Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence to Digambar Behera

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday conferred the Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence-2016 to Prof Digambar Behera.

Behera is senior professor and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh.

Prasanta Mohapatra working as a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, was also conferred this award for 2015.

Instituted by Odisha Bigyan Academy (OBA), the award is given to any Odia scientist working anywhere in India or abroad each year for his/her lifetime research contributions in the field of science and technology.

The Samanta Chandra Sekhar Award for 2016 was given to Prof Swapna Mahapatra, Prof Banshidhar Majhi and Prof Sukumar Mishra.

The award for 2015 went to Dr Sharat Kumar Pradhan, Prof Sarat Kumar Swain and Prof Bhishma Kumar Patel.

The award is given by OBA each year for outstanding research contribution in science and technology, during the five years preceding the year of award.

After felicitating the scientists, Patnaik said he has been emphasizing three Ts -- Teamwork, Technology and Transparency -- for better governance and delivery of public services, which eventually led to the fourth T, Transformation of the State with the help of science and technology.

"My government is aware that science and technology can only grow and flourish on the bedrock of pure science. I congratulate all the award winners and hope it will inspire all our youngsters to take up science in higher studies which will ultimately benefit the society," Patnaik said.

He said the State Government is providing fellowships, scholarship, travel grants and financial assistance to conduct seminars and workshops on science.