From K Sivan to Annadurai, Tamil Nadu govt fetes 9 ISRO scientists, announces award of ₹25 lakh for each scientist

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced a cash award of ₹25 lakh to nine ISRO scientists from Tamil Nadu, including K Sivan and Mylswamy Annadurai, in recognition of their services to the nation.

Stalin lauded the scientists for bringing laurels to Tamil Nadu and presented them with shawls and mementos.

Recalling the words of former Chief Minister C N Annadurai, he said the late leader had wondered aloud why Tamil Nadu had not been the home of icons in the league of physicist Albert Einstein and inventor Thomas Alva Edison. "Today, however, the state has so many stalwarts in the field of science," Stalin said.

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ormer ISRO chairman Sivan, Chandrayaan (1 and 2) project director Mylswamy Annadurai and Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre-ISRO V Narayanan were among those honoured today. Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre A Rajarajan, distinguished ISRO scientist M Sankaran, and Chandrayaan-3 project director P Veeramuthuvel were also among those who were felicitated. ISRO's M Vanitha and Nigar Shaji and ISRO-Propulsion Complex Director J Asir Packiaraj are the others who were feted by CM Stalin.

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Underlining that all three project directors for Chandrayaan 1 (Mylswamy), 2 (Vanitha), and 3 (Veeramuthuvel) hail from Tamil Nadu, CM Stalin said he is making two announcements. One, a sum of ₹25 lakh would be provided to each of the nine scientists in recognition of their hard work. "I appeal to you to accept it and bring more and more laurels to India," the chief minister said. Second, a scholarship named after renowned scientists would be provided to nine postgraduate engineering students to nurture the spirit to make scientific inventions, he said, adding that a ₹10 crore corpus would be set up for the purpose. All expenditures including tuition and hostel fees would be borne by the government, Stalin added.

Government school students who studied undergraduate engineering courses by availing of the 7.5% reservation (and received financial assistance for the UG course from the government) for state-run school students are eligible for the PG scholarship.