Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said making education a fundamental right was one of the special achievements of his government.
“If there is one initiative that our government has taken in these six and a half years in office I consider really special, it is the Right to Education that has now been enshrined in our Constitution,” he said speaking at a function here where he presented Infosys Science Foundation awards.
Acknowledging the importance of private institutions like the Infosys Science Foundation that had a large role to play in generating funds to reward excellence, Dr. Singh said: “The strength of a nation is no longer determined by the might of its army. It comes from the quality of collective knowledge, the productivity of its working people, the creativity of its entrepreneurs and the dedication of its professionals.”
The Infosys Prize 2010 was presented for outstanding achievements in scientific research. The awards were in five categories — Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, Life Sciences and Social Sciences. The prize in each category comprises a 24-karat gold medallion, a citation expounding the laureate's work and Rs. 50 lakh in cash (tax free). Congratulating the recipients, K. Dinesh, co-founder, Infosys, and president of the Board of Trustees, Infosys Science Foundation, said: “Scientific research is of the utmost importance for India's rapid economic and social development. We endeavour to encourage the scientific community to make breakthroughs and discoveries that will drive the nation forward in the years to come. We hope that initiatives like this will go a long way in motivating and encouraging young minds to undertake research as a career.”
The Infosys Science Foundation was set up in February 2009 by the management of Infosys. The corpus has increased from Rs. 45 crore to Rs. 100 crore with about half the amount coming from the management of Infosys.
The winners
Professor Chandrashekhar Khare of the University of California, Los Angeles, got the award in the Mathematical Sciences category, in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the Number Theory particularly his solution of the Serre conjecture.
Professor Sandip Trivedi of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research won the award in the Physical Sciences category for finding an ingenious way to solve two of the most outstanding puzzles of Superstring Theory simultaneously: What is the origin of dark energy of the universe? And why is there no massless scalar particle?
Professor Ashutosh Sharma of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, won the award in the Engineering and Computer Science category for his fundamental contributions to mechanics, materials and manufacturing on small scale including self-organisation and instabilities, nano-patterning and functional multiscale interfaces.
Chetan Chitnis of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) won the award in the Life Sciences category for his pioneering work in understanding the interactions of the malaria parasite and its host, leading to the development of a viable vaccine.
The Social Sciences category award was jointly presented to Professor Amita Baviskar of the Institute of Economic Growth, in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social and environmental movements in modern India, and Professor Nandini Sundar of the Delhi School of Economics, in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social identities, including tribe and caste, and the politics of knowledge in modern India.
