Mashelkar presented Krishnamurthy Award

Hyderabad: The prestigious V Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence, instituted by the Centre for Organisation Development (COD), was conferred on eminent scientist Dr RA Mashelkar, FRS National Research Professor and former director-general of the CSIR. The award was presented to Dr Mashelkar by former Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah here on Thursday, in the presence of Habil F

Khorakiwala, Founder Chairman of Wockhardt Group of Companies, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of COD, Dr Sunita Maheshwari, COD Board Member Ramesh Gelli, and COD Director Prof Umeshwar Pandey.

Mashelkar, a renowned scientist and National Research Professor, has served as CSIR Director-General for over 11 years. He was also the president of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and president of Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK).

He is presently the president of Global Research Alliance, a network of publicly-funded R and D institutes from Asia-Pacific, Europe and USA with over 60,000 scientists as its members.

He is the recipient of the highest civilian honours - Padmashri in 1991, Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2014, in recognition of his contribution to the nation. Mashelkar has been propagating a culture of innovation and balanced intellectual property rights regime for over two decades.

It was through his sustained campaign that growing awareness of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has dawned upon Indian academics, researchers and corporates. He spearheaded the successful challenge to the US patent on the use of turmeric for wound healing and also the patent on Basmati rice.