New Delhi: Thirteen outstanding scientists and six upcoming ones were on September 26 awarded the prestigious Dr Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awards.

Tata Motors bagged the first Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Diamond Jubilee Technology Award for successful development and commercialisation of indigenous technology by producing 'Indica' and 'Indigo' cars.

Deputy chairman Planning Commission, K C Pant, who gave away the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awards, underscored the need to match the research and development priorities with national goals and technologies.

"The domestic research and development, confined mainly to government funded public institutions, have done rather well in strategic and non-competitive areas but its impact on the commercially-oriented industry and services sector has been minimal," he said.

On the technology domination by few advanced countries, he said, "India must develop self-reliance in all technology fields as it has done in nuclear and space sectors."

Dr Taruna Madan Gupta from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, was among the six scientists who received the CSIR Young Scientists Award.

Lauding CSIR's role for instituting Diamond Jubilee Invention Awards for school children and the Diamond Jubilee Technology Award for innovation of national prestige, Minister for State for Science and Technology, Bachi Singh Rawat said these initiatives would create 'National Innovation Climate', which would help secure the benefits of a knowledge society.

PTI