Sectional Committees

1. Invitation for Nomination: A circular letter drawing attention of the Fellows of the Academy, to the last date on which nominations for Fellowship should reach the Office of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, shall be issued in the first week of September every year.
2. Certification of Nominations: Every nominee shall be proposed and recommended by a certificate in writing signed by two Fellows. Of these, at least one shall certify from personal knowledge of the scientific attainments of the candidates. Vice-President (Fellowship Affairs), on receiving a written request from a Fellow not residing in India but competent to certify recommendation for a particular discipline, shall have the power to sign a certificate on behalf of the Fellow.

The nominating paper shall specify the name, date of birth, field of specialization, designation, address (both official and residential), academic and professional attainments of the nominee in a form prescribed by the Academy and shall include a brief statement as well as a detailed critical analysis highlighting the most important research contributions of the nominee. The proposer must also send a separate list of up to ten most important publications of the nominee, a complete list of publications and a set of reprints of publications along with the Nomination Form. Nominations not complete in all respects and not accompanied by the above two lists of publications and a set of reprints, shall not be valid for consideration.
The proposer should ensure that the critical information required in the form is complete. The nominee should not send any information directly to the Academy.
The proposer shall send the nomination paper to such other Fellow for his support who, in his opinion, will second the nominee. The nomination paper should be transmitted by one Fellow to another directly. After both the Fellows have affixed their signatures and also given their own remarks on the nominee’s suitability, the nomination paper shall be forwarded to the Executive Secretary during working hours so as to reach him not later than October 15. In case October 15 happens to be a sunday, or a holiday the next working day will be the last valid date for receipt of nominations in the Academy. The particulars of the nomination paper shall be recorded with the date of receipt in a book to be kept for the purpose which will be read at the next meeting of the Council.

Fellows may make such observations/comments as they may wish to, on the suitability or otherwise of the candidates included in the Book of Nominations and communicate to the Convener of the concerned Sectional Committee. The Conveners shall write by March 1 to all Fellows whose specializations belong to their Committee requesting them to send in additional information about the scientific attainments of the candidates under consideration for election to Fellowship. The observations/ comments received from the Fellows shall be placed before the Sectional Committee.

Guidelines for Sectional Committees:
I.      The primary criterian for election to the Fellowship will be scientific and technological achievements of the nominee (e.g. contributions to new knowledge, new discoveries, development of new technologies, substantial improvement in existing technologies etc.) as evidenced by publications, patents, authenticated scientific reports which could not be published and the economic impact of his/her work.
II.    The work done in India should be given primary importance. Sectional Committees should not consider the nomination of those scientists who are abroad on a long term basis. They should be considered only when they are back in India and have made notable contributions to science in India.
III. The election should be recommended for the work done in the entire career of the scientist. Work done well before the nomination is proposed should also be given due consideration.

VI. The Sectional Committees, if they strongly feel that the work of a scientist is more suitable to a different Sectional Committee than theirs, may suggest the change of Sectional Committee of the nominee. The suggested change of Sectional Committee will be referred to the proposer for his / her consideration. In case, the proposer accepts the alternate sectional committee for the nominee, the Academy will forward the nomination papers next year to the changed Sectional committee for consideration. The nomination will remain valid for five years from the time changed Sectional Committee considers the nominee.
The Executive Secretary shall call two meetings of the Sectional Committees, in April/May and in August, on the dates as may be decided by the Council in the calendar of meetings, to consider these recommendations.
Two meetings of the Sectional Committees:
a) There will be two meetings of the Sectional Committees each year; the first one will be held in April/May and the second meeting will be in the month of August prior to the Council meets.
b) At the first meeting, the Sectional Committees will shortlist the nominations to ten. The Conveners will make all efforts to procure the opinion of the fellowship about the nominees. The opinions received by the Conveners should be thoroughly discussed at the meeting.
c) The Sectional Committees will identify a minimum of five experts (from India and abroad) for each of the above shortlisted ten names who should be contacted for obtaining specific information about the nominee. The national experts, should be restricted to INSA Fellows only. Utmost care should be taken in choosing overseas experts. These short-listed ten names are to be circulated to the members of the Council also.
(d) At the second meeting of the Sectional Committees, the opinion of experts (on each nominee) will be placed on the table and will be critically discussed. The Committee will then make a final list of up to five names, in order of priority, for the consideration of the Council. The Committee shall also bring out clearly for each recommended nominee the reason for its recommendation, by highlighting the importance of the scientific contributions of the concerned nominee.
The reports of the Sectional Committees will be forwarded to the Vice-President (Fellowship Affairs) by the Conveners.
8.     Selection by the Council: At the meeting of the Council to be held normally in August the Council shall devote one full day entirely and exclusively for the purpose of considering recommendations made by each Sectional Committees and shall then select by ballot a number not exceeding thirty to be recommended to the Fellows of the Academy for election. In the event of a tie, the President shall have a second and casting vote.
The opinion of experts and any other material placed on the table in the second meeting will be made available to the Council at its August Meeting.

papers, shall report to the President the number of votes received by each candidate. The President shall duly declare the names of the candidates who have been elected. In the case of a tie, the President shall have a casting vote. The result of election shall be notified to all the Fellows by post. This election, however, shall be effective from January 1 of the following year.

• Re-nomination: On the expiry of the validity of the nomination, a re-nomination can be made afresh only after a gap of two years. The fresh nomination shall be submitted as prescribed in Regulation 2.
• Nomination for Special Election: In accordance with Rule 6 (e), the Council may recommend names for election as Fellow/s otherwise than that provided under paras 1 to 15 of these Regulations. The persons so recommended shall be selected by the Council by ballot provided always that no person shall be so recommended unless he obtains two-thirds of the votes of the Members of the Council present and that the total number of votes registered in his favour are not less than seven.
• Special Election: At the Ordinary General Meeting of the Academy, immediately following the Meeting of the Council at which the selection of persons to be elected under Regulation 16 is made, the person(s) nominated shall be proposed for election by means of a certificate prepared by the Vice-President (Fellowship Affairs). This certificate shall explicitly specify the basis of nomination for special election. Such certificate shall remain with the Academy until the day on which a ballot is taken on it. The name of the person so proposed shall be posted to each fellow for voting by a date given on the ballot paper. The result of the ballot shall be ascertained at the next meeting of the Council after the close of the ballot, following the procedure of Regulations 12 to 14.
• Subscription: An admission fee of Rs 50/- and one time Fellowship subscription of Rs 500/- shall be due on election.