REGULATIONS REGARDING ELECTION AND ADMISSION OF FELLOWS
These regulations to be read as follows :
1. There shall be a Meeting of Fellows at the time of Annual Session for which two week’s notice shall be given. In this meeting, the number of Fellows to be elected next year shall be decided.
2. Up to a maximum of 4 Fellows may also be elected in the area of ‘Science and Society’ in any year in addition to the number of Fellows to be elected during the year, for their exceptional contributions in extending scientific and technological advances for the benefit of the society, and having a visible impact.
A Committee will scrutinize the nominations and shall send its recommendation to the approval of the Council, NASI. The Committee shall be chaired by the Presidents’ nominee from among the Past Presidents, NASI; and include the following: (i) Presidents’ nominee from among the Past Presidents, NASI, (ii & iii) Two Past Presidents of NASI, one each from Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences, (iv & v) Convenors of area panels for Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences of the Fellowship Scrutiny Committee, (vi) a Fellow from the ‘Science & Society’ category, and (vii) one of the General Secretaries as the Member-Secretary.
3. Blank nomination papers for Fellowship and Foreign Fellowship shall be sent by the General Secretary to each Fellow not later than 15th January each year.
4. A Fellow may nominate up to three candidates each year for election to the Fellowship of the Academy.
5. Nominations made for the Fellowship of the Academy shall remain in good standing for a period of five years.
A scientist whose nomination for Fellowship has remained in good standing for a period of 5 years and who is not elected during this period, may be renominated after a gap of 2 years.
During the period that a nomination remains in good standing, it should be updated every year. The General Secretary (HQ) will write to one of the Fellows who has nominated the candidate to update the biodata of the nominee.
6. Nomination papers would be received in the Academy by the 15th April every year, duly filled and signed, and addressed to the General Secretary, and no paper received after this date shall be considered in that year. If 15th April happens to be a postal holiday the next working day would be the last date.
7. Each candidate shall be nominated and seconded by a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India. The proposer should preferably belong to the same field of specialization as the nominee; and he/she shall certify that he/she is personally acquainted with the scientific contribution of the candidate.
8. Any candidate who canvasses for support for her/his candidature, shall be disqualified from election.
9. A list of scientists duly nominated with their qualifications shall be compiled from the nomination papers by the General Secretary and put on the website of the Academy; a hard copy would be sent to the members of the Scrutiny Committee, one month in advance.
The Fellowship Scrutiny Committee will scrutinize the nominations and shall send its recommendations to the Council. The Council will further scrutinize the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee and shall have the power to delete any name from the list; but it can not add any new name.
The list approved by the Council shall be printed and circulated as a voting paper and sent out to every Fellow not later than the 15th August.
10. The Fellows shall then vote by placing a cross against the names of those they wish to be elected.
11. The voting paper indicating the number of vacancies, shall be enclosed unsigned in a sealed envelope, which shall be forwarded to the General Secretary in an outer cover with a covering letter signed by the Fellow, so as to reach the Academy by the 15th September. In the absence of a covering letter a voting paper shall become invalid.
12. There shall be a Meeting of the Fellows in September/ October on two week’s prior notice. At this Meeting the sealed envelopes shall be opened and counted as per the directions of the Chairman. The Chairman will be elected from among themselves by the Fellows present in the meeting.
13. For meetings of Fellows, seven Fellows shall constitute the quorum.
REGULATION REGARDING ADMISSION OF HONORARY FELLOWS
Only such individuals who have distinguished themselves by their intellectual achievements/leadership/creativity in a chosen field of work, which has led to the progress of science, may be admitted as Honorary Fellows.
Nominations for Honorary Fellowship duly supported by a statement giving reasons there of would ordinarily be made in the meeting of the Council to be held in the month of July. The nominations after being duly circulated to members of the Council would be placed in its next meeting for approval.
