New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said "streamlining and restoring the position of the coveted awards" was the reason behind bringing down the number of science awards.

He also said that the date for conferring the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize has not been fixed yet.

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"We will fix up a date. The ceremony could not be held because of COVID," he said.

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology is an award given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, chemistry, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and physics.

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When asked the reason behind scaling down the number of science awards, Science and Technology Minister Dr Singh said, "the nobel idea was streamlining of the awards and restoring the position of the coveted awards."

The government has decided to scale down the number of science awards in the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)