Proc Indian Natn Sci Acad 85 No. 4 December 2019 pp. 1067-1090 Printed in India. ACADEMY NEWS INSA MEETINGS to Professor Tarun Kant, FNA, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, Several meetings were held during April 08-10, 2019 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, in the Academy premises. Mumbai. These included meetings of the different Sectional 4. Professor K Naha Memorial Medal to Committees for recommending names of Young Professor SS Rai, FNA, Professor Emeritus, Scientist Awardees and for the first round of short- Department of Earth and Climate Science, listing of nominations for INSA Fellowship. The Indian Institute of Science Education & Advisory Boards for the various INSA Awards also Research (IISER), Pune. met. These were followed by meetings of the Council and General Body. (C) Endowment Lectures INSA Medal/Lecture Awards 2019 5. Professor Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Lecture to Professor Gaiti Hasan, FNA, The Academy at its General Body Meeting on April National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata 10, 2019 announced the following six medal/lecture Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru. Awards for 2019. In addition, a new endowment award named International Award Professor TV Desikachary Memorial Medal was also 1. PMS Blackett Memorial Lecture to Sir Tom instituted. The Medal will be awarded to an eminent L Blundell, FNA, Emeritus Professor and scientist for his outstanding contributions in any area Director of Research, Department of of Biological Sciences. The award carries an Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, honorarium of Rs. 25,000/, a bronze medal and a Cambridge. citation. The first medal will be awarded in 2020. Subjectwise Medals/Lectures/Awards ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of the Academy was (A) Medals Instituted by the Academy held on July 26, 2019 at Academy premises. The 1. Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal to Professor KB Council in its meeting announced the election of new Sinha, FNA, Honorary Professor, Jawaharlal President – Dr. Chandrima Shaha, two new Vice- Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Presidents – Professors Gaiti Hasan and Subrata (JNCASR), Bengaluru. Sinha and seven new members – Professors Amitabha Chattopadhyay, Debashish Chowdhury, Tarun Kant, 2. Jagadis Chandra Bose Medal to Professor K M Lakshmi Kantam, Dr. SWA Naqvi, Professors EV Muniyappa, FNA, Honorary Professor, Sampathkumaran and Subhasis Chaudhuri of the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Council for 2020. It also reported the sad demise of Science, Bengaluru. Dr. Hari Krishan Jain, Professor Satish Chandra (B) Endowed Medals Maheshwari, Professor Sudhir Pradyumna Pandya, Professor Awadh Kishore Prasad Sinha and Dr. Bidare 3. Professor Brahm Prakash Memorial Medal Venkatasubbaiah Subbarayappa distinguished 1068 Academy News Fellows of the Academy. thus paving the way for improved management of the disease. The Council approved the election of 29 Indian scientists as INSA Fellows, three overseas scientists Arun Chattopadhyay (b 05.12.1964), PhD, as Foreign Fellows. It also decided to offer the INSA Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute Teachers Award to 12 outstanding teachers, INSA of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati. Medal for Young Scientist to 30 young scientists, For his fundamental contributions to nanoscale INSA Young Historian of Science Award to one young material science and technology by way of devising scholar and Professor Har Swarup Memorial Award new methods of synthesis as well as applications in to one INSA Young Scientist Awardee as detailed submicron scale color lithography and tunable below: luminescence of quantum dot complexes. FELLOWS ELECTED–2019 (Effective from 01 Mamta Chawla-Sarkar (b 07.07.1970), PhD, January 2020) Scientist-F, Division of Virology, ICMR-National Sundarababu Baskaran (b 16.06.1961), PhD, Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata. Institute Chair Professor, Department of Chemistry, For making substantial research contribution towards Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. understanding host-pathogen interaction and viral For developing domino strategies for the assemblage pathogenesis for targeted drug development for of natural products of biological interest. influenza A and Rota viruses, diseases of global concern. Nita Bhandari (b 12.11.1955), MBBS, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director, Centre for Health Research Jyotsna Dhawan (b 31.03.1959), PhD, Emeritus and Development, Society for Applied Studies, New Scientist, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Delhi. Biology, Hyderabad. She is a clinical scientist working in population based For her fundamental contributions in the area of stem research with high impact on Child Health Nutrition