President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the two-day Visitors Conference 2024-25 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 3rd March 2025.

The first ever Visitor Conference was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan in November 2015.

President Droupadi Murmu also conferred the 8th Visitor’s Awards 2023 to distinguished academicians for their path-breaking research in innovation, research, and technology development.

The Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, also addressed the Conference.

President as the Visitor of Central Universities

Under section 8 of the Central Universities Act 2009, the President of India is the Visitor of the central universities in India. At present, the President is the Visitor of 184 Central Institutes of Higher Education.

The visitor has the power to appoint one or more persons to review the work and the progress made by the central universities and submit its report to the President.

The Visitor Conference is an occasion where the head of the Central Institutes of Higher Education discuss issues related to higher education in the country.

The President also confers the 8th Visitors Award during the Visitor’s Conference.

8th Visitor’s Awards for 2023

The Visitor’s Award is given in the field of Innovation, Research, and Technology Development.

The recipients of the 8th Visitor's Awards 2023 are as follows:

Visitor’s Award for Innovation

Professor Saripella Srikrishna of the Banaras Hindu University. He was honoured for his effort in developing Novel Indigenous Innovation in Quantum Technology to boost the National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Visitor’s Award in Research

Physical Sciences

Professor Ashwini Kumar Nangia of the University of Hyderabad.
He was recognized for his seminal research in the discovery and development of high bioavailability drugs and pharmaceuticals with enhanced efficacy at affordable costs.

Biological Sciences

Jointly to Professor Rina Chakrabarti, University of Delhi and Professor Raj Kumar of the Central University of Punjab.
Professor Rina Chakrabarti was honoured for her research in Sustainable Freshwater Aquaculture.
Professor Raj Kumar was honoured for his research in exploring various cancer hallmarks and the development of synthetic anticancer lead molecules.

Visitor’s Award for Technology Development

Dr Venkateswarlu Chintala of the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya.
He was recognised for his research in the production of petrol and diesel production at a commercial scale from landfill municipal mixed plastic waste.