REGULATIONS REGARDING ELECTION AND ADMISSION OF FOREIGN FELLOWS
These regulations to be read as follows:
1. Fellows of the Academy may nominate distinguished scientists from foreign countries (who are nationals of foreign countries), for election to the Foreign Fellowship of the Academy.
2. The maximum number of Foreign Fellows shall be 100, with admission of ordinarily not more than 5 Foreign Fellows in any one year.
3. Apart from being a distinguished scientist, a nominee must be associated with the development of science in India and associated with Indian scientists as evidenced by collaborative programmes with them, training of Indian scientists, participation in Indian scientific programmes, visits to India for participation in conferences, consultancy, programmes, etc.
4. Nominations must be accompanied with detailed information regarding the scientific contributions of the nominee, her/his biodata and evidence of the nominee’s involvement in the development of Science and Technology in India. The Fellow making the nomination will provide details and certify about the nominee’s involvement with Indian science and scientists.
5. Nominations must reach the Academy by 15th April every year.
6. The nominations will be first placed before the respective Fellowship Scrutiny Committee at its meeting in July. The recommendations of the Fellowship Scrutiny Committee will then be deliberated upon in the Council. The Council may also consider new names proposed by Council Members.
7. The names approved by the Council for Foreign Fellowship would be printed and circulated as voting paper and sent out to the Fellows for voting not later than 15th August.
8. Regulations regarding the despatch, voting, receipt, opening and counting of the voting papers would be the same as in the case of Fellows.
REGULATIONS REGARDING ADMISSION OF MEMBERS
The following are the criteria for admission of members:-
(i) Scientists for Membership shall be nominated by a Fellow and seconded by another Fellow of the Academy, on the basis of personal knowledge of the nominees scientific contributions. These nominations shall be deliberated upon by the Membership Scrutiny Committee appointed by the Council. Its recommendations shall be placed before the Council in its meeting in April. Scientists approved by the Council for the membership would be enrolled as Members of the Academy on payment of the necessary dues as Members.
(ii) High academic qualifications in any discipline of Science & Technology e.g. Ph.D., D.Phil., M.Tech., M.D., M.S., and equivalent qualifications.
(iii) Evidence of active involvement in Science and Technology activities.
(iv) Documented evidence of high quality research publications in peer reviewed national and international journals.
and/or evidence of exceptional ability as a teacher or involvement in ‘Science Promotion’/‘Science Popularization Programmes’.
(v) The total number of members shall not exceed 2000.
REGULATIONS REGARDING NOMINATION TO VACANT OFFICES AND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE COUNCIL
1. A list of vacancies, including those for Officers of the Academy and Members shall be prepared in the meeting of the Academy’s Council in April every year and the nominations shall be invited from Fellowship only for designated vacancies.
The General Secretaries will invite proposals from Fellowship for nomination to vacant Offices and the Membership of the Council for the ensuing year. The zone-wise list of Fellows should be available on the website of the Academy. The nominations made by the Fellows must reach the Academy latest by June 30.
A list of these nominations shall be placed before the Council in its meeting to be held in July and the Council in proposing the names for various Offices and Membership of the Council will confine itself to this list.
The General Secretary (HQ) shall prepare a list of such persons whom the Council recommends to be elected as President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, General Secretaries, Foreign Secretary and other Members of the Council for the ensuing year, and before the 1st September such list shall be circulated among the Fellows of the Academy for voting, which shall bear a blank column opposite the list of the names for such proposals as any Fellow may wish to make.
2. The Council shall, by the 1st August each year, recommend twenty-three members as follows:-
(1) One President, (2) Two Past Presidents of whom one shall be Immediate Past President, (3) Two Vice-Presidents, (4) Two General Secretaries, (5) One Treasurer, (6) One Foreign Secretary and (7) Fourteen members.
3. The names thus proposed for constituting the Council shall be circulated among the Fellows for voting. The Fellows shall then vote for the officers and members in the Council, to be filled by placing a cross against the names of those she/he wishes to elect.
