More than 250 science students and teachers from classes 6 to 12 from all over the country were awarded various medals and prizes for their achievements in the Fourth National Science Olympiad 2002. The ceremony was organised on 26th October, 2002, at Chinmaya Centre of World Understanding, New Delhi.

Top 10 All India rankers of classes 6th to 12th Class 6 1. Abhishek Anand | St Michael’s High School, Patna 2. Shashank Shubhanker | DAV Public School, Ranchi 3. Nishant Singh | St. Josephs School, Bhagalpur 4. Manish Kumar Singh | Mar Gregorios Memorial H.S. School, Bokaro Steel City 5. Pandya Kedar | Gokuldham High School & Junior College, Mumbai 6. Ravi Chandra | Vidyanjali High School, Hyderabad 7. Kumar Soumen | DAV public School (m.c.l.), Jharsuguda 8. Akansha Tayal | Dayawati Modi Academy-I, Meerut 9. Aparup Salui | Hem Sheela Model School, Durgapur 10. Devakshi Dua | Sanskriti School, New Delhi Class 7 1. Mayank Abhishek | Surendranath Centenary School, Ranchi 2. Manish Kumar Singh | St John’s School, Varanasi 3. Somani Patnaik | Carmel School, Rourkela 4. Soumya Shaw | Hill Top School, Jamshedpur 5. Dutt Avik | St Josephs College, Calcutta 6. Abhrajyoti Chakroborty | Kendriya Vidyalaya, Guwahati 7. J Dinesh | Smt Ramkuwar Devi Forma Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Chennai 8. Amrit Raj | Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapeeth, Deoghar 9. Ashish Kashyap | De Nobili School, Dhanbad 10. James Sushanth | St Johns English School & Jr. College, Chennai Class 9 1. Pragyesh | St Johns School, Varanasi 2. Sumit Shekhar | DAV Public School, Patna 3. Sayandeep P | Chanderbala Modi Academy, Ankleshwar 4. Rahul Bajaj | Mary Immaculate School, Murshidabad 5. Subhonmesh Bose | Salt Lake School, Kolkata 6. Ankur Awadhiya | DAV Public School, Vasant Vihar, Bilaspur 7. Abhay Kumar | St Xaviers School, Bokaro 8. Piyush Srivastava | Boys’ High School & College, Aallahabad 9. Ankit Kr Srivastava | DAV Public School, Patna 10. Varun Jain | Delhi Public School, Hardwar Class 11 1. Kanoria Yashodhan | D.G. Ruparel College, Mahim, Mumbai 2. S Harsha Vardhan | Ratna Junior College, Hyderabad 3. Amandeep Singh | Ahlcon Public School, New Delhi New Delhi 4. Brijesh Takkar | Sacred Heart Convent S.S. School, Ludhiana 5. Karan Mangla | Modern School, New Delhi 6. Abhiroop Medhekar | Navrachana Hr Sec School, Baroda 7. Nitin Agrawal | Senior Secondary School, Bhilai 8. Harshit Gupta | Dreamland School, Hooghly 9. Vineet Khattar | Birla Vidya Niketan, New Delhi 10. Chaitanya Gokhale | Hislop College, Nagpur

Class 8 1. Nivedita Sinha | Delhi Public School, Bokaro 2. Raghu Mahajan | St Stephen’s School, Chandigarh 3. Bandan Kr Jha | Delhi Public School, Bokaro 4. Rachit Chandra | Vivekanand Kendra Vidyalaya Tinsukia 5. Ashok Narayanan | The Emirates National School, Sharjah 6. Divyanshu Jha | Don Bosco Academy, Patna 7. Bharath Hariharan | Delhi Public School, Dwarka, New Delhi 8. Pragun Goyal | Saraswati Senior Secondary School, Mahindergar  9. Sandeep Kumar Gupta | Holy Cross School, Bokaro Steel City 10. Dasgupta Abhishek | St Xaviers Collegiate School, Calcutta Class 10 1. Rohan Jain | Apeejay School, Faridabad 2. Sushant Sachdeva | Rajhans Vidyalaya, Mumbai 3. Abhijit Gupta | Atomic Energy Central School, Indore 4. Bharat Kr Mittal |DAV Public School, Kota 5. Dhiresh Bansal | St. Paul’s Sr. Sec. School, Kota 6. Aseem Brahma | Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi 7. Amrit Samra | Apeejay School, Faridabad 8. Shubham Mittal | Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi 9. Vipul Naik | Delhi Public School, Sector 30, Noida 10. Swastik | Delhi Public School, Bokaro Class 12 1. Ankur Jain | Halwasiya Vidya Vihar Sr. Sec. School, Bhiwani 2. Aniruddha Choudhary | Senior Secondary School, Bhilai 3. Savleen Kaur | Swami Sant Dass Public School, Jalandhar 4. Saurabh Uppal | Apeejay School, Jalandhar City 5. Anosh Raj | Ratna Junior College, Hyderabad 6. Archish Tajpuriya | Hislop College, Nagpur 7. Pawan Kumar | Delhi Public School, Bokaro 8. Varun Agarwal | Birla Vidya Niketan, New Delhi 9. L Abhijeeth Reddy | Ratna Junior College, Hyderabad 10. Sadre Alam | Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Campus, Chennai Address by Bachi singh Rawat, the hon'ble Minister of State for Science and Technology on the occasion of the award presentation ceremony of the 4th National Science Olympiad held at Chinmaya Auditorium, New Delhi on 26th October, 2002

Special prizes - Wipro Computers - awarded to three schools in each zone who enrolled maximum number of students for the 4th NSO

NORTH ZONE Carmel Convent School, Chanakyapuri St.John's School, Marhauli, Varanasi Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Tejli Road, Jagadhari

SOUTH ZONE Sri Krishnaveni Talent School, Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad National Public School, Indira Nagar, Bangalore Sarvodaya Pre-University College, Gandhinagar, Tumkur

WEST ZONE Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Moti Mahal Road, Gwalior Yashavantrao Chavan Institute of Science, Satara The Daly College, Indore

EAST ZONE Delhi Public School, Sector 4, Bokaro Steel City Don Bosco School, Sevoke Road, Siliguri The Assam Valley School, Balipara, Sonitpur

Chief Guest's Speech : I would like to start by congratulating our young award winners for their commendable performance in the 4th National Science Olympiad organized by the Science Olympiad Foundation. I must also mention that this is just the beginning of your success story and more lies ahead to be achieved.

With its large population and long history of educational excellence and scholarship, India is an immense source of talented human resource. Unfortunately, most of it is still untapped or undertapped. The need of the hour is to empower Indians with proper scientific and technological skills. Identification of scientific talent at a young age is the first step in this process. It is in this context that the olympaid movements play an important role.

While the Government of India has also been supporting an Integrated Science Olympiad Programme Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics Olympiads, there is enough scope for other organizations to also complement this governmental effort. Organization like the Science Olympiad Foundation, New Delhi has been playing an invaluable role in furthering the science olympiad movement in the country. 

I must inform that every year 19 students participate in the International Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics Olympiads and they have been bringing laurels for this country. Since 1999, the Government of India has been also awarding attractive Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana Scholarships to these 19 participants every year, provided they continue to study Sciences after Class XII.

The Government of India had to bring in this positive bias in view of the alarming trend of good students leaving Sciences as their choice of study. There can be no leadership in technology without a sound scientific base. And, without a leadership in technology, it would be difficult to build a strong and prosperous nation in an era where 'knowledge', and not 'capital', is the key to growth and prosperity.

The Olympiad movements play a very important role from a very different angle also. They impart to the study of science, a sports-like ambience and spirit. Too much structured syllabus and burden of text books often drive children away fromt the subject and make the learning process a dull and drab affair. On top of it, parents put unnecessary pressure and set lofty goals for their children, which again make studies and learning burdensome and unproductive. While teachers should, and they are doing their bit to, make science learning interesting, the olympiads make science learning a pleasant experience just like sports. And, I think, they are playing an invaluable role in firing creative imagination in young and curious minds.

This year is especially important for the Science Olympiad Foundation as a new beginning has been made. The Wipro Corporation has sponsored this year's event with a substantial contribution towards awards and prizes. Wipro is a torch bearer of our knowledge economy and such a contribution shows their commitment towards consolidation of knowledge-base at the grassroots level. I appeal to other industrial concerns also to come forward and join hands with government and non-governmental organizations in making long-term investments in human resource development.

As a parent and, as elderly person, I would like to advise my young friends here about a few important things. First, they should not ignore the pure sciences stream as a viable career option while making their choice. While engineering and other technical streams are equally important, they need the support of basic sciences for retaining their originality and competitive edge. Brilliant minds are also required for research and development in the fields of science to make India a more developed and stronger nation. 

My message is - be guided by your aptitude and interest. Combine it with hard work. Excellence will follow. My second advice and message is : never forget your societal obligations. Use your brilliance and capabilities to help improve the quality of life of the poor, health and education of every child and adult; help remove the disparities and discord due to caste, creed and colour; help arrest the fast expanding social unrest due to greed, moral degradation and other abrasions; and, help prevent the misuse of scientific knowledge for mutual destruction. Use your intelligence and abilities to make this planet a more humane place to live in. Knowledge is a tool and a means, and not the end. Wisdom is the end. Enlightenment is the end. Living in harmony with fellow humans, animals and Nature at large is the end. Never lose sight of these goals.
I, once again, congratulate all the students who have won medals and prizes and brought pride and recognition to Science Olympiad Foundation for success in their mission in future.

Jai Hind