The Indian President Ram Nath Kovind’s Secretariat has announced the recipients of Visitor’s Awards 2019. Started in 2014, this institution was established to promote healthy competition amongst Central Universities. The aim of the awards is to adopt best practices from around the world in pursuit of excellence. The President annually confers Visitor's Awards in various categories like Visitor’s Award for Innovation, Visitor’s Award for Research and Visitor’s Award for Technology Development.  

Award Categories 

Out of the three categories, Visitor’s Award for Research is further divided into three categories, namely, Research in the field of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Research in the field of Physical Sciences and lastly, Research in the field of Technology Development. However, the Visitor’s Award for innovation will not be presented this year. The Selection Committee is headed by Sanjay Kothari, Secretary to the President and comprising eminent persons and academicians, assisted by a Sub-Committee, made the selections through an online application submitted from all Central Universities for each category. 

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The Recipients of Visitor’s Awards 

The Visitor’s Awards will be conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind at an event in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The date for the Visitor's Awards 2019 is yet to be announced. The President's Secretariat in a statement said, "This year Visitor's Award for research will be presented to Professor Sibnath Deb, Professor Sanjay Puri, Professor Asad Ullah Khan, Dr. Partima and Dr. Shaon Ray Chaudhuri." Professor Deb from Pondicherry University will be awarded for his research in the field of child protection. His research focuses on child abuse and neglect, student's mental health and HIV/AIDS. The award for research in the field of nonequilibrium statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics will be awarded to Professor Puri from the School of Physical Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University.  

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Professor Khan from the Inter-disciplinary Biotechnology Unit in Aligarh Muslim University will be awarded for identifying Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem in India. His research highlights the mechanism of spread and control of AMR. On the other hand, Dr. Partima from the Special Centre for Nanoscience in Jawaharlal Nehru University will be awarded for her research on nano biosensors and nano-bio interactions. Her research focuses on the early-stage cancer diagnosis using nanomaterials bases biosensing platform. The award for Technology Development will be conferred on Dr. Shaon Ray Chaudhuri from the Department of Microbiology in Tripura University, for the development of microbial biofilm reactor for conversion of dairy wastewater into biofertilizer. 

(With inputs from ANI)

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