Senior researcher Mahan Maharaj at the Howrah-based Ramkrishna Mission Vivekananda University and Amit Prakash Sharma of the Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology were among 11 scientists selected for the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize.

The prizes were announced by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR Director General Samir Brahmachari on its Foundation Day ceremony in New Delhi on Monday.

On this occasion, Science and Technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh suggested to start two more Shanti Swarup Bhatanagar Award on trans disciplinary research and innovation fields.

Other scientists who will get India's top science awards include Dr. Palash Kumar of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, Rajan Sankaranarayanan of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

Balasubramanian Sundaram of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore and Garikapati Narahari Sastry of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology at Hyderabad were selected to be honoured in the Chemical Sciences field. Shiraz Minwalla of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai will be given award in Physical Sciences category while K Narayanaswamy Balaji of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore in Medical Sciences field.

Sirshendu De of IIT Kharagpur and Upadrasta Ramamurty of IISc will receive the prize in Engineering field. Shankar Doraiswamy of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa has been selected in the Earth Sciences category.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will give away the awards at a later date.