Miscellaneous AWARDS

AWARDS

1.      This year the President has approved 109 Padma awards including one duo case and 14 in the category of Foreigners/NRIs/PIOs/Posthumous. These comprise 5 Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri Awards. Padma Awards are the country’s highest civilian awards.

2.      President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the country’s highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna on renowned scientist Prof C.N.R. Rao and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

3.      An Indian-born scientist, Dr. M. Madan Babu won the Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014 at Cambridge, UK. He got the award for his effort in the field of biological system and to understand intrinsically disordered proteins and gene regulation clearly. He became the first scientist from MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to win this award.

4.      Sikkim won the National Tourism Award 2012-13.

5.      Eight scientists on 26 September 2013 were selected for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for the year 2013.

6.      Indian born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his collection of poems “3 Sections”. The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition.

7.      Gyan Correa’s “The Good Road” the first ever Gujarati film is selected as India’s entry for the best foreign film category at the Academy Awards 2013.

8.      Legendary vocalist Lata Mangeshkar was presented the first national Yash Chopra Memorial Award by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a mark of tribute to the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra on the eve of his first death anniversary. It is instituted by the TSR Foundation of T. Subbarami Reddy. It carries a cheque of Rs 1 million and a citation.

9.      Legendary actress Waheeda Rehman has been conferred with the first Centenary Award for the Indian Film Personality of the year at the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa in November 2013.

10.  The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced that the Veteran poet and film lyricist Gulzar has been chosen for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2013.

11.  Bhaag Milkha Bhaag bagged seven Black Lady awards in 59th Idea Film fare Awards 2013.

12.  ‘12 Years a Slave’ won the best picture award in the 86th Annual Academy Oscar Awards 2014.

13.  Marathi film ‘Killa’ won the Crystal Bear award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.

14.  Bangladesh’s Kamar Ahmad Simon’s documentary ‘Are You Listening’ won the Golden Conch Award of MIFF 2014.

15.  The Assamese thriller movie ‘Ekhon Nedekha Nadir Xipaare’ (also known as “As the river flows”) bagged the Audience Choice Award 2014 in North Carolina film festival.

16.  Bollywood megastar Aamir Khan has been Selected for a US Award for his Television Show 'Satyamev Jayate' on 21 September 2013.

17.  Documentary “Gulabi Gang” is to be screened at the 14th New York Indian Film Festival that will run from May 5 to 10, 2014. Directed by Nishtha Jain, it is based on the life of Sampat Pal Devi, a child bride and former government health worker. In 2006, Sampat Pal Devi formed the Gulabi Gang of pink saree-clad women which works for rights of women in destitute Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

18.  Ratan Tata (76), the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and former chairman of the Tata Group, has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth with a GBE (Knight Grand Cross) one of the UK’s highest civilian awards. He is the only Indian among 5 foreigners to be awarded as part of the ‘Honorary British Awards to Foreign Nationals’ for 2014.

19.  Indian-origin sculptor Anish Kapoor has been honoured with Knighthood one of the highest honours in Britain, by Queen Elizabeth II on her birthday honours list 2013 for services to Visual Arts.

20.  UK-born physicist Stuart Parkin bagged the Millennium technology prize 2014. Parkin won this prize for his breakthrough in magnetic disk drive storage capacity.

21.  Professor Dr. Tej Vir Singh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Madrid, Spain.

22.  The Indian-born scientist and Professor (Emeritus) at Stanford University, Mr. Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj (69), won the prestigious Marconi Society Prize 2014 for developing the theory and applications of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas. Prize includes $100,000 honorarium and a sculpture and its honorees become Marconi Fellows.

23.  The Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr. Shashi Tharoor named as the Person of the Year by the animal rights body PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) – India for taking steps to advance animal protection. Mr. Tharoor recommended the National Council for Teacher Education (NCERT) to ban the use of animals, viz. for dissection, etc, in training teachers.

24.  Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai who survived bullet-injury inflicted by the Taliban for supporting girls’ education has won the UN Human Rights Prize 2013.

25.  Eminent scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee Prof. CNR Rao has become the first Indian scientist to be elected as honorary foreign member of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). He is first Indian scientist to reach the h-index of 100.

26.  Eminent NRI industrialist and educationist Lord Swraj Paul has been conferred with the ‘International Indian of the Decade’ award on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the publication of India Link International—a monthly magazine published from London. He is presented this award for his exceptional achievements in the fields of industry, education and philanthropy.

27.  NGO, the Harmony Foundation honored former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award 2013 for her efforts towards achieving social justice in Mumbai. Along with Sushmita Sen, seven individuals and an association, India Rescue Mission, were also awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2013 for their contributions in the field of human rights and community development.

28.  France conferred its highest civilian award ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ on social worker and founder of NGO, Naz Foundation Anjali Gopalan for her work on transgender and HIV positive patients.

29.  Myanmar’s pro-democracy activist and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi finally collected the EU democracy prize (1990 Sakharov prize) that had been awarded 23 years ago while she was under house arrest. The Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, named after Soviet protester Andrei Sakharov has been awarded annually by the European Parliament since 1988.

30.  New Zealand’s author Ms Eleanor Catton became the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction. She won the award for her novel “The Luminaries”. “The Luminaries” is the longest book ever to win the Booker Prize.

31.  American Economist Eugene Fama won the Nobel Prize for economics for developing new ways to study trends in asset markets. He shared Nobel for Economic Sciences jointly with Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen.

32.  Karan Thapar, a well-known Indian television journalist has been honored with the International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism.

33.  Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan was awarded with the Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013. The award has been given in recognition to his academic contributions in macro economics research which influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the globe.

34.  Famous Pakistani courageous girl and activist Malala Yusafzai who was shot in head by Taliban for campaigning for girls’ right to education has won the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize 2013.

35.  Scientist Vinod Prakash Sharma has been honored with the Gujar Mal Modi Award for Innovative Science and Technology 2013 for his achievements in malaria research, control and prevention including other vector borne diseases.

36.  Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi (age 20) performed brilliantly to regain the Politiken Cup Chess Title in Copenhagen, Denmark. He had won the DC International Open in US. The youngest international Grandmaster in India (on July 1, 2006) won the same tournament in 2009. This was Negi’s second title in the last three outings.

37.  Four Indian American Professors Kannan Soundararajan, Rajeev Alur, Salil P Vadhan and Senthil Todadri are among the 13 mathematicians, theoretical physicists and theoretical computer scientists who have won 2013 Simons Investigators Awards.

38.  Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission has been conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay Award-2013 for its successful campaign against corruption in the country.

39.  Kolkata-born (India) chemist and physicist Sunetra Gupta has joined leading female scientists like Marie Curie at the art exhibition at the prestigious Royal Society.

40.  Paradip port (Odisha) has been conferred with the ‘Major Port of the Year’ award in recognition of its outstanding performance in 2012-13.

41.  Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden who uncovered the most extensive US global electronic surveillance programmes has been awarded German “Whistleblower Prize” for the year 2013 worth $3,900 in absentia.

42.  Zubin Mehta western classical music conductor of Indian-Parsi origin has been honored with the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony. He has been unanimously chosen for this by a four-member jury—led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and comprising Chief Justice of India Justice Altamas Kabir, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and former Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

43.  Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has been conferred with the prestigious “Canada India Foundation Chanchalani Global Indian Award 2014″ for his exceptional vision and leadership in the IT sector.

44.  US President Barack Obama honored legendary US singer-songwriter Carole King with Gershwin Prize for a lifetime achievement in popular music. With this achievement King has become the first woman to be awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

45.  Ms Aparajita Datta, a wildlife biologist has won Whitley Award for a project to conserve ‘Hornbill’ bird in Arunachal Pradesh State. She is the Winner of the 2013 Whitley Award donated by WWF-UK.

46.  This year’s ISRO Young Scientist Award was given to Jenita Mary Nongkynrih, a young woman scientist from Meghalaya. This award carries a cash of Rs 50,000 and citation. She was awarded for her Urban Information system project in the North East.

47.  33-year-old, Delhi-born Raj Chetty, a professor in the Department of Economics at the Harvard University has won the esteemed John Bates Clark medal. Chetty is the first person of Indian-origin to win this award. John Bates Clark Medal is frequently called ‘Baby Nobel’ ‘The Economist’ listed him as one of the top eight young economists in the world.

48.  Professor Dr. Tej Vir Singh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Madrid, Spain.

49.  Leading mathematician and founder of Super30 classes Mr. Anand Kumar bestowed with the prestigious 2014 Ramanujan Mathematics Award at the 8th National Mathematics Convention. The Ramanujan Mathematics Award is given to a person who has at least three papers published in international journals and is involved in teaching mathematics.

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