Ans. These are the Awards conferred annually to promote healthy competition amongst central universities and motivate them to adopt best practices from around the world in pursuit of excellence.

Ans. The President of India, by virtue of various Acts of Central Universities is the head of Central Universities and is known as the “VISITOR”. At present there are 54 Central Universities in the nation.

Ans. At present, there are three categories in the Visitor’s Awards:
1. Visitor’s Award for Innovation
2. Visitor’s Award for Research
   A. Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
   B. Physical Sciences
   C. Biological Sciences
3. Visitor’s Award for Technology Development

Ans. The winning entry(ies) of each categories and sub-categories will be felicitated with a Citation and cash reward. The total value of the cash reward will be Rupees Two and a Half Lakhs. If there are two or more recipients, the cash reward will be shared equally between them, subject to the condition that, each awardee will receive a minimum of Rupees One Lakh. For example, if there are two awardees in the same category, the cash reward of Rs. 2.5 Lakh will be distributed equally amongst them, i.e. Rs. 1.25 Lakh each. However, if there are 3 or more awardees in the category, Rs. 1 lakh each will be given to them.

Ans. All faculty members and students of all Central Universities, where the President of India is the Visitor, are eligible for the Visitor’s Awards in all the categories / sub-categories. Individuals / group of individuals can apply.

Ans.Please log on to the official website of President of India, i.e., www.presidentofindia.nic.in. A link is provided in the menu “Nomination for Seventh Visitor’s Awards”. Click on that link and you will be led to the appropriate microsite. Alternatively, you can directly go the url, rb.nic.in/visitorawards (https://rb.nic.in/visitorawards).

Ans. Any faculty member or enrolled student of a central university, where the President of India is the Visitor, can apply.

Ans. Yes, any eligible candidate can apply online directly to any of the categories or sub-categories of the Awards.

Ans. One can have multiple numbers of applications in all the categories/sub categories, provided that all entries should be on different topics.

Ans. For queries regarding Visitor's Awards and Application Process, please contact CA-III Section, President’s Secretariat at 011-23017864, eMail: visitorawards@rb.nic.in.
For any technical difficulties related to Visitor's Awards Website, Online application etc., please contact NIC Cell, President’s Secretariat at 011-23015321 Extn. 4630, eMail: support-rb@nic.in.

Ans. Yes, any eligible person can apply directly without the approval or being forwarded by the University authorities. However, recommendations from two referees will be needed.

Ans. A panel of awardees would be prepared by a Selection Committee for final selection by the President. The committee will have the following composition:

S.No.	Nomenclature of the ex-officio post	Names of Incumbents
i)	Secretary to the President – Chairperson	Shri Rajesh Verma
ii)	Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education – Member	Shri K Sanjay Murthy
iii)	Secretary, Department of Science & Technology – Member	Dr. Srivari Chandrasekhar
iv)	Secretary, Department of Biotechnology – Member	Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale
v)	Governing Body, National Innovation Foundation – Member	Dr. P.S. Goel,Chairman
vi)	Director, IIT Delhi – Member	Prof. Rangan Banerjee
vii)	Director, IISc, Bangaloren – Memberr	Prof. Govindan Rangarajan
viii)	Former OSD, President’s Secretariat – Member Secretary	Shri Jagannath Srinivasan
	Persons of eminence in the field of academic, research and other relevant fields to be nominated by the President – Member(s)
	a) Chairman, University Grants Commission - Member	Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar
	b) Chairman, National Educational Technology Forum-Memeber	Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe
	c) Member Secretary, Indian Council of Social Science Research - Member	Prof. Virendra Kumar Malhotra
	d) Former Director, International Centre for Genectic Engineering and Biotechnology – Member	Prof. V.S. Chauhan
	SPECIAL INVITEES
i)	Former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology	Dr. Renu Swarup
ii)	Former Additional Secretary (HE), Ministry of Education	Dr. Vineet Joshi
iii)	Former Joint Secretary to the President	Shri Ajay Bhadoo

The Selection Committee will invite online nominations in prescribed formats. The Selection Committee will devise its own procedure to select the awardees, which will be put on the website of the President of India.

Ans. The Awards will be presented by the President of India, in her capacity as the Visitor of Central Universities. The names of the recipients of the awards will be published in the official Gazette

For any other queries, you may please mail at visitorawards@rb.nic.in