JK Organization in association with Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow, announced the winners of the 8^th Lakshmipat Singhania - IIM Lucknow National Leadership Awards on November 30, 2012. The awards were conferred on the winners by the President of India, Mr Pranab Mukherjee to honor exceptional talents, who have contributed to the development and growth of our country through their pursuit of excellence.

Dr Gajendra Pal Singh Raghava, head, Bioinformatics Centre, Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh was among the total six awardees for the year 2011. He developed a method for calculating concentration of antibodies and antigens from ELISA data, and a prediction method for the protein secondary structure. In 1999 he established his research group at IMTECH with emphasis on protein structure prediction and genome annotation. In 2001, his group also focused on "Computer-aided vaccine design" with emphasis on subunit vaccine design. Since 2006, his group is trying to integrate bioinformatics, chemoinformatics, pharmaco-informatics and clinical informatics in order to develop a single platform for designing drugs in silico.

The awards were presented in three categories - business, science and technology and community service. The awardees were evaluated on the basis of excellence in work, high personal values, ethics, innovation and establishing balance of disparate forces operating in their respective fields.
Felicitating the awardees, Mr Mukherjee said, "Late Mr Lakshmipat Singhania, in whose honor this award has been instituted, was a visionary and a business leader with outstanding qualities. His entrepreneurial spirit and contribution to Indian business and society at large is well known and bears no repetition."

Bharat Hari Singhania, director, JK Organization, highlighting the genesis of the awards said, "We aim to persistently acknowledge the talent and efforts of the leaders who are driving the growth of the country through their immense contribution in their respective industries. These awards set a platform for India's young leaders to work towards the betterment of society and lead the economies with their talent. We aspire to continue on the principles of Mr Lakshmipat Singhania, who has always inspired us to aim for excellence in all our endeavors."

The criterion and the selection have been tailored corresponding to today's requirement of inculcating and nurturing leadership talents in the country. The awards have gained prominence over time and are considered as a benchmark to acknowledge leadership across the various segments in our country.