyndall National Institute/UCC) and Indian Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator, Head of Institutes. It is also been envisaged that we would Micropower Systems and Nanomagnetics Micro- submit joint research proposal/s to the forthcoming nano-systems Center, Tyndall National Institute, Ireland-India joint call administered by Science University College Cork, Ireland: foundation Ireland (SFI), Ireland and Department of It was a great pleasure and honour for me to Science and Technology (DST), India. receive the coveted award of AS Paintal Chair With the above in context, I would consider my Professor in engineering from the Indian National visit was not only quite successful, also beneficial to Science Academy (INSA) to visit some of the premier both Irish and Indian relevant scientific communities. academic/research institutions in India during 2015- 2016 and thereby forge potential academic/research Dr BP Pal Chair Award (2015-16) collaborations between Tyndall National Institute in Ireland and some of the faculties of visited leading Report by Professor Neelima R Sinha, Department institutions in India in mutually beneficial research of Plant Biology, University of California, USA: areas. Within this aforementioned program, I was The INSA Dr BP Pal Chair award facilitated hosted by Professor Dipankar Chakravorty, for the my visit to several institutions in India where I major portion of my visit and was invited to deliver interacted with students and faculty, learnt about AS Paintal Chair talk at IACS, Kolkata. During my research ongoing at these institutions, forged new stay in July/August 2015, besides delivering AS collaborations (Drs Sandip Das, Geeta and I are Paintal chair lecture at IACS, I have had extensive analyzing data for a proposed publication) and interactions with the various faculties of IACS. initiated plans for future visits to run workshops and Among them, the interactions with Professor D began plans for an international conference in Chakravorty, MLS Unit on some collaborative conjunction with scientists at IISER Pune. research on ‘next generation nanostructured magnetic materials capable of operating at high frequency At Delhi University, I (along with a former Post- (MHz - GHz) particularly focussing on antennae doc and now faculty at NIPGR, Dr Aashish Ranjan) applications’ and the discussion with Professor SK taught a workshop on experimental design and data Saha, Materials Science Department on ‘possible analysis considerations in large-scale genomics measurements of some of the anomalous phenomena projects. The workshop was primarily for students, observed in nano graphene sheets, which could be but many faculty attended, and this workshop led to further delineated by potential measurements of their several one-on-one discussions with students and relaxation behaviour at low temperature’ at Tyndall faculty on specifics of their own projects. While at National Institute in Ireland seem noteworthy. DU, I was also happy to interact with many female Academy News 1257 graduate students and give them advice and feedback The visit in Kolkata was most fruitful. It enabled on their specific concerns as they pursue a career in me to pursue an exciting collaboration with Professor Biological sciences. At IISc, Bangalore I presented Anjan Kundu from the Saha Institute for Nuclear two research talks, including one on high throughput Physics on a project involving two other external field phenotyping that generated much interest and collaborators, from France and the UK. This exchange of ideas). I interacted with numerous faculty international collaboration is the result of my visit. and students and discussed with Dr Usha The concrete output is a preprint available at http:// Vijayraghavan the possibility of teaching a short arxiv.org/abs/1510.01173: “Lagrangian and course. We will explore specifics and funding sources Hamiltonian structures in an integrable hierarchy in the near future. I also visited the NCBS campus in and space-time duality”, Jean Avan, Vincent Bangalore and met with faculty and students there. Caudrelier, Anastasia Doikou, Anjan Kundu. The The final part of my formal visit schedule was a trip paper is currently being reviewed for publication. It to IISER, Pune. There I was asked to give a lecture establishes new important result in the theory of the for undergraduate and graduate students and classical r-matrix approach of classical integrable presented a talk titled “Biology in the 21st Century”. systems and is the basis for further investigations Several faculty attended this talk and this prompted about multidimensional integrable systems. those teaching in the beginning Biology curriculum I spent most of my time as a visitor at the Bose at IISER to meet with me and exchange ideas on Centre, which also gave me the excellent opportunity teaching methods. Several students presented their to meet and interact with Professor P Guha. What research to me and I was able to offer opinions and started with informal discussions about our research advice to them on the best way to take their projects interests developed gradually into a deeper sharing to completion. My host, Dr Anjan Banerjee, and I of ideas on some common interests, like the geometric discussed the possibility of organizing an approach to classical field theory and, more international Plant Developmental Biology particularly, to integrable systems. Symposium at IISER Pune and we are exploring funding sources. I ended my visit with a research Towards the end of my stay, I spend a few days presentation at NIPGR, Delhi, and interactions with in New Delhi, thanks to the kind hospitality of students and faculty there. I thank INSA for making Professor Ramaswamy. I gave a seminar at Jawaharlal this wonderful visit possible. Nehru University, where my local contact was Professor Debashis Ghoshal, and at Delhi University, Dr V Ramalingaswami Chair Award (2015-16) where Professor Debajyoti Choudhury organised the Report by Dr Vincent Caudrelier, Department of local logistics. It was a privilege to deliver a talk at Mathematics, City University London: those places and to meet many scientists.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the hospitality I am very grateful to all the peoples and bodies of the Bose Centre and the Saha Institute in Kolkata that have made my visit possible and so nice and as well as the kind invitations from the Jawaharlal fruitful: an international collaboration was created Nehru University and Delhi University in New Delhi between three countries (India, UK and France) and during my visit as the Dr Ramalingaswami INSA four people and one paper is being reviewed for Chair 2015 in Kolkata from June 23 to July 28. I also publication. want to warmly thank the INSA for this award and Professor Anjan Kundu for nominating me in the first place. 1258 Academy News

