In order to encourage work of excellence in taxonomy and also to encourage young students and scholars to work in this field of science, this award, named after the late Prof. E.K. Janaki Ammal was instituted in the year 1999.Late Prof. Janaki Ammal did taxonomic work of outstanding merit and excellence, particularly in the area of cytotaxonomy and has been a source of inspiration to many young scientists.The award is presented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