4. The voting papers shall be enclosed unsigned in a sealed envelope supplied by the Academy, which shall be forwarded to the General Secretary in an outer cover with a covering letter signed by the Fellow, so as to reach the Academy by the 1st October or the date fixed by the Council. In the absence of a covering letter, the voting paper shall be declared invalid.
5. The sealed envelopes shall be placed by the General Secretaries in the Annual General Body Meeting.
6. Two scrutinisers shall be appointed by the President, with the approbation of the majority of the Fellows and Members present.
7. The scrutinisers shall open and examine the voting papers and report to the President the names of those having 2/3 or more of the votes cast, and these names constituting the Council shall then be announced in the same Annual General Body Meeting.
8. In the event of a vacancy occurring during the year in the office of President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, General Secretaries, Foreign Secretary, the remaining Members of the Council may fill up such a vacancy. The action so taken by the remaining Members of the Council shall be reported at the next Annual General Body Meeting.
9. If, for any reason, the Officers and Members of the Council could not be appointed for the ensuing year in the Annual General Body Meeting, the Officers and Members of the Council appointed during the previous year shall continue to hold office until their successors are duly nominated and assume office.
REGULATIONS REGARDING PUBLICATION OF PROCEEDINGS AND SCIENCE LETTERS
1. There shall be Managing Editor(s)/Editorial Board(s) responsible for the coordination and management of the publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India and National Academy Science Letters. The Managing Editor(s)/Editorial Board(s) shall be appointed by the Council and hold office for normally two years at a time.
2. There shall be separate Editorial Boards—one for each of the following publications of the Academy viz.
(a) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section A;
(b) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B; and
(c) National Academy Science Letters.
Each Editorial Board shall consist of the Managing Editor, the Chief Editor, Subject Editors from eminent experts in various disciplines (as members); and will be presided over by the President of the Academy.
3. The number of members and subject Editors shall be decided by the Council from time to time.
4. The Council shall appoint separate Editors for special publications as and when necessary.
REGULATIONS REGARDING MEETINGS
Regulations regarding the ‘General Body Meetings’ of the Academy:
1. A notice of 2 weeks will be given for an ordinary meeting of the General Body.
2. A notice of 7 days will be given for an Extraordinary meeting of the Academy.
3. A minimum of 3 weeks, notice will be given for the Annual General Body Meeting of the Academy.
REGULATIONS REGARDING THE MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL
1. Two weeks’ notice will be given for the meetings of the Council to be held one in each quarter of the year.
2. Any other meeting including a Special meeting of the Council can be convened with the permission of the President, after giving a week’s notice.
3. An Emergent meeting of the Council can be convened by giving 48 hours’ notice.
Appendix ‘A’
WORKING OF CHAPTERS
Objective- In order to pursue the objectives of the Academy and create an adequate impact of the Academy all over the country, it is necessary to expand the activities of the Academy in a meaningful way by involving a larger number of scientists, foreign visitors, educationists and industrialists. This is to be done by the Academy by opening Chapters in important centres.
Functions- The main functions of these Chapters will be to-
(a) arrange lectures/discussions/seminars/symposia on the current and future sciences, technology and science education and their impact on society.
(b) maintain a library of Academy’s publications for reference.
(c) work as a liaison office between the local Chapter members and the Academy headquarters.
Conditions-
(a) Chapters may be opened only in those centres where there are preferably 20 Fellows/Members.
(b) All local fellows and members of the National Academy of Sciences, India shall be members of the Chapter without any payment; and they shall be invited in activities of the Chapter. The activities of the Chapter would be run by a Committee consisting of (i) the Chairman, (ii) Secretary and (iii) three Advisors. The Chairman and the Secretary preferably be the Fellows of the Academy. The first set of office bearers may be nominated by the President of the Academy and thereafter they shall be elected from amongst the members of the Chapter.
(c) The Chairman and the Secretary shall submit the Annual Report of the activities of the Chapter to the Council of the Academy by 1st April every year.
Finances : The Academy may support the activities of the Chapter. The modes of support will be decided by the Council from time to time.