Dr Sudeshna Sinha of Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, for her contributions towards novel concepts in computing with distributed chaos. Specifically, her work demonstrating the capacity of a lattice of threshold coupled chaotic elements to perform computations, has received wide international attention and featured in several international journals.

Dr Sanjay Puri of School of Physical Sciences, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for his contributions in the fields of non-equilibrium statistical physics. In particular, he has contributed to the area of phase ordering dynamics, which describes the dynamics of growth or ordered phases in a multi-component mixture that is quenched rapidly below its critical point.

Dr Charusita Chakravarty of the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, for her research contribution to quantum and classical phase equilibrium. quantum and classical Monte Carlo methods and molecular dynamics, absorption and diffusion in solids

Dr Raghavan Varadarajan of Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his research in protein structure and foldings.

Dr Shekhar C Mande of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, for his research work peanut lectin, protein crystallography and infectious diseases, crystal structure of the immuno-dominant chaperonin, anti-trypanosomiasis drug, hemoglobin bio-synthesis, DW cloning, new homology of a bacterial globin gene, etc.

Dr B V Rajarama Bhat of Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, for his contributions in Operator algebra, especially, C*-algebras. The problems he has solved have their origins in the highly non-trivial area where classical probability theory, quantum probability and operator theory meet.

Dr Indranil Biswas of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, for his research in differential geometry and algebraic geometry as well as study of bundles with parabolic structures.

Dr Kapil Hari Paranjape, of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, for his research in resolution of singularities, rationality and unirationality, hypersurfaces and hyperplane sections of homogeneous spaces.

The B M Birla prizes, carrying Rs 50,000/- in cash per subject, are awarded to young Indian scientists, below the age of 40 years, who have made outstanding original contributions in their fields. The objective is to encourage uncompromising excellence and to recognise the contributions of such scientists while encouraging others to achieve even higher standards of excellence.

The prestigious awards have been instituted by the B M Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, which is a premier institution for the dissemination of science in the country. The Science Centre runs the B M Birla Planetarium which is rated to be amongst the best in the world. The Centre also runs a Post Graduate Diploma in Planetarium Techniques and Management, the first such course anywhere in the world, besides conducting M Tech courses in Computer Sciences.