cell research, to define the mechanisms by which in the developing world. adult muscle stem cells attain and maintain progress of self-renewal via control of epigenetic, Supriya Chakraborty (b 13.12.1969), PhD, transcriptional and signaling networks with Professor (Virology), Molecular Virology Laboratory, implications for improving skeletal muscle School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, regeneration. New Delhi. Pramod Kumar Garg (b 10.05.1963), MBBS, MD, For his significant contributions in understanding DM, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, All biology of plant-virus interactions. He has deciphered India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. novel functions of viral proteins in replication and the stimulation of viral genome transcription in crop For his research on the pathophysiology of chronic models such as tomato, cowpea and okra. pancreatitis has led to its identification as a genetically determined disease with new genetic Mitali Chatterjee (b 02.11.1960), MBBS, MD, PhD, mutations (4 in India). He has developed a non Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Institute of surgical treatment of acute pancreatitis. Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata. Yusuf Khwaja Hamied (b 25.07.1936), PhD, ScD, DSc (hc), Non-Executive Chairman, CIPLA Ltd., For identifying clinico-immunological determinants Mumbai Central, Mumbai. in post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis, which is a major scourge in India and in the third world countries Dr. Hamied is an outstanding R&D expert, a Academy News 1069 courageous industrialist and an outspoken statesman Sobolov-Mazya equations, particularly discovering for affordable drugs for the treatment of HIV, Anti- a hyperbolic symmetry in the solution and developed cancer and Anti-Asthmatics etc. He is the only Indian analytical tools to study semilinear elliptic PDE’s in who has succeeded in his mission of National the hyperbolic space. significance by way of offering essential drugs at low Pawan Malhotra (b 16.11.1960), PhD, Group prices. Leader, Malaria Biology Group, International Centre Raksh Vir Jasra (b 28.11.1952), PhD, Senior Vice- for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New President (R&D), R&D Centre, Reliance Industries Delhi. Limited, Vadodara Manufacturing Division, For his outstanding contribution in dissecting the key Vadodara. components of the malarial parasite and the For his significant contributions to the development development of therapeutic strategies. and commercialization of chemical processes based Neelesh Bhogilal Mehta (b 09.01.1975), PhD, on innovative catalytic and adsorption phenomena. Professor, Department of Electrical Communication Sanjeev Khosla (b 05.06.1969), PhD, Staff Scientist- Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. VI, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, For his fundamental contributions to the modelling, Hyderabad. design, analysis, and optimization of cellular systems, For his outstanding contribution in dissecting the cooperative relaying, cognitive radio, and green mutual epigenetic modulations between sensor networks. Mycobacteria and its host cells. Ritabrata Munshi (b 11.09.1976), PhD, Professor, Manchikanti Krishnamurthy (b 21.04.1969), PhD, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Professor H, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, For his internationally acclaimed work on the theory Hyderabad. of L-functions. His work in the sub-convexity For his pioneering contributions to the experimental problem for higher rank L-function is path breaking. study of intense, ultrashort laser interactions with Utpal Nath (b 11.09.1965), PhD, Associate clusters, in particular the demonstration of the Professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell counter-intuitive, near complete neutralization of Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. highly charged ions to produce MeV neutral atom beams, and his lateral stride in the generation of high For his pioneering work in the field of leaf brightness hard x-ray emission from plasmas morphogenesis. His work has given insights on leaf produced in biological cells. growth patterns and its planar geometry using genetic and genomic tools in model plants. Raghavan Krishnan (b 15.03.1965), PhD, Scientist- G & Executive Director, Centre for Climate Change Janardhan Padmanabhan (b 15.02.1960), PhD, Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Senior Professor (H) and Dean, Physical Research Pune. Laboratory, Ahmedabad. For his outstanding contributions in earth system For outstanding contributions in solar wind modeling of climate including Indian monsoon. turbulence on magnetosphere and atmosphere. Sandeep Kunnath (b 03.04.1973), PhD, Professor, Uma Ramakrishnan (b 23.12.1972), PhD, Associate Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Centre for Professor, Ecology