Presented by: His Excellency Sir Zelman Cowen, Governor General of Australia, at the Sydney Opera House.

Professor Pal is the creator of the Space Applications Centre at Ahmedabad and served as its first director. During his tenure, Professor Pal conducted a major socio-technical experiment to ascertain whether a satellite-based direct television broadcast could be used for education and development in rural villages of India. Currently, Professor Pal is a National Research Professor of India, a National Mahatma Gandhi Fellow, and is the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Yash Pal died in 2017.