17-Nov-2020: Union Minister of Education launches Lilavati Award-2020: AICTE's Innovative education program to empower women
Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal, “Nishank” today virtually launched Lilavati Award-2020: AICTE's Innovative education program to empower women. With women empowerment as the theme, the objective of the award is to create awareness about issues like sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition, literacy, employment, technology, credit, marketing, innovation, skill development, natural resources and rights among women. Prof. Rajiv Kumar, Member Secretary, AICTE; Chairman, AICTE Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe; Vice Chairman, AICTE, Prof. M P Poonia, Smt Vasudha Kamath, Member, Draft NEP Committee and other senior officials of the ministry were present on the occasion.
Speaking at the event, the Minister expressed his happiness to launch Lilavati Award 2020. He emphasized on the necessity to impart quality education to our daughters to make them self-reliant, confident and successful. He said that the theme of the award –‘women empowerment’ has always been the top priority of the government. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Government has launched several welfare schemes for the overall development of girl child and women such as Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, CBSE Udaan Scheme, and many more. With Lilavati Award-2020, AICTE has once again championed the cause of women empowerment and paved a way towards equality in education and innovation, he added.
The Minister said that the Innovation Cell of Ministry of Education has launched several programmes for the women especially Smart India Hackathon, which has minimum one woman in the team of 6 members. These initiatives will inspire the girl students and women to participate and excel. He appreciated AICTE for the establishment of Lilavati Award and said it would promote women empowerment in the country. He hoped that the establishment of Award, will add momentum to our efforts towards the overall development of women .
The Minister informed that the award covers multidisciplinary areas such as women's health, self-defense, sanitation, literacy, entrepreneurship and legal awareness. He said that the program will ensure the participation of women and enable them to hold higher positions in educational institutions.
Chairman of AICTE Prof. Anil D Sahasrabudhe in his address said, "To treat women with ‘equality and fairness’ in all spheres of lives, by the means of this initiative, all the stakeholders (especially the girl students) in AICTE approved institutions would get a unique opportunity to present a solution to the prevalent issues of gender discrimination, such as illiteracy, unemployment, economic and nutritional disparities, maternal mortality, human rights, etc. Also, if anyone has already made a successful effort towards making a mark in the society, in establishing women’s emancipation/ empowerment at large, she/ he can showcase their efforts/ contributions."
The valedictory remarks and vote of thanks at Lilavati Award 2020 was proposed by Dr. Amit Kumar Srivastava, Director (Student Development Cell), AICTE. He concluded, "With the support and guidance of Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, we believe will achieve many milestones in the path of innovative education and women empowerment."
10-Nov-2020: 2nd National water Awards
Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, is organising the 2ndNational Water Awards(NWAs)for the year 2019. The Award Distribution Ceremony is on 11th& 12th November, 2020 (11 am to 1 pm) through virtual platform. The awards are given to motivate individuals/organizations who are doing commendable work in the field of water resources conservation and management. Also, it strives to create awareness among the people about the importance of water and motivate them to adopt the best water usage practices. The award winners in different categories will be given a citation, trophy and cash prize.
The NWAs focus on the good work and efforts made by individual and organisations across the country, and the government’s vision for the path to ‘Jal Samridh Bharat’. The event provides a good opportunity to start-ups as well as leading organisations to engage and deliberate. The event also provides an occasion for all people and organisations to further cement a strong partnership and engender stakeholders’ engagement in water resources conservation and management activities.
The National Water Awards 2019 was launched in September, 2019 through MyGov portal and CGWB email. A total of 1112 valid applications were received by the end of deadline i.e. 31st December, 2019. A Jury Committee was constituted under Chairmanship of Shri Shashi Shekhar, Former Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR. Two Screening Committees with members from CGWB and CWC assisted the Jury Committee in studying the applications and selecting the winners. A total of 98 winners were selected in 16 different categories - Best State, Best District, Best Village Panchayat, Best Urban Local Body, Best Research/ Innovation/ New Technology, Best Education/ Mass Awareness effort, Best TV show, Best Newspaper, Best School, Best Institution/ RWA/ Religious Organisation, Best Industry, Best Water Regulatory Authority, Best Water Warrior, Best NGO, Best Water User Association, and Best Industry for CSR Activity. Few of these categories have sub-categories in different zones of the country. The winners will be felicitated with trophies/citation. Except for three categories i.e. ‘Best State’, ‘Best State’ and ‘Best Water Regulatory Authority’, winners from the rest thirteen categories will be awarded cash prizes, too.
On the first day, i.e. 11th November 2020, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of India is the Chief Guest. He will inaugurate the awards distribution ceremony. Hon’ble Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, and other dignitaries will also be present on the occasion.
On the second day, i.e. 12th November 2020, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon'ble Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will be the Chief Guest. Hon’ble Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, and other dignitaries will also be present. Leading Environmentalist Anil Joshi (Padma Awardee) will also grace the occasion as special guest on both the days.
National Water Awardees, delegates and the audience will be joining LIVE through virtual platform. The event is being organised in Hall No.5 at Vigyan Bhawan. The award will also be telecast live on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mowrrdgr/live.
13-Sep-2018: Ministry of Water Resources invites entries for National Water Awards 2018
In view of the importance of water resources management in India, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has instituted National Water Awards with the objective to encourage all stakeholders to manage their water resources efficiently and create a water consciousness in the country.
