Lal Bahadur Shastri Outstanding Young Scientist Award- 2016

In order to recognize the talented young scientists who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their research programmes, four individual awards are to be given annually.  An individual award of ₹1.00 lakh in cash and a citation and a challenge project for three years with budgetary provision of ₹10.00 lakh per year+ ₹ 5.00 lakh for foreign training (upto 3 months), if deemed necessary by the ICAR.  The challenge project and foreign training will be administered/monitored by   Division of Agricultural Education of ICAR.  All young scientists who possess a doctoral degree and are below forty years of age (on 31^stDecember 2015) and  hold a regular teaching, research, extension education job in the ICAR-SAU system of institutions and engaged in research in agricultural and allied sciences for at least five years continuously are eligible for consideration. The forwarding authority may give  clear cut recommendation regarding the most significant contributions made by the concerned scientist.

Sponsor of the Award : Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

Objectives of the Award : To recognize the talented young scientists who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their research programmes. They should have exceptional creativity based on a track record of significant

contribution to research and potential to facilitate use of their expertise to further high quality research in their areas of specialization.

Nature of the Award : The award is exclusively meant for individual young scientists. A total of four individual awards have been provided. An individual award under the award will consist of Rs 100,000 in cash and a citation, a challenge project for three years with budgetary provision of rs 10.0 lakh per year+ Rs 5.0 lakh for foreign training(3 months).The challenge project and foreign training will be administered/monitored by Division of Agricultural Education at ICAR, Headquarters. The foreign training would be sponsored only if it is considered necessary by the ICAR and costing not more than Rs 5 lakhs.

A total of four awards will be given across the disciplines in agricultural and allied sciences;
limited to only one award in any discipline. Subject areas for the award shall be as follows :
1) Crop & Horticultural Sciences-1
2) Natural Resource Management & Agricultural Engineering-1
3) Animal & Fisheries Sciences-1
4) Social Sciences-1

Frequency : Annually

Eligibility Criteria : All young scientists who possess a doctoral degree are below forty years* of age, hold a regular teaching, research, extension education job in the ICAR-SAU system of institutions and engaged in research in the designated subject area for at least five years continuously are eligible for consideration. Awardees will be required to work on the project for a minimum period of three years and would not be eligible to apply for post outside of ICAR system during the duration.

Administration of the Award : The award will be administered by the Council through the Award Cell. There shall be a Judging Committee consisting of 3-5 members, including the chairperson appointed by the Director-General, ICAR. The Committee will evaluate the nominations, identify the outstanding young scientists and make recommendations to the Council. The awardees will have to submit a challenge project under guidance of Division of Agricultural Education at ICAR Headquarter.

Proposed Challenge Research project:

 Statement of the research problem with specific objectives
 Socio-economic, scientific, technological relevance and priority
 Plan of work and key technologies proposed to be used in the investigations
 Key infrastructural and instrumentation facilities required
 Estimated time-frame with milestones in the completion of the project work
 Expected outcomes
 The project should indicate Objectively Verifiable Indicators (OVI)/ deliverables for evaluating the achievement of the project on completion
 Likely impact of the outcomes.

Evaluation Criteria : The Young Scientist Award is exclusively meant for individual scientist. The candidates will be judged on the basis of previous research work done in any discipline of agriculture and allied sciences.

Previous Research Work Done Excluding Masters/Doctoral Thesis Work

 Research projects/programmes in which participated
 Level of participation in each project/programmes as leader/associate
 Specific objectives and originality of the research projects
 Socio-economic, scientific, technological, relevance and priority of research project
 Principal findings and their socio-economic, technological, scientific significance
 Impact of the research work done
 Research Publications in Journals with NAAS Rating of 6.0 and above

Procedure : Applications for the award will be invited during September/October of the year of the award. Applications made in prescribe form obtainable from Award Cell, will be accepted up to the end of November/December of the year of the award. The Judging Committee will screen the nominations, identify outstanding entries, and make recommendations to the Council along with the draft citations. If no outstanding entries have been received, no award will be awarded.

Presentation : The presentation of award will be made on the Foundation Day of the ICAR i.e. 16th July of the year. The awardee would give a presentation on achievements of his work to an audience consisting of eminent agricultural & non agricultural scientists.

How to Apply : 

Download guidelines & form