ICAR awards in only three categories; decision taken after MHA review

The government has decided to reduce the number of national awards given by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The awards will now be given in only three categories — Farmers, Research and Technology. It has been decided that all other sub-awards may be discontinued. An Office Memorandum (OM) to this effect was issued recently. Last year, the awards were given in 15 sub-categories.

According to the OM, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reviewed the transformation of awards and decorations of the various Ministries/Departments. The decision has been taken in pursuance of the review meetings. The OM says that the awards given to ICAR institutes, deemed universities and Central Agricultural Universities may be converted into rankings. Further, the OM says, no new award or decorations may be instituted without the permission of the competent authority.

When the NDA government came in 2014, awards were given in a total of 18 sub-categories. While the number of sub-categories increased to 20 in 2019, it was reduced to 15 last year, i.e., in 2021. The awards given so far had been named after former prime ministers or other celebrities. The new order does not make it clear what the awards will be named.

In 2021, a total of 92 awards were given in the 15 sub-categories of the four main categories. The three awards in the three sub-categories of the National Award for Excellence for Agricultural Institutions main category were named after Sardar Patel, Chaudhary Devi Lal and Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya. The awards in the four sub-categories of the National Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research main category were named after Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Panjabrao Deshmukh and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The awards in the four sub-categories of the National Award for Application of Agricultural Technologies main category were named after Nanaji Deshmukh, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and Vasantrao Naik. Awards were given in four sub-categories under the National Award for Innovations and Technology Development by Farmers main category. Three of these were named after Jagjivan Ram, NG Ranga and Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya. The fourth award was named the Haldhar Organic Farmer Award.

When the NDA came to power in 2019, a total of 82 awards were given in 18 categories. These included three institutes, an AICRP, nine KVKs, 55 scientists, seven farmers and six journalists. These awards were named after celebrities like, apart from the ones mentioned above, Norman Borlaug, Dr C Subramaniam, Dr Rajendra Prasad and Chaudhary Charan Singh. One of the awards was also named after the Hariom Ashram Trust. A total of 159 awards were given in 20 categories in 2019 that were named after the celebrities mentioned above.