CURRENT AFFAIRS AWARDS AND PRIZES

July 29, 2011, Friday

National award for Deekshatulu, Keshavamurthy
The Union Minister of Earth Sciences on Wednesday conferred its national awards for outstanding lifetime contributions on the former Director of the Hyderabad based National Remote Sensing Agency, B. L. Deekshatulu, and the former director of the Pune based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, R.N. Keshavamurthy. Dr. Deekshathulu has won the award for his work in ocean technology and technology, and Dr. Keshavamurthy for his contributions in atmospheric science and technology. The awards carry a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh each, besides a citation. The nominations are normally recommended by heads of universities, national institutes and scientific departments of the Centre. A high level committee of distinguished scientists selects the winners.

The Hindu

July 30, 2011, Saturday

The Hindu

National Communal Harmony award to Sanskrit scholar Mohammad Hanif Khan Shastri
Vice-President Hamid Ansari presented the National Communal Harmony Award to Sanskrit scholar Mohammad Hanif Khan Shastri, at a function organised by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony and the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi on Friday. Hanif Khan Shastri has endeavoured to promote communal harmony by highlighting similarities in Hinduism and Islam, through his unique literary contributions in Hindi and Sanskrit.

September 14, 2011, Wednesday

Angolan crowned Miss Universe

The Hindu

I consider myself endowed with inner beauty Miss Angola Leila Lopes, a business student from Benguela, emerged victor at the th 60 Miss Universe pageant in Sao Paulo (Brazil) on Monday.

September 29, 2011, Thursday

The first Hridaynah Award was presented to Lata Mangeshkar IGNOU award

The Hindu

Indira Gandhi National Open University honoured the Azim Premji Foundation with the Rajiv Gandhi International Prize for Technology in Education and Development here on Wednesday for its significant contributions in education, particularly educational technology, in developing countries across the world. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal presented the award to Mr. Azim Premji and released a book containing lectures complied by Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr. Latha Pillai and Prof. Babu P. Ramesh. Mr. Premji released a CD containing interactive multi-course study material of the university. The award, instituted by the university to mark its silver jubilee, comprises a cash reward of Rs.5 lakh and a citation.

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October 4, 2011, Tuesday

Three immune pioneers share Medicine Nobel

The Hindu

Their achievements are central to vaccine development For centuries, physicians believed that diseases were caused by an imbalance in the four humours blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. These notions were swept away in the 19th century by the advent of modern medicine. Bit by bit, it laid bare a realm of microscopic warfare where the body's complex but also sometimes flawed defence fought in close-quarter combat against germs and viruses. The 2011 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to three scientists who have done more than anyone to lay bare the two-tier structure of the immune system. They are Bruce Beutler of the U.S., Jules Hoffmann, born in Luxembourg but a naturalised French citizen, and Ralph Steinman of Canada. Working separately, they discovered key secrets in innate' immunity, our first -line response to pathogens, and its dovetailing with the second-line defence known as adaptive, or acquired, immunity. Mr. Beutler and Mr. Hoffmann identified receptor proteins that trigger the molecular cascade which is the innate immune system. This defence is a generalised call to arms, mustering platoons of immune cells to initiate inflammation, a chemical process that seeks to establish a physical barrier against penetration beyond the microbe's entry point. The next line of defence, the innate system, is slower to respond but more adaptive. It teaches immune cells through a process called antigen presentation to recognise and remember the specific intruder for future alerts. Mr. Steinman's work found that so-called dentritic cells regulate the function of the body's natural killer cells, called lymphocytes.

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October 5, 2011, Wednesday

Nobel Winners sweep away cosy view of Universe

The Hindu

Use ancient stars that flare in dramatic death throes to measure distance What if the Universe was silently ripping apart? What if, instead of ending in a bang or a whimper, it did neither, and just expanded on and on, flying apart in a limbo of deep chill and disconnected atoms? This is the implication as revolutionary as it is scary of the insights that on Tuesday earned three astronomers the Nobel Physics Prize. Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the United States and U.S-Australian Brian Schmidt won the paramount award for using ancient stars that flare in dramatic death throes to measure distance on a cosmic scale. These so-called type 1a supernovae were used by their teams as standard candles whose distance could be measured, like beacons in the night. Working in competing groups, the Supernova Cosmology Project and High-z Supernova Search Team looked at the redshift from these ultra -bright stars. Redshift is a measurement of a star's redness in the light spectrum. The farther the distance, the more the wavelength stretches deeper into the red zone, becoming a yardstick of how far light has travelled. The technique entailed looking at the sky just after the new Moon and again three weeks later, before moonlight obliterates the faint light of stars. The two images are then compared in the hope of spotting a new dot of light that could be the flare of a distant supernova. What the two teams had expected to find was a cosy redshift that would back theories that the Universe set in motion by the Big Bang 14 billion years ago was expanding, but at ever-slower speed. What is driving this faster expansion? Nobody knows for sure, but the finger is pointing at so-called dark energy, an enigmatic, outward-acting force. Initially, dark energy was only a small part of the Universe, but some five or six billion years ago it took the upper hand and now accounts for 75 per cent. Its dominance is transforming a slowing expansion of the Universe into an accelerating one, according to the latest theory. Ordinary matter that we can see, sense and measure accounts for only five per cent of the Universe. The rest is dark matter which pushes as dark energy pulls. Even empty space contains energy and exerts a kind of antigravity ' which causes cosmic expansion to accelerate, Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, explained. It will be a long time before theorists understand this force. It is part of the bedrock nature of space and time.

October 7, 2011, Friday

Tomas Transtromer wins literature Nobel

The Hindu

Swedish poets works explore nature, isolation and identity Tomas Transtromer, the Swedish poet whose sometimes bleak but powerful work explores themes of nature, isolation and identity, won the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.

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Announcing the award in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy praised Mr. Transtromer, saying that through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.

Chemistry Nobel for Dan Shechtman

An Israeli scientist won this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering quasicrystals, a material in which atoms were packed together in a well-defined pattern that never repeats. Recent Nobel prizes have generally split credit for scientific advances among two or three people, but this year's chemistry prize and the accompanying 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million) went to a single scientist: Dan Shechtman (70), a professor of materials science at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. Prof. Shechtman is also a professor at Iowa State University and a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. The citation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences states simply, for the discovery of quasicrystals. Regular but non-repeating patterns, defined by precise rules, have been known in mathematics since antiquity, and medieval Islamic artists made decorative, nonrepeating tile mosaics, but the phenomenon was thought impossible in the packing of atoms. Yet Prof. Shechtman discovered the same type of structure in a mixture of aluminium and manganese. During a sabbatical in Maryland at the National Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he took a molten glob of the metals and chilled it rapidly. The expectation was that the atoms would have been a random jumble, like glass. Yet when he examined his metal with an electron microscope, Prof. Shechtman found that the atoms were not random. His notebook recorded the date: April 8, 1982. Scientists believed that crystals in materials all contained repeating patterns. For example, a square lattice has four-fold symmetry. Rotate it by 90 degrees, and it looks identical. A repeating lattice with five-fold symmetry, however, is impossible. On that morning in 1982, the electrons Prof. Shechtman bounced off his aluminiummanganese alloy formed a pattern that indicated ten-fold symmetry. He could not quite believe it. He wrote in his notebook, 10 Fold???

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While a periodic lattice could not produce that pattern, a quasicrystal could.

October 8, 2011, Saturday

Nobel for promoting peace, democracy and gender equality

The Hindu

An impetus to the cause of womens rights The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded on Friday to three campaigning women from Africa and the Arab world in acknowledgment of their non-violent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality. The winners were Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Africa's first elected woman President her compatriot, peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner. They were the first women to win the prize since Kenya's Wangari Maathai, who died last month, was named as the laureate in 2004. Most of the recipients in the award's 110-year history have been men, and Friday's decision seemed designed to give impetus to the cause for women's rights around the world. We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,

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said the citation read by Thorbjorn Jagland, a former Norwegian Prime Minister who heads the Oslo-based Nobel committee that chooses the winner of the $1.5 million prize.

October 11, 2011, Tuesday

Two Americans share Economics Nobel

The Hindu

American economists Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims, both 68, were awarded the Nobel Prize on Monday for their path-breaking work on developing tools that policymakers are probably using frenetically today in their bid to extricate the economy from the persistent global economic downturn. Recognising the two economists' empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that it decided to award the so-called Economics Nobel to Professors Sargent and Sims for their seminal research during the 1970s and 1980s that resulted in essential tools in macroeconomic analysis. Though Professor Sargent, from New York University, and Professor Sims, from Princeton University, carried out their research independently, their contributions were complementary in several ways, the Academy said, in presenting them with the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2011. Professor Sargent demonstrated how structural macroeconometrics could be used to analyse permanent changes in economic policy including the complex modelling of reactive changes in the behaviour and expectations of households and firms. He examined, for example, the post-World War II era of high-inflation policies and the eventual introduction of systematic changes in economic policy that allowed a reversion to a lower inflation rate. Professor Sims on the other hand used the advanced econometric technique of vector autoregression to study the impact of temporary changes in economic policy on the economy. A common application of this scenario, and one that is likely used across the developed and developing world today, is the study of effects of an interest rate hike by a central bank. A classic case that Professor Sim's data tools could be applied to include the scenario where inflation decreases over several years as a result of lower money supply, but economic growth declines in the short run due to lower aggregate investment demand and does not revert to its normal development until after a couple of years. The two economists' tools are in vogue in mainstream macroeconometric analysis today and would probably resonate strongly with the tools used by the United States Federal Reserve. The Fed is facing an acute shortage of instruments to rev up the economy's growth rate in the face of an already near-zero interest rate and a stubbornly high rate of unemployment.

December 2, 2011, Friday

Recognising unsung heroes of wildlife conservation
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The Hindu

The 12 Sanctuary Wildlife Awards on Thursday honoured some of the most passionate nature enthusiasts across different age groups as India's Earth Heroes Mumbai.

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George Schaller, a well-known American scientist, was given the Lifetime Service Award. The awards were given in five categories: one Lifetime Service Award, five Wildlife Service Awards, one Green Teacher Award, three Young Naturalists Awards and a Wind Under the Wings' Award for an organisation that has supported one or more of its employees to be of service to nature. The awards have been constituted to recognise the best-in-the-field of wildlife conservation and to shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes who are defending the wilderness and thus the food and water security of the Indian subcontinent. The awardees are nominated by Sanctuary Asia readers and supporters from across the country, the release stated. Shekar Dattatri was awarded for successfully using films to highlight disappearing wildlife and habitats. S.D. Biju, a field biologist, was awarded for his contribution to the discovery of several amphibian species, including many in the Western Ghats. Gerry Martin, another Wildlife Service Award winner, and founder and director of the Gerry Martin Project, helps urban dwellers to connect with wildlife issues far removed from their daily life. Daulat Singh Shaktawat, a Range Forest Officer of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, was awarded for his continuous resolve to save the big cats despite having been attacked by them many a time. Chief Administrative Officer of Namma Sangha P. Suresha was awarded for working towards improving people's relationship with the Bandipur National Park, close to his house. The Maharashtra government was given the Wind Under the Wings Award' for enabling and encouraging Praveen Pardeshi, Principal Secretary (Forests), to reinvigorate wildlife conservation in Maharashtra. Ramnath Chandrashekhar (award-winning wildlife photographer and activist), Aishwarya Sridhar (writer, poet and passionate conservationist) and Tengbat Sangma (skilled tracker, naturalist and budding field biologist) were awarded the Young Naturalist Awards. A Joint Green Teacher Award was presented to Pournima and Rajendra Kerkar, who work as educators, conservationists and social workers to protect wilderness areas in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

December 3, 2011, Saturday

Siddhartha Mukherjees cancer biography wins Guardian Prize

The Hindu

Indian-born American physician Siddhartha Mukherjee's Pulitzer-winning biography of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies , has won the 10,000 prestigious Guardian First Book award beating four formidable contenders, including Amy Waldman's acclaimed The Submission , about the post-9/11 Islamophobia in America.

SAIL chief is CEO of the year 2011

State-run Steel Authority of India Limited chairman C.S. Verma was on Friday conferred the CEO of the Year 2011 award under public sector category at a function held here in the Capital. The award was presented by the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Tushar A. Chaudhary, and has been instituted by the Indian Institute of Materials Management.

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December 4, 2011, Sunday

Porforio wins Golden Peacock

The Hindu

Director Alejandro Landes hails it as happiest day of his life Colombian film Porfirio , directed by Alejandro Landes and produced by Francisco Aljure, won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, 2011, out of 14 films from different countries in the competition section. The Silver Peacock Award for the Best Director with a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh went to Asghar Farhadi for the film from Iran Jodaeiye Nader az Simin(Nader and Simin: A Separation). Martine Aramand received the award from Chief Minister Kamat on behalf of Mr. Farhadi. Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu (Abu, Son of Adam), an Indian film directed by Salim Ahmed, which combines the universal values of religion, nature and humanity, won the Special Jury Award and a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh.

December 5, 2011, Monday

Super 30 founder is one of worlds 20 top teachers

The Hindu

Math wizard Anand Kumar, who has won accolades for his initiative to train poor students for IIT-JEE, has figured in an international list of 20 pioneering teachers of the world. Mr. Kumar and his super 30 initiative is the only entry from India in the select list published by Monocole, a magazine published from England, according to Super 30 sources. Mr. Kumar has found a mention in the category Class Act -Globe top 20 Teachers for the way he has groomed students from the poorest sections of the society consistently over the last 10 years.

December 11, 2011, Sunday

Lifetime award for Ajit Wadekar

The Hindu

Rahul Dravid won the Polly Umrigar Award for the cricketer of the year (2010-11) at the BCCI awards function here on Saturday. Dravid, who has travelled to Australia as part of an advance party, couldn't collect his award, which comprised a trophy and a cheque for Rs. 5 lakhs. Ajit Wadekar, who led India to its maiden series wins in the West Indies and England in 1971, won the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. R. Ashwin took home the Dilip Sardesai Award for India's best cricketer in the home series against the West Indies. Ishant Sharma, also part of the group that travelled to Australia, won the Dilip Sardesai Award for the series in the West Indies. Virat Kohli accepted the award on Ishant's behalf. Other award winners included Tamil Nadu's S. Badrinath (Madhavrao Scindia award for the highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy), Baroda's Bhargav Bhatt (Madhavrao Scindia award for the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy), and Jhulan Goswami (M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best woman cricketer). The awards: Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award: Ajit Wadekar.

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Polly Umrigar Award: Rahul Dravid; Madhavrao Scindia Award (highest scorer in Ranji Trophy): S. Badrinath. (922 runs in nine matches).Madhavrao Scindia Award (highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy): Bhargav Bhatt (47 wkts. in nine matches); M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (best U-16 cricketer): Vijay Zol (858 runs in seven matches).M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (best U-19 cricketer): Avi Barot (971 runs in seven matches); M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (best U-22 cricketer): Suryakumar Yadav (721 runs in seven matches); M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (best woman cricketer): Jhulan Goswami (21 wkts. in eight matches); M.A. Chidambaram Trophy (best junior woman cricketer): Mona Meshram (623 runs in eight matches); Best umpire in domestic cricket: S. Ravi.Dilip Sardesai Award for India's best cricketer in the 2011 Test series in West Indies: Ishant Sharma; Dilip Sardesai Award for India's best cricketer in the 2011-12 Test series against West Indies: R. Ashwin; Lala Amarnath Award for best all-rounder in Ranji Trophy: Iqbal Abdulla (385 runs and 27 wkts. from eight matches).Lala Amarnath Award for best all-rounder in domestic tournaments: Sumit Narwal (163 runs and 13 wkts. in six matches); Best overall performance: Railways Sports Promotion Board and Delhi and District Cricket Association .

October 16, 2011, Sunday

Lula, Kufuor recognised for eradicating chronic hunger

The Hindu

Even as the poor continue to suffer daily under added pressure from the global economic downturn, this week two former Presidents were awarded the 2011 World Food Prize for their success in tackling chronic hunger in their countries. In an elegant ceremony at the State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of Ghana, and Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil, were honoured for creating and implementing government policies that alleviated hunger and transformed the lives of the poor. The award, which was instituted in 1987 by Nobel Peace Prize winner and father of the Green Revolution Norman Borlaug, has in the past been given to agricultural scientists such as M.S. Swaminathan of India winner of the first ever WFP award. It has also sometimes gone to social entrepreneurs such as Muhammad Yunus, formerly of the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh. Mr. Kufuor, who was the President of Ghana for two terms during 2001-2009, implemented major economic and educational policies that increased the quality and quantity of food to Ghanaians, enhanced farmers' incomes, and improved school attendance and child nutrition through a nationwide feeding program. Mr. da Silva, who rose to the nation's top public office despite being born into a poor family, had announced his intention to make fighting hunger and poverty a top priority of his government even before assuming office as President in 2003. As President Mr. da Silva ensured that more than ten government ministries were focused on the expansive Zero Hunger programmes, which provided greater access to food, strengthened family farms and rural incomes, increased enrolment of primary school children, and empowered the poor.

December 17, 2011, Saturday

Indian student is worlds shortest living woman

The Hindu

An Indian student measuring just 62.8 centimetres was on Friday confirmed as the world's shortest living woman, the Guinness World Records said. Jyoti Amge took the title as she celebrated her 18th birthday with family and friends here.

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Official adjudicator for the Guinness World Records Rob Molloy told AFP, She's 62.8 centimetres. She was measured three times over the last 24 hours as height can vary slightly according to the time of day. Doctors measured her in our presence at three different times, both standing up and lying down. We took an average.

October 20, 2011, Thursday

Aman Sethi wins ICRC award

The Hindu

The Hindu 's Chhattisgarh correspondent, Aman Sethi, has won the International Committee of the Red Cross award for the best Indian print media article on humanitarian issues. His article on three Chhattisgarh villages ruthlessly torched by police commandos in March 2011 was selected as the best of nearly 80 entries from across the country. About 300 homes and granaries were burnt in the five-day police operation which left three men dead, and three women sexually assaulted. Based on interviews with eyewitnesses and police sources, Mr. Sethi's coverage spurred the local administration to probe the incident and send aid to the affected villages.

Julian Barnes wins Man Booker Prize

One of the most acrimonious run-ups to the Man Booker Prize in recent years had a happy ending as British novelist Julian Barnes was on Tuesday declared the unanimous winner of this year's 50,000 prize for his novella, The Sense of an Ending'', hailed as an exquisite'' meditation on growing old, the nature of memory and relationships. One of Britain's most admired novelists, Mr. Barnes had been the favourite of bookies and critics alike. At 150 pages, The Sense of an Ending'', is his shortest novel but the record for the shortest book ever to win a Booker remains Penelope Fitzgerald's Offshore'' which won in 1979. The judges said The Sense of an Ending'' was exquisitely written, subtly plotted and reveals new depths with each reading.

October 21, 2011, Friday

Dhanvantri Award for M.K. Mani

The Hindu

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M.K. Mani, pioneer in nephrology in the country and Chief Nephrologist at Apollo Hospital, Chennai, has been honoured with the 40th Dhanvantari Award. Dhanvantari Medical Foundation president and eminent cardiologist B.K. Goyal said here on Thursday that Dr. Mani pioneered innovative techniques and a new regimen in the management of kidney disorders.

October 25, 2011, Tuesday

IPI-India award for Tehelka, The Week

The Hindu

The International Press Institute(IPI) India award for excellence in journalism, 2011, has been awarded jointly to Tehelka and The Week for their outstanding journalistic work in 2010. In a release here, the IPI India chapter announced that Tehelka was selected for its expose of the rent a riot tactics of the Sree Rama Sene in Karnataka, which admitted taking money to organise attacks on innocent persons and institutions.

November 1, 2011, Tuesday

Dr. Mani gets Dhanvantri award

The Hindu

Renowned nephrologist Dr. M.K. Mani was given the 40{+t}{+h}Dhanvantari award for excellence in medical services at a function here on Sunday by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Dr. Mani had been in the field of nephrology for more than 30 years. At present, he is the chief nephrologist in Chennai's Apollo Hospital.

Award for national integration

PM Manmohan Singh presented Indira Gandhi award for National Integration 2010 in New Delhi on Monday to former Union Minister Mohan Dharia. The award was given to the 86-year old for his yeoman service in promoting and preserving the spirit of national integration. The award is presented on Indira Gandhis death anniversary.

November 9, 2011, Wednesday

Army team wins laurels in U.K.
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The Hindu

The 4 Battalion of 9 Gorkha Rifles (CHINDITS) of Sudarshan Chakra Corps has won a gold medal in the Cambrian Patrol Competition at Wales in the United Kingdom. A total of 100 teams, including 14 from foreign countries, had participated in the Cambrian competition known as the Olympics of Patrolling this October. The British Army has been conducting the Cambrian Patrol Competition for the past 40 years. This is the first ever gold medal by an Indian contingent at the event. The aim of the competition is to provide a challenging patrol exercise to develop operational capability. The performance of the team hinges around leadership, team work,

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physical fitness, mental robustness and above all, tactical skills involving reconnaissance techniques, navigation, first aid and casualty evacuation. Lieutenant-General A. K. Singh, Army Commander of Southern Command, felicitated the team during his visit to the Corps Headquarters in the desert sector on Monday. In appreciation of the victory, the Commander presented the team with a trophy. The event is a renowned military competition conducted by the British Army and is held under adverse battle conditions in arduous terrain of both jungles and mountains, noted Gen. Singh.

November 17, 2011, Thursday

Kannada author Bhyrappa awarded Saraswati Samman

The Hindu

Eminent Kannada author S. L. Bhyrappa was on Wednesday honoured with Saraswati Samman in literature for his epic novel Mandra, his musical take on the question of art against morality and other philosophies of life. The Saraswati Samman is awarded by the K. K. Birla Foundation to a work published in the last 10 years, selected from among works published in 25 Indian languages. Mr. Bhyrappa, 77, a veteran of 22 novels, many of which have been translated into other languages, published Mandra, or The Lower Musical Note, in 2002. Born in Hassan district of Karnataka and orphaned at a very young age, the life of Mr. Bhyrappa, a scholar of philosophy, is a tale of struggle and resurrection.

November 18, 2011, Friday

Afghan, Palestine activists get UNESCO award

The Hindu

The $1,00,000 award will be divided equally between the two laureates Afghan women's rights campaigner Anarkali Honaryar and Palestinian peace activist Khaled Abu Awwad have been conferred the 2011 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence, an award instituted in memory of Mahatma Gandhi. The $1,00,000 award will be divided equally between the two laureates, who were selected by an international jury. Ms. Honaryar was cited for her commitment and tireless work to improve the conditions of women and minority groups in Afghanistan and to promote the ideals of human dignity, human rights, mutual respect and tolerance. Mr. Abu Awwad was chosen for the award for his efforts to promote tolerance, peace and non-violence through his work as a peace activist and leader in the reconciliation process between Palestinians and Israelis. Active on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, Abu Awwad is the general manager of the Palestinian branch of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), an organisation of Palestinians and Israelis who have lost immediate family members in the conflict. The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize was created in 1995 on the initiative of Indian writer and diplomat Madanjeet Singh to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The prize is dedicated to advancing the spirit of tolerance in the arts, education, culture, science and communication. It is awarded every two years to individuals or

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institutions for outstanding contributions to the promotion of tolerance and nonviolence.

December 19, 2011, Monday

Architect receives Goas highest civilian award

The Hindu

Noted architect Charles Correa was on Sunday conferred Goa's highest civilian award, the Gomant Vibhushan, by Governor K. Sankaranarayanan at a public function held here on the eve of the culmination of the year-long golden jubilee celebrations of Goa's liberation.

December 22, 2011, Thursday

Su. Venkatesan wins Sahitya Akademi award

The Hindu

His debut novel captures 600 years of history of Madurai Tamil writer Su. Venkatesan, who captured 600 years of history of Madurai between 1310 and 1920 in his debut novel Kaaval Kottam , has won the Sahitya Akademi award for the year 2011. The novel has its roots in the research I did on the compulsory settlement camp set up by the British in the Goodalur-Cumbum valley to lodge the security guards of Madurai after their defeat. It took 10 years to complete the novel and it was published in December 2008, the 41-year-old Venkatesan, hailing from Tiruparankundram near Madurai, told. Kaaval Kottam is about the security system that prevailed in Madurai Fort. It was unique in the sense that the guards would repay the money or goods if they were not able to prevent the houses from being burgled. Novelist Gopalakrishna Pai (Kannada) and eminent historian Ramachandra Guha (English) are among those who have won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award this year. Eight books of poetry, seven novels, three essays, one each of narrative history, biography, play and short stories won the award this year. Recommended by jury members representing 23 Indian languages, the awards were approved by the Executive Board of the Akademi which met in the capital on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Akademi president Sunil Gangopadhyay. Poets honoured with the award are: (late) Kabin Phukan (Assamese), Manindra Gupta (Bengali), Premananda Mosahari (Bodo), Naseem Shafaie (Kashmiri), Melvyn Rodrigues (Konkani), Harekrishna Satapathy (Sanskrit), Aditya Kumar Mandi (Santali) and Khaleel Mamoon (Urdu). Other novelists who won the award are: Kashinath Singh (Hindi), Kshetri Bira (Manipuri), Kalpanakumari Devi (Odia), Baldev Singh (Punjabi) and Atul Kanakk (Rajasthani). Lalit Magotra (Dogri), Grace (Marathi) and Samala Sadasiva (Telugu) received the award for their books on essays. Mr. Guha for his narrative history, Mohan Parmar (Gujarati) for his short stories, M.K. Sanu (Malayalam) for his biography and Mohan Gehani (Sindhi) for his book on plays have been honoured. The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages in accordance with the procedure laid down.

Guha wins it for narrative history

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December 22, 2011, Thursday

The Hindu

The Best Administrator in India Award-2011 instituted by the (former Kerala Chief Minister) K. Karunakaran Foundation was given to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. An award after four decades of hibernation
Jamil Ahmad's book, The Wandering Falcon , is a narrative about the lives of tribal people along the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, but an equally compelling story is about the book itself. The book that has won critical acclaim worldwide was written decades ago and in its author's words hibernated for 40 years. On Wednesday the book was presented the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize at the British Council Theatre in New Delhi.

December 23, 2011, Friday

Jobs to get posthumous Grammy

The Hindu

Computer visionary Steve Jobs is to be awarded a posthumous Grammy in honour of his profound affect on the music business, the Recording Academy has announced. The late co-founder and CEO of Apple will be the recipient of the organisation's Trustees Award which recognises contributions to the music industry in areas other than performance.

December 28, 2011, Wednesday

PIB

Bhartendu Harishchandra Awards 2009 and 2010 Announced Award Money Doubled for All Categories
The Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Shri S. Jagathrakshakan today gave away the Bhartendu Harishchandra Awards for the years 2009 and 2010. The award is to promote books and manuscripts original writing in Hindi. For 2009, the first prize in the Journalism and Mass Communication category was awarded to Shri Dilip Chandra Mandal for h is manuscript Corporate, Loktantra aur Paid News. Ms. Kumud Sharmas book Samachar Bazar ki Naitikta has been chosen for the second prize in this category. The third prize went jointly to Shri Shivananda Kamde for his book Cartoon Patrakarita and Dr. Akela Bhai for his book Radio Sahitya aur Patrakarita. In the Womens Issues category, the first prize for 2009 was given to Smt. Lata Kot for her manuscript Adha Asmaan Hamara. Dr. Seena Ranis manuscript Nari ki Samasyayen aur Samadhan was awarded the second prize in this category. The first prize in Childrens Literature category for the same year was given to Shri Ghamandi Lal Agrawal for his book Geet Gyan Vigyan Ke and the second prize to Ms. Renu Saini for her manuscript Bachpan ka Safar. For 2010 the second prize in Journalism and Mass Communication category was awarded to Shri Pranjal Dhars manuscript Samkaleen Vaishwik Patrakarita Mei Akhbaar. In Womens Issues category in 2010, Dr. Suman Rais book Gharelu Hinsa mein Mahila Sanrakshan Adhiniyam 2005, 2006 was selected for the first prize while Ms. Pramila KPs book Stree: Yonikta banaam Adhyatmikta was selected for the second prize.

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In Childrens Literature category Shri Sanjeev Jaiswal Sanjays book Dooba Hua Qila and the book Cycle Par Thaa Kavva by Shri Prabhat received the second prize. In the National Integration category for the year 2010 Dr. Shiv Kumar Rais manuscript Meri Jati Bhartiya has been selected for the first prize. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, has increased the Bhartendu Harishchandra award money from the year 2009. For Journalism and Mass Communication, the first prize carries an award of Rs.75,000 which was Rs 35,000 earlier. The amount for the second prize has been increased from Rs.25,000 to Rs.50,000 and the third from Rs.20,000 to Rs.40,000. For books in category of Womens Issues, Childrens Literature and National Integration, the first prize now carries an award of Rs.40,000 instead of Rs.15,000 and the second prize Rs.20,000 instead of Rs.10,000. The Bhartendu Harishchandra Awards are given to published or unpublished books in four categories- Journalism and Mass Communication, Womens Issues, Childrens Literature and National Integration. The awards were instituted in 1983 to encourage original Hindi writings on topics related to journalism and mass communication. Awards for writings on womens issues, childrens literature and national integration were included in from 1992-93. The Awards scheme is coordinated by Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.

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