Awards are distributed biennially, and takes the form of medals, citations, and cash prizes.
The award was given to Bansal for patenting a technique to transfer foreign gene to brinjal chloroplast.
Several scientists demanded Shri Sharad Pawar, Former minister for agriculture to remove Bansal from the post of director, NBPGR.
[6] Tariq Anwer, Minister of State for Agriculture has answered that an enquiry has been initiated to look into the issues.
However, reports suggest that ICAR has hushed up the matter and RTI queries for the outcome of the enquiry were not answered.