AWARD & HONOUR TO INSA FELLOWS Professor Janardan Nanda, INSA Honorary Scientist, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi has been awarded the Khosla National Award 2015 for his Life Time Achievements in Science and Technology at IIT Roorkee held on October 3, 2015.

Professor Nanda being felicitated with Khosla National Award 2015 at IIT Roorkee

RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE 20th century. It contains papers on researches on ACADEMY physical concepts in India, Kanney Lall Dey and indigenous drug development, Sir Asutosh and rise Proceedings of the Indian National Science of modern science, doctoral research of PC Ray, D.M. Academy Bose’s contribution to cosmic rays research, Volume 81, No.4 (September 2015) issue of development of NMR, electrochemistry and William Proceedings has been published. This issue is a Grove’s contributions, Nepal-India Earthquake of thematic issue on “Science Based Technologies for August 26, 1833, Rabies, anti-rabies vaccine, Sustainable and Adequate Energy for India” and is mathematical Sciences during second world war, edited by Professors , Indranil Manna and doctorate degrees from India during 1904 to 1920. It U Kamachi Mudali as Guest Editors. This issue also contains project report, book reviews and news contains 24 review articles besides the Editorial and in the areas of history of science. foreword by Professor CNR Rao. Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Indian Journal of History of Science (IJHS) (IJPAM)

Volume 50, No. 3 (September 2015) of the 50th Volume 46, No. 5 (October 2015) issue of IJPAM Anniversary of IJHS has been published. The issue has been published. highlights the features of science and technology in Academy News 1259

OBITUARY Syed Zahoor Qasim

Haridas Banerjee Syed Zahoor Qasim (b 31 December 1926; d 20 Haridas Banerjee (b 01 May October 2015) obtained his 1935; d 15 November 2015) DSc from School of Marine obtained his PhD from Indian Sciences, University of Institute of Technology, Wales, UK. On return to Kharagpur, specializing in India, he joined as Reader in theoretical high-energy the Department of Zoology, physics. He served as Senior AMU. Later he joined Professor in Theoretical Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai as Physics Division, Saha Professor where he later became its Director in 1970. Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. He was also the Director of National Institute of Professor Banerjee studied the polarization Oceanography, Goa till 1974. Thereafter, he worked effect in Mott scattering, bremsstrahlung and as Secretary, Government of India, Department of photoelectric phenomenon. Professor Banerjee Environment (1981); Department of Ocean proposed new hadronic sum rules based on rho- Development (1982-88); Vice-Chancellor, Jamia dominance and forward and backward dispersion Millia Islamia Central University (1989-91); Member relations and also established a connection between (Science), Planning Commission (1991-96); then covariant and consistent chiral anomalies in gauge (1996-2007) as Chairman, Board of Governors, Delhi theories of fermions. His research showed the claim Institute of Technology (renamed as Netaji Subhas of inconsistency of SU(2) gauge theory of Weyl Institute of Technology) and also as Vice-Chairman, fermions to be untenable, and proposed a novel Society for Indian Ocean Studies; and Chairman, description of Dirac fermion in Euclidean metric Centre for Environmental Studies, New Delhi (2007). which evades the two outstanding problems of QCD- Professor Qasim made pioneering contributions strong CP-problem and U(1)-dilemma. in oceanography and fisheries. He promoted ocean Professor Banerjee was a member of the research in its totality in India and was responsible Editorial Board of well-known International Journal for building up the infrastructure and facilities for of Physics. He was a Fellow, National Academy of marine and Antarctic research. He initiated polar Sciences (India), Allahabad and Indian Physical research in India and ensured its growth resulting in Society. processing the data, samples and materials collected from Antarctica. Professor Qasim was the first to Professor Haridas Banerjee was elected to the indicate the potential role of aquaculture and Fellowship of Indian National Science Academy in promoted the technology of cultured pearls. He also the year 1990 and was INSA Senior Scientist during led the first expedition to explore deep sea 1995-2000. polymetallic nodules in the Indian Ocean.

Professor Qasim received several awards and honors including Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal of INSA, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Lal Bahadur Shastri Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan from Government of India, Oceanology International Lifetime Achievement Award, UK, first National Ocean Science and Technology Award by Government of India, Asian Society Gold Medal, SOFTI Biennial Award by the Society of Fisheries 1260 Academy News

Technologists (India), and Lifetime Achievement Malaria Research (1982-98) and Additional Director- Award, Indian Science Congress. He was President General, ICMR (1998). After superannuation, he held of the National Academy of Sciences (India), the position of Distinguished Fellow of NASI at the Allahabad (1983-84) and General President of the Centre for Rural Development and Technology, IIT Indian Science Congress (1993-94). He was elected Delhi and later was ICMR-NASI Professor for Public Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Health Research. Bangalore; National Academy of Sciences (India), Dr Sharma was deeply interested in chemo- and Allahabad; National Academy of Agricultural radio-sterilization of mosquitoes for their eradication. Sciences, New Delhi and the Academy of Sciences He developed technique of sex separation of for the Developing World (TWAS). mosquitoes that won him National Inventions Award. Professor Syed Zahoor Qasim was elected to He is known for his work on the bioenvironmental the Fellowship of the Indian National Science malaria control. He made original contributions in Academy in the year 1977 and served as its Vice- vector biology and its control. President during 1985-86. Dr Sharma was conferred many awards including Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, BR Ambedkar Centenary Award, Om Prakash Bhasin Award and Life Time Achievement Award by Indian Vinod Prakash Sharma (b 06 Society for Malaria and other Communicable April 1938; d 09 October Diseases. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic 2015) obtained his DPhil and Society; National Academy of Sciences (India), DSc degrees from Allahabad Allahabad; Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore University. He was later a and Indian Society for Malaria and other Postdoctoral Research Communicable Diseases. He was also President of Associate at the University of the National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad; Notre Dame and Purdue Indian Society for Parasitology and National University, USA. He joined Academy of Vector Borne Diseases. WHO/ICMR Research Unit (1970-75) as Senior Scientist. He worked as Deputy Dr Vinod Prakash Sharma was elected to the Director, Vector Control Research Centre and Malaria Fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy Research Unit (1976-78); Malaria Research Centre in 1983 and served its Council as Additional Member (1978-82); founder Director of National Institute of during 1990-93. Academy News 1261

ANNOUNCEMENTS

INSA Visiting Scientist Programme-2016 Since 1991, the Academy is supporting scientists from less endowed institutions to conduct Research and Training in advanced research Institutions/Laboratories within India under the Visiting Scientist Programme. The main objective of the programme is to facilitate scientists to acquire advanced research capabilities, for undergoing training in specific techniques, or for utilizing facilities not available in their own institution. Scientists holding a regular position in a R&D Organization including Universities or Affiliated Colleges in India are eligible to apply under the programme. The Fellowship period varies from one month to six months depending upon the proposed work or purpose. Interested Scientists may download the prescribed application form from the INSA website www.insaindia.org or write to Programme Officer, Science Promotion Division, Indian National Science Academy, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002 and submit the prescribed application before February 15, 2015.

INSA Young Historian of Science Award-2016 Nominations are invited for INSA Young Historian of Science Award-2016. Those born on or after January 1, 1981 are eligible for consideration in the year 2016. The awardee shall receive a certificate‚ a bronze medal, cash award of Rs. 25,000/- and a seed amount to initiate research project and further scope for overseas training for advancement of career. Proposals may be submitted by a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and other National Scientific Societies, Vice Chancellors of Universities and Heads of Research Institutions. The last date for receiving nominations for INSA Young Historian of Science Award is February 29, 2016. Nomination proforma can be downloaded from the website www.insaindia.org.

Proposal by INSA Fellows for lectures to young students and teachers of schools and colleges in the remote/rural areas The Academy has launched a programme under which INSA Fellows are encouraged to deliver Popular Lectures to young students and teachers of schools and colleges in remote/rural areas. Proposals are invited from Fellows with details like name and address of the school/college where they wish to deliver the lecture, title/s of lecture/ s, proposed dates and the quantum of required travel support. Proposals may be sent to Executive Director, INSA at [email protected], with a copy to sci- [email protected] at the earliest.

Nomination for Election of Fellows, Foreign Fellows and Pravasi Fellows Nominations are invited from the Fellows of INSA for election of Fellows, Foreign Fellows and Pravasi Fellows for the year 2017. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the INSA website www.insaindia.org.