The entries for National Water Awards 2018 are now invited in 13 categories which are - Best State, Best District, Best Village Panchayat, Best Municipal Corporation, Best research/innovation/adaptation of new technology for water conservation, Best educative/mass awareness efforts, Best TV show for promoting water conservation, Best Newspaper, Best School, Best Institution for successful campus water usage, Best Resident Welfare Association (RWA), Organizations for Best Religious/Recreational & Tourism Water Uses and Best Industry for industrial water conservation. Within the Best District category, three awards each will be given in North, South, East, West, North- East and aspirational district sub-categories for encouragement of officials at the district level. Also, at the district level, the entries could be submitted on three important themes of Ground Water Recharge, Revival of River and Rejuvenation/Creation of Water Bodies like lakes/ponds etc. Apart from Best State and Best District awards, cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh, Rs. 1.5 lakh and Rs. 1 lakh for Ist, IInd and IIIrd prize winners respectively will be given for all remaining 11 categories.
The objective of the awards is to encourage all stakeholders including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Gram Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies, Water User Associations, Institutions, Corporate Sector, Individuals etc. for adopting innovative practices of ground water augmentation by rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, promoting water use efficiency, recycling & reuse of water and creating awareness through people's participation in the targeted areas resulting into the sustainability of ground water resources development, adequate capacity building etc.
5-Nov-2020: Dr Harsh Vardhan gives away Gandhian Young Technological Awards in two categories -SITARE-GYTI and SRISTI-GYTI awards
Union Minister of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan gave away Students Innovations for Advancement of Research Explorations - Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SITARE-GYTI) and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SRISTI-GYTI) awards, at a virtual function in New Delhi today. Fourteen awards and eleven appreciation awards under SITARE-GYTI, and Seven awards and 16 appreciation awards under SRISTI-GYTI were given. The awardees were selected after rigorous review process by eminent professors and scientists in respective fields.
Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards constitute two categories of awards, SITARE–GYTI under Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and SRISTI-GYTI given by SRISTI. The awards and appreciations are given under these two categories to encourage technology students to move towards setting up Biotech and other start-ups.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan congratulated all the students and exhorted them to address the unmet social, industrial and environmental needs and to create widespread awareness about the same. He pointed out, “More than Rs. Ten Crores worth of other awards and investment have been mobilized by the SITARE-GYTI winners so far besides 89 publications, and 39 patents being under progress”. “When we are celebrating 150 years of birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, GYTI awards are a fitting tribute to his legacy of using Science & Technology to solve societal problems”, he added.
Dr Harsh Vardhan recalled how several reforms were being undertaken in improving the funding of research with special attention to the needs of young students, women scholars and others. He also advised the innovators to avail of the incubators set up by DBT, BIRAC, CSIR, ICAR etc., and help India move towards Aatmanirbharta. He was very keen, “We should try to unleash the creative power of students even at school stage so that interest in life sciences can be triggered right then”. He also shared with the students “India did not make a single COVID-19 test kit, or PPE or even ventilators in February this year and then within less than hundred days, thanks to the platform provided by Ministry of Science & Technology and the network of dedicated biotech entrepreneurs, India has not only achieved self-reliance but also is now in a position to help other developing countries”. Similarly, India has promised to share its vaccine with other countries as well, he added.
The Minister highlighted that all innovations and scientific solutions must be for “transforming the lives of people”. In this regard, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “We are working on Scientific Social Responsibility policy right now, with focus on how efforts of our scientists can benefit all sections of society”.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan expressed his appreciation that “Honey Bee Network has been scouting and supporting grassroots innovators also through SHODHYATRAS all over the country and encouraging under-graduate students to work on their innovations as well as on traditional knowledge through BIRAC supported Biotechnological Innovation Ignition Scheme”. He said, “S&T labs of DBT ,CSIR and DST can now be the Incubators for these young Innovators. Also the BIRAC E-YUVA scheme will engage a number of Universities and Technology Institutes to serve as Mentors. This will help us to create a pan-India network to encourage a larger number of student entrepreneurs”.
Dr. Renu Swarup, congratulated all the awardees and recalled how BIRAC had conceived SITARE to galvanise the power of creativity and innovative thinking among the young minds. She called upon awardees to spread the word about various schemes of BIORAC (Biologically inspired resilient autonomic cloud) so that more and more students try to set up start-ups and help India become self-reliant.
Dr. Shekhar Mande assured all help to the young student innovators from the network of CSIR labs. He pointed out that Indian scientists have made themselves count in India’s exemplary fight against COVID-19.
Dr. R. A. Mashelkar emphasized that the contribution ‘The Honey Bee Network’ has made to trigger grassroots innovation movement in India is unparalleled worldwide. Now, SRISTI has added GYTI platform to encourage innovations for grassroots and other sectors of India to encourage technologies that are frugal and on verge of technological breakthrough, he said.
In his welcome address, Prof. Anil Gupta. mentioned that the SITARE-GYTI awards are given every year to the most promising technologies developed by the students in life sciences, biotechnology, agriculture, medical devices etc. SRISTI-GYTI awards are given to students in other engineering disciplines, he said.
Under SITARE-GYTI awards, 250 entries from student innovators with potential for Biotech and life science start-ups were received in six categories from 96 universities and institutes across 23 states and Union Territories. More than 700 entries were received under SRISTI-GYTI in 42 technology domains from 270 universities and institutes belonging to 27 states and union territories. The online evaluation of the shortlisted entries was undertaken by the experts. The evaluation committee, in addition to many others, included hundreds of very eminent experts including vice chancellors of Universities, Directors and faculty of IIT, IISc, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), DBT, CSIR, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutions.
Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT); Dr. Shekhar C. Mande, Secretary DSIR and DG CSIR; Dr. R. A. Mashelkar (Former Chairperson NIF and Former DG CSIR); Prof Anil K Gupta, Founder, Honey Bee Network and Coordinator, SRISTI, and awardees and other dignitaries joined the function virtually.