A lack of oversight and a lack of proper training for scientists have led to the rise of plagiarism and research misconduct in India. India does not have a statutory body to deal with scientific misconduct in academia, like the Office of Research Integrity in the US, and hence cases of plagiarism are often dealt in ad-hoc fashion with different routes being followed in different cases. In most cases, a public and media outcry leads to an investigation either by institutional authorities or by independent enquiry committees. Plagiarists have in some cases been suspended, removed or demoted. However, no fixed route has been prescribed to monitor such activities. This has led to calls for establishment of an independent ethics body.
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) is a public deemed university in Mumbai, India. The institute also has campuses at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Jalna,. It is focused on training and research in the fields of chemical engineering, chemical technology, and pharmaceutical sciences. It was established in 1933 and was granted deemed university status in 2008, making it the only state-funded deemed university in India. On 12 February 2018 it was given the status of Category 1 institute with graded autonomy by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission (India). It is also an institute with a special status as mentioned in SECTION IV of the Report of the Empowered Expert Committee in 2018.
Shantanu Chowdhury is an Indian structural biologist and a professor at Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is known for developing a mechanism for gene regulation mediated by DNA Secondary-Structure in diverse cellular contexts. An elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, he is a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 2010. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2012, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Chinmoy Sankar Dey is an Indian molecular biologist and a professor at Kusuma School of Biological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Known for his research on insulin resistance, Dey's is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2003. He is also a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology.
Ram Rajasekharan is an Indian plant biologist, food technologist and a former director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Known for his studies on plant lipid metabolism, Rajasekharan is a former professor of eminence at the Indian Institute of Science and an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Science Academy as well as the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2001.
Banwari Lal is an Indian environmental and industrial biotechnologist and the director of the Environmental and Industrial Biotechnology Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Known for the development of oilzapper technology, Dr. Lal is the chief executive officer of ONGC-TERI Biotech Limited, a collaborative venture between TERI and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation since 2008. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2004. He have many Indian and international joint patents with ONGC, DBT, IOCL, OIL INDIA and TERI.
Dulal Panda is an Indian cell biologist and the chair professor at the department of biosciences and bioengineering of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Presently, he is the Director of NIPER, SAS Nagar (Mohali). Known for his studies on microtubule dynamics and FtsZ assembly dynamics, Panda is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2005.
Saumitra Das is an Indian microbiologist and a professor at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology of the Indian Institute of Science. Known for his studies in the fields of molecular virology and molecular biology, Das is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Indian National Science Academy. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2005.
Pramod P. Wangikar is an Indian chemical engineer and a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Known for his studies in the field of bioenergy, Wangikar is a recipient of the Sartorius India Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2006.
Nihar Ranjan Jana is an Indian neuroscientist and professor at the IIT Kharagpur, known for his studies on E3 ubiquitin ligases, protein homeostasis and neurodegenerative disorders. Jana is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, in 2008 and TATA Innovation Fellowship in 2014 for his contributions to Neurodegenerative diseases.
Santasabuj Das is an Indian medical doctor, molecular immunologist, bioinformatician and a scientist at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata. He is known for his studies on the pathogenesis of various types of infections caused by Salmonella in humans and is an elected fellow of the West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology. He is a former Fulbright scholar and a life member of the Probiotic Association of India, the Society of Biological Chemists, India and the Indian Science Congress Association. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2011.
Dibyendu Sarkar is an Indian biochemist, molecular microbiologist and a Chief Scientist at the Institute of Microbial Technology. He is known for his studies on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterial pathogen causing the disease of tuberculosis. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and Google Scholar, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 23 of them. He has also delivered invited speeches which included the Second Annual Meeting on Infectious Diseases held at the Indian Institute of Science in September 2017. He is an elected member of Guha Research Conference and a recipient of the Raman Research Fellowship of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2011.
Professor Pravindra Kumar is an Indian biophysicist, bioinformatician, biochemist and Professor & Head Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute Of Technology–Roorkee (IIT–Roorkee) India. He is known for his work on protein-protein interactions, protein engineering and structure-based drug design. Prof. Pravindra Kumar's primary research interest lies in studying Bacterial enzymes and pathways involved in the degradation of toxic aromatic compounds, such as PCBs, dibenzofuran, chlorodibenzofurans, DDT, dyes, and plastics/plasticizers. He focuses particularly on oxidoreductases enzymes due to their unique ability to catalyze challenging reactions, with a special emphasis on understanding their catalytic mechanisms and structural basis for guiding protein engineering. One notable achievement of his research group is the successful engineering of dioxygenases capable of metabolizing various toxic compounds, including those found in plastics.
Sanjib Senapati is an Indian biophysicist, biochemist, biotechnologist and a professor at the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is known for his studies in the fields of protein dynamics, green chemistry and nanoclusters and is a Fulbright scholar. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2015.
Arun Kumar Shukla is an Indian structural biologist and the Joy-Gill Chair professor at the department of biological sciences and bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Known for his studies on G protein-coupled receptor, Shukla is a Wellcome Trust-DBT Intermediate Fellow and a recipient of the SwarnaJayanti Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2017/18. He received the 2021 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Biological Science. He was awarded the Infosys Prize 2023 in Life Sciences his outstanding contributions to the biology of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).
Amit Singh is an Indian microbiologist and an associate professor at the department of microbiology and cell biology of the Indian Institute of Science. A Wellcome-DBT Senior Fellow, Singh is known for his studies on the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development for 2017/18. He was awarded with the prestigious CSIR- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award on 2021 for his phenomenal contributions in bio-scientific research. He received the 2021 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Biological Science.
Beena Ramakrishnan Pillai is an Indian microbiologist, geneticist, and a scientist at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. She is known for her studies on gene regulation influenced by small RNA and histone variants and is a recipient of the Young Scientist Award of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Young Scientist Medal of the INSA. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded her the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for her contributions to biosciences, in 2017–18.
Ashwani Kumar is an Indian microbiologist and the Senior Principal Scientist at the Institute of Microbial Technology (ImTech). He is known for his studies on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. His laboratory focuses on understanding the reasons for drug tolerance observed in humans. His laboratory hypothesizes that tuberculosis is a biofilm infection, so its treatment needs the administration of multiple drugs for at least six months. The Department of Science and Technology has awarded him Swarnajayanti Fellowship for 2016–2017. Department of Biotechnology has awarded him the National Bioscience Prize (2017-18). He was also selected for DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Senior Fellowship. He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, in 2022. For his contributions in tuberculosis pathogenesis, he was awarded with Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology 2022. He is considered as one of India's Leading Scientist in the field of Tuberculosis and his lab is doing some of the best research in India.
Suresh Kumar Rayala is an Indian cancer biologist and a professor at the department of biotechnology of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Known for his molecular and mechanistic studies of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, Rayala is a recipient of the Young Scientist Award of the Academy of Sciences, Chennai. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2017–18.
Pritam Deb is an Indian physicist, nanoscientist and a professor of physics at Tezpur University. He is known for his studies on nanoscience and technology as well as the physics of materials and has published a number of articles; ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 86 of them. Besides, he has also published a book, Kinetics of Heterogeneous Solid State Processes, on nonisothermal kinetics.
