Institution of Awards

The Academy traditionally promotes excellence in horticultural research and development through honour, recognition and award to distinguished horticulturists for their outstanding contributions. Initially the society started honouring scientists during different seminars/ symposia/ conferences organised by it. During the International Symposium on Citriculture in 1977, the Society honoured Dr K.M. Aiyappa, Dr K.C. Srivastava and Dr M.K. Ganapati all working at IIHR, Bengaluru and its regional stations at Gonikoppal and Chetthali (Coorg) for their significant contributions to Citriculture. Similarly, during the Second International Symposium on Mango in 1985. Dr K.C. Naik, Dr S.K. Mukherjee, Dr R.N. Singh and Dr K.L. Chadha were honoured for their outstanding contributions to mango research. The society has long felt the need to recognise outstanding contributions to horticultural sciences through research and development by instituting regular awards. In this process, the society instituted Shri Girdhari Lal Chadha Memorial Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to Fruit Science in 1992. The funds (Rs 10,000/-) for the award were provided by his four sons, namely, Shri C.L. Chadha, Dr K.L. Chadha, President of the HSI, Dr M.L. Chadha and Shri Manohar Lal Chadha. In the same year, Dr J.C. Anand Award for Post-harvest Technology was instituted for outstanding contributions in the field with the funds (Rs 10,000/-) provided by Dr J.C. Anand, former Project Co-ordinator, PHT (ICAR). Both these awards are given once in a year. Dr R.T. Gunjate and Dr Shanta Krishnamurthy were awarded the first Shri Girdhari Lal Chadha Memorial Gold Medal and Dr J.C. Anand Award for Fruits & Post-harvest Technology, respectively on 24th May, 1993 during the Golden Jubilee Symposium on Horticultural Research-Changing Scenario at Hotel Ashok, Bengaluru. During the EC meeting held at Lucknow in 2003, it was deliberated to institute awards for recognising contributions to Vegetable and Floriculture research w.e.f. 2004 were named as ‘HSI-Gold Medal in Vegetable Science’ and ‘HSI-Gold Medal in Floriculture’ besides the Best Research Paper Award for the articles published in the Indian Journal of Horticulture every year. Later, Dr Kirti Singh, then the Vice President of HSI offered a corpus fund of Rs. 51,000/- for award in Vegetable Science
and hence HSI-Gold Medal in Vegetable Science was renamed as Dr Kirti Singh Gold Medal in Vegetable Science in 2007 as per decision taken by the Executive Council meeting held on April 18, 2007. Similarly, HSI-Gold Medal in Floriculture was renamed as Dr Manmohan Attavar Gold Medal in Floriculture in 2017 with the corpus fund of Rs 5,00,000/- donated by him for this purpose.

During the Indian Horticultural Congress-2004, M/s Sivasakthi Bio-Plantec Limited, Hyderabad, impressed by the deliberation of Society ( now IAHS) offered to donate Rs 15,00,000/- (Rupees Fifteen Lakhs) to the society to institute an HSI-Sivashakthi Life Time Achievement Award for the individuals’ outstanding lifetime contributions to Horticultural Research and Development. The corpus fund was donated by the company through its Managing Director, Mr. G.V.S.S. Anjanayalu in presence of Dr M.S. Swaminathan and received by Dr K.L. Chadha, President of the Society. Though the cheque was donated in 2004 but the actual money was transferred by the firm in the year 2005 and hence the award was instituted w.e.f. 2006 from the interest accrued. The first committee for the selection of awardee was constituted by the Executive Council having Dr M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and Former Secretary Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research as its Chairman and Dr V.L. Chopra, Former Secretary, DARE and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Dr J.C. Bakhshi, Former Vice-Chancellor, Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Bihar), Dr S.N. Rao, Immediate Past President, HSI and Former Director Research, ANGRAU, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and representative of M/s Sivashakthi Biotech Plantec Ltd. as its member. The committee recommended Dr K.L. Chadha as the first awardee for his monumental contributions to the Horticultural Sciences. In 2009, the firm decided to become the Corporate Fellow of the society and desired that the agreement with the firm may be revised and Rs 10 lakh may be continue to be fixed for the award purpose, while Rs 5 lakh may be deposited to HSI account towards the corporate Fellowship/ Membership. It was agreed in the meeting of the Executive Council held on July 18, 2009 and the agreement was revised accordingly.

In the meeting held in 2010 at Mumbai between HSI represented by Dr K.L. Chadha, President and Dr Kirti Singh, Sr. Vice President and MAHYCO represented by Dr B.R. Barwale, Chairman MAHYCO and Shri Raju Barwale, Managing Director, MAHYCO, Mumbai, on request of President HSI, MAHYCO agreed to donate a sum of Rs 20 lakh towards institution of an award. After discussion with the donors, the award was named as for B.R. Barwale Award in Horticultural Biotechnology in 2014. However, the award could not be conferred accordingly due shortage in the nominations due to less work being carried out on Biotechnological aspects in Horticulture. As the research on biotechnology was in nascent stage, it was decided to confer this award to young researchers specialising in the field of Horticultural Biotechnology and was named as Dr B.R. Barwale Young Researcher Award in Horticultural Biotechnology in the year 2015. The society initiated conferring this award w.e.f. 2016.

Dr S.P. Ghosh, Former Deputy Director General (Horticulture), ICAR and Vice President of the Horticultural Society of India proposed to institute Shri D.P. Ghosh Memorial Young Scientist Award in the memory of his Late father Sh. D.P. Ghosh with the corpus fund of Rs 5.00 lakh donated by him for this purpose. The guidelines of the award proposed by him were accepted by the Executive Council in its meeting held on June 4, 2015. The award is now being conferred since 2016. The detailed of each of these awards are given hereunder:

i. HSI-Sivashakthi Life Time Achievement Award in Horticulture

This award was instituted in 2006 with corpus money donated by M/s Sivashakthi Biotech Plantec. Ltd., Hyderabad. It is an Apex Award given every year by the Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences. The award is open to all individuals engaged in research/ development related to Horticulture or any related disciplines in India. The awardees should have made outstanding contributions as a lifetime achievement in the field of horticultural research/ development resulting in a significant impact on the quality of life of people in India. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 51,000/-, a medal, and a citation.

ii. Shri Girdhari Lal Chadha Gold Medal in Fruit Science
This award was instituted in 1992 with the money donated by Dr K.L. Chadha, former DDG (Hort.), ICAR and President, the Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences and his brothers. The award is given in the memory of his father late Shri Girdhari Lal Chadha to promote Fruit Science research and development. The award is given to a scientist, who has made significant contributions and displayed leadership in the field of Fruit Science (including plantation crops) as evidenced by publications, varieties, technology development, patents etc. The award consists of a medal and a citation.

iii. Dr Kirti Singh Gold Medal in Vegetable Science
This award was instituted in 2004 and renamed as Dr Kirti Singh Medal in 2007 with corpus money donated by Dr Kirti Singh, former Chairman ASRB, New Delhi, and Senior Vice President, the Horticultural Society of India. This award is given to a scientist, who has made significant contributions and displayed leadership in the field of Vegetable Science (including tuber crops and spices) as evidenced by publications, varieties, technology development, patents etc. The award consists of a medal and a citation.

iv. Dr Manmohan Attavar Gold Medal in Floriculture
This award was instituted in 2004, renamed as Dr Manmohan Attavar Medal in 2016 with corpus money donated by Dr Manmohan Attavar, Chairman, Indo American Hybrid Seed Company, Bengaluru. This award is given to a scientist, who has made significant contributions and displayed leadership in the field of Floriculture (including medicinal and aromatic plants) as evidenced by publications, varieties, technology development, patents etc. The award consists of a medal and a citation.

v. Dr J.C. Anand Gold Medal in Post-Harvest Technology
This award was instituted in 1992 from the donation made by Dr J.C. Anand, former Project Coordinator (Post-Harvest Technology of Horticultural Crops), ICAR at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. This award is given to a scientist, who has made significant contributions and displayed leadership in the field of post-harvest management of horticultural crops as evidenced by publications, technology development, patents etc. The award consists of a medal and a citation.

vi. Dr B.R. Barwale Young Researcher Award in Horticultural Biotechnology (Doctoral Thesis Research)
This award has been instituted in 2016 in the name of Dr B.R. Barwale, Founder & Chairman, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company Ltd. from the donation made by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (MAHYCO) Ltd. The award is given annually to a student/ applicant from any Indian University/ Deemed-to-be University/ Institute for the best doctoral thesis related to Biotechnological interventions in Horticultural Crops for the thesis submitted and degree awarded in the previous year. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/-, a medal, and a citation.

vii. Shri D.P. Ghosh Young Scientist Award
This award has been instituted in 2016 from the donation made by Dr S.P. Ghosh, former Deputy Director General (Horticulture), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi in the memory of his Late father Sh. D.P. Ghosh. This award is given annually to a young scientist (not more than 45 years of age), who has made significant contributions in any frontier area of horticultural sciences as evidenced from publications, technology development, patents etc. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/-, a medal and a citation.

viii. HSI-Best Research Paper Award
This award was instituted in 2004. It comprises of a certificate and is given every year for the best research paper published in all the four issues of Indian Journal of Horticulture during the previous year.