AWARDS DECEMBER 2015

AWARDS DECEMBER 2015

• Gujarati littérateur Raghuveer Chaudhary selected for Jnanpith Award
   Eminent Gujarati litterateur Raghuveer Chaudhary has been selected for the 51st Jnanpith award. His name was announced by the Jnanpith selection board after a meeting in New Delhi on 29th December. Mr. Chaudhary is the forth Gujarati litterateur to bag this prestigious award after Uma Shankar Joshi (1967), Pannalal Patel (1985) and Rajendra Shah (2001).
  
  He has received numerous accolades including Sahitya Acadmi Award for his novel, Trilogy Uparvaas in 1977. Mr. Chuadhary notable novels include Amrita, Venu Vatsala, Purvarang, Laagni Samjyaa Vinaa Chuuta Padvanu and others. A novelist, poet, critic and a Gandhian, Mr. Chaudhary's talent has been influenced by works of Gowardhan Ram Tripathi , Kaka Kalelkar and Suresh Joshi.
  
• Rakesh Jain: U.S. President Barack Obama will present the National Medal of Science to Rakesh K. Jain, an Indian American professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the tumour biology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
  
  Prof. Jain, who holds a B.Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur, will receive the honour along with 16 other winners of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a White House ceremony early next year. His MS and PhD degrees are from the University of Delaware.
  
  Awarded annually, the National Medal of Science, created in 1959, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.
  
• Kirmani: India's former wicket-keeper batsman Syed Kirmani has been nominated for this year's Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. According to a BCCI release, the Awards Committee met on 24th December at Cricket Centre, BCCI headquarters, Mumbai, and unanimously nominated Kirmani for the Award for 2015.
  
  The committee consists BCCI President Shashank Manohar, Secretary Anurag Thakur and N Ram, former Editor-in-chief of The Hindu Group. The BCCI celebrates the birth centenary of Col. Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu, the country’s first Test captain, by instituting an annual Lifetime Achievement Award, to honour individuals for their unparalleled contribution to Indian cricket, on and off the field. The Award comprises a trophy, citation and cheque for Rs. 25 lakhs.
  
  Kirmani, who made his Test debut in 1976 against New Zealand, kept wickets against India’s famous spin quartet and did the job remarkably well. He also excelled in batting scoring two Test centuries in the lower order. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1982. Kirmani was the vice-president of KSCA and also the chairman of the national selection committee.
  
• Dilip Kumar: Dilip Kumar, Indian cinema’s one of the greatest actors, has been conferred with the Padma Vibhushan at a special function held at the veteran actor's residence in Mumbai.
  
  Padma Vibhushan to 93-year-old Kumar was given by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the thespian’s residence. The announcement to honour Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and a few others with Padma Vibhushan was made by the government on the eve of Republic Day on January 25, 2015.
  
  However, the acting legend could not attend the special function held in Rashtrapati Bhavan in April when other Padma awardees were honoured by President Pranab Mukherjee.
  
• Pranab Mukherjee: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on 17th December received the Garwood Award for Outstanding Global Leader in Open Innovation from UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
  
  The award was presented by Prof. Solomon Darwin, Executive Director Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation. The University of California, Berkeley, one of the most prestigious educational institutes in the world, has established the Garwood Award to acknowledge individuals who have embraced, supported and encouraged open innovation in a significant and impactful way.
  
  The award was presented to the President for promoting open innovation, for taking initiative of hosting and gathering global innovators at the first-ever Global Roundtable on the Inclusive Innovations at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
  
  In his acceptance speech, Mr Mukherjee said that open innovation is a way to future as it captures knowledge-flow from all sources.
  
• Volga: Popular Telugu writer, Volga (P Lalita Kumari), bagged this year's prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for her compilation of short stories ‘Vimuktha’.
  
  Volga is one of the popular Telugu women authors of her generation. Born in Guntur of Andhra Pradesh in 1950, she completed her MA in Telugu literature from Andhra University in 1972. Later she taught Telugu literature at VSR and NVR College, Tenali from 1973 to 1986.
  
  Apart from authoring books, Volga has contributed to the film industry also. She worked as the head of the scripting division in Usha Kiran Movies.
  
  She made three feature films, which won critical acclaim and awards. Among her works are the novels Sweccha (1994), Sahaja (1995), Manavi (1998), Kanniti keratala vennela (1999), Gulabilu (2000), and Rajakiya kathalu (1993), Prayogam (1995) (two short story collections). Volga is associated with ASMITA, a well-known feminist voluntary organization. The Library of Congress has acquired all twelve of her major published works, including the English translation of her selected short stories.
  
• Sahitya Akademy Awards: The prestigious Sahitya Academy Awards for 2015 have been announced. Playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry's English novel "Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer" and KR Meera's "Aarachar" in Malayalam are among the works that have won the award.
  
  The other two novelist who have won the award are Jaswinder Singh in Punjabi and Madhu Acharya 'Ashawadi' in Rajasthani. Other than this, 6 books, each of short stories and poetry have been chosen for this year's award. The poets honoured are Brajendra Kumar Brahma in Bodo, Dhian Singh in Dogri, Ramdarash Mishra in Hindi, K.V. Tirumalesh in Kannada, Kshetri Rajan in Manipuri and Ram Shankar Awasthi in Sanskrit.
  
  Six writers awarded for their short stories are Kula Saikia in Assamese, Man Mohan Jha in Maithili, Gupta Pradhan in Nepali, Bibhuti Pattanaik in Odia, Maya Rahi in Sindhi and Volga in Telugu. Other than these categories, two books each of essays, criticism and plays and one of memoirs have won.
  
  Rasik Shah (Gujarati) and A.Madhavan (Tamil) have also been awarded for their essays.
  
  Bhasha Samman to writer and scholar Shrikant Bahulkar has also been announced. The award in Bengali will be announced later. The award will be presented to the writers at a function on 16th February next year.
  
• TSPSC bags SKOCH award
  Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) won the 'Skoch Order of Merit Award - 2015' for successfully adopting IT initiatives and conducted Computer Based Recruitment Test (CBRT) online examinations in a transparent and foolproof manner.
  
  SKOCH, an award for smart technology is an initiative towards recognizing top performing technology users, technology implementers and technology providers across sectors, organizations and departments.
  
  Among as many as 700 contenders including departments of Central and State governments across the country, the TSPSC which constituted a year ago was selected for the award.
  
  The jury of SKOCH after examining a list of national level projects which are successfully adopting and implementing the IT Initiatives, has shortlisted TSPSC–CBRT Online Examination System as one the best IT initiative project and called for presentation on November 18, 2015 at New Delhi.
  
  After examining the various aspects in implementing the CBRT Exam, TSPSC was selected for the award which will be presented on December 10, 2015 at 42nd SKOCH SUMMIT at New Delhi.
  
• Shilp guru Awards: President Pranab Mukerjee, on 9th December presented national awards and Shilp Guru awards to Master crafts-persons at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
  
  Conferring the awards for 2012, 2013 and 2014 President Mukherjee stressed for revival of village handicrafts. Quoting Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi President said that village handicrafts are the backbone of rural life and that must be given proper attention.
  
  President said government has reviewed various schemes to develop handicraft industry and has taken several steps that will play an important role in the life of artisans and crafts persons.
  
• L and T Metro Rail: L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited (LTMRHL) has been conferred the SAP ACE Award 2015 in the ‘Strategic HR and Talent Management’ category. The SAP ACE Awards is an annual ceremony, honouring companies, businesses and individuals who demonstrate the spirit of innovation by leveraging SAP solutions to transform their businesses.
  
• AS Kiran Kumarn and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan: Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) AS Kiran Kumar and sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan were conferred honorary doctorates by Kaziranga University in Jorhat during the university's second convocation on 28th November.
  
  The university awarded Khan for his contribution to Indian culture and music, while space scientist Kiran Kumar was honoured for his contribution to Indian space engineering programmes.
  
  A Padma Shri winner, Kiran Kumar joined ISRO in 1975 and is credited with the development of key scientific instruments aboard the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan space craft. Ustad Khan, who has been associated with the state for long, urged students to work towards upholding peace and harmony in society through education.
  
• GMR CSR arm wins award: GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF), the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of GMR Group, won PHD Chamber Annual Awards for Excellence 2015. GMRVF was conferred the ‘PHD Chamber Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Welfare for the year 2015.
  
• IGNITE award: As part of his three day visit to Gujarat, President Pranab Mukherjee today presented Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE award to 31 school children across the country for their exemplary grass root innovations. The programme was organised by National Innovation Foundation at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Addressing the students and faculties of IIMA, president said innovation is the key to economic development and needs to be nurtured at each level.
  
• Hyderabad, Bengaluru Women-Led Startups Win Prizes At Angels Summit
  MATH Adventures from Bengaluru and Edgefx Technologies from Hyderabad were the two women-led startups among the total 10 pitches made at the just-concluded Angels Summit, which were identified as innovative projects and received Rs one lakh cheque each, Sita Pallacholla, founder & CEO of The Angel Hub. Vidya Jayaraman, Founder of Math Adventures, and Kamini Gupta, Chief Executive Officer & Strategist of Edgefx, received the prize amount
  
  The women-led founder startups from different parts of the country, including Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, which pitched at the summit were – YourDost, ONganic Foods, rideIT, LearnMor, GreenArt/Lux Packing, Edgefx Technologies, Cleanse High, Woman safety, Math Adventures, and ReviewOwner.
  
• K. Tarakarama Rao: Telangana's IT and Panchayat Raj minister K Taraka Rama Rao, and the son of Telangana first Chief Minister KCR, has been chosen as the Most Inspirational Icon of the Year by India's biggest lifestyle magazine Ritz and CNN IBN. According to Ritz magazine the award is being given for the most outstanding progress made in public life.