Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, Monday wrote to Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh, urging continued support for the UNESCO Kalinga Prize, a prestigious international science award.
Patnaik expressed concern over the Union Ministry of Science and Technology’s alleged decision to withdraw support, noting that, after the prize’s 50th anniversary in 2002, a cost-sharing arrangement was established between the central government, Odisha government and Kalinga Foundation Trust.
“I am pained to learn that the Ministry of Science & Technology, government of India, has decided to stop supporting this prize,” he said.
Patnaik urged Singh to personally intervene to ensure the continuation of the UNESCO Kalinga Prize, preserving it as a legacy and symbol of pride for the people of Odisha.
The prize was instituted in 1952 by Biju Patnaik with a generous grant of 1,000 pounds from the Kalinga Foundation Trust.
So far, the prize has been awarded to 72 scientists including seven Nobel laureates such as Louis de Brogile, Julian Huxley, Bertrand Russel, Karl von Frisch, Arthur C Clarke, Fred Hoyle and Sergei Kapitza, among others, he said.
Patnaik highlighted that the prize is India’s only international award for science popularisation and serves as a symbol of Odia identity on the global stage.
The former Chief Minister said the prize is not just a symbol of ‘Odia pride’, but it had set a legacy for independent India in the comity of nations globally.
Patnaik urged the Union Minister to imagine the kind of effort Biju Babu would have put as a 36-year-old man travelling all the way to Paris and to negotiate with UNESCO to set up an international prize for popularisation of science.
“This foresight and courage of Biju Babu has been an inspiration for generations of Odias. Biju Babu’s love for his land epitomised in naming the award after ‘Kalinga’ has always lifted the spirit of people of Odisha,” he wrote.
PTI
