KOCHI: Two scientists and a technical assistant at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) have won the prestigious national awards instituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for outstanding research contributions. Senior scientist Kajal Chakraborty was selected for the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for outstanding research in agricultural sciences while scientist Eldho Varghese bagged the Lal Bahadur Shastri outstanding young scientist award. Technical assistant Anusree V Nair has won the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for an outstanding doctoral thesis in agricultural and allied sciences.
CMFRI also won the Rajarshi Tandon award for the best implementation of the official language (Hindi) among ICAR institutes in non-Hindi speaking regions. Chakraborty was selected for the honour in recognition of his research in marine bioprospecting, especially to develop various nutraceutical products from seaweeds. The award includes a cash prize of `5 lakh and a citation.
An agricultural statistician, Eldho Varghese bagged the young scientist award for his research in efficient statistical designs. He has developed cost-efficient designs for product and process optimisation in agricultural and fisheries experiments. The award includes a challenging project for three years with budgetary provision of `30 lakh and foreign training, in addition to a cash prize of `1 lakh and citation.
The doctoral research on fish health management measures helped Anusree win the Jawaharlal Nehru Award.