Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded with the Ig Nobel prize, making him the second Indian after Atal Vihari Vajpaaye to receive this satirical honour.

The Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine, carry a satirical tone and to add humour to magazine’s already comedic approach covering scientific developments throughout the globe. The actual play is of the words ig+nobel (ignoble). Narendra Modi is not the only one to receive this prize, heads of the governments of Brazil, UK, Mexico, Belarus, the US, Turkey, Russia and Turkmenistan also feature in the list.

The state heads were awarded owing to their respective COVID-19 management. The specific reason for the prize could be framed as “to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can.”

These names come out after India, US, Brazil and Russia have reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

The first time these awards were recognised was in 1991, since then Lukashenko, who was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for the second time after he received one in 2013 for “making it illegal to applaud in public” and this time again.

The usual ceremony includes a Harvard stage and sixty seconds for the awardees to say their acceptance speech, however this time the entire honoury process is a virtual arrangement.