AWARDS MAY 2016

AWARDS MAY 2016

• Mohinder Singh Syngle Education and Research Society
  Indian President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar for 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, the President said the teachers who had been awarded represent the dedicated teachers who are educating and extending learning opportunities to thousands of students in the country. He said from the Vedic era to modern times, under the Guru-Shishya parampara, gurus nourished the minds and intellect of our people.
  
  Mr. Mukherjee said teachers encourage students to be inquisitive and explore new frontiers of knowledge and understanding. The President said a pool of competent and motivated teachers, through their collective efforts, can create a society of strong minds and courageous hearts.
  
  The award is given Mohinder Singh Syngle Education and Research Society for spreading quality education in the rural areas.
  
• Arnab De: An Indian-American scientist has received the prestigious ‘Springer Theses Award’ for his outstanding research on developing transgenic mice to study a critical tumour-suppressor. Arnab De, who has also developed peptide-based prodrugs as therapeutics for diabetes, was nominated by New York’s Columbia University for his PhD thesis which he dedicated to legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and his alma mater Kolkata’s Presidency University.
  
  De, who has also received the ‘Young Investigator Award’ at the American Peptide Symposium, was awarded for developing transgenic mice to study a critical tumour-suppressor A20. The Springer Theses Award is awarded by Springer, a leading global publisher of renowned scientific journals and books, to recognise outstanding PhD research.
  
• Sudarsan Pattnaik: Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won gold medal in a world sand art championship in Bulgaria. He has won people's choice prize for his sand sculpture 'Drugs kill Sports'.
  
  Pattnaik said it is an awareness sand sculpture to uphold the sanctity, richness and sports, as an ever cherished saga of entertainment source, in high esteem. The championship was held between May 26 and June 3 in which 10 artists from across the world has participated.
  
  Pattnaik said in his sculpture, he has created the two faces--one is of Lance Armstrong and another of Maria Sharapova, the two iconic players who were mired in the drug controversy, thus bringing bad name for themselves and the entire sports world.
  
• RR Hanchinal: RR Hanchinal, Chairperson of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, New Delhi, has been selected for the 6MS Swaminathan Award. A former Vice-Chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, he has also been associated with the Indonesian government as an Advisor for field crop research.
  
  The Retired ICAR Employees Association (RICAREA) has instituted the national award since 2005. It is conferred biennially upon Indian scientists who have worked in India in any branch of agriculture to enhance productivity. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh, a medal and a citation. Hanchinal was instrumental in organising the commercial seed industry in West Africa, while serving as a seed production specialist for USAID and ICRISAT.
  
• Indian students win six awards at Intel competition in US
  Indian students have won six awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in the US where New Delhi’s Shreyas Kapur was declared the grand winner of the “Google Thinking Big Award.” Organised by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public in Arizona in May, the Indian team comprising 16 students won a total of $9,500 in three grand awards and three special awards in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, biomedical engineering and mathematics
  
  Kapur from Modern School at Barakhamba Road won the award for the “project that addresses a large and seemingly-impossible problem, by finding an elegant solution with broad impact”. His project titled “Cellphone-based Optometry using Hybrid Images” also won him third position in both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Biomedical Engineering award.
  
  Arvind Krishna Ranganathan from Ecole Mondiale World School in Mumbai won the second place for his project titled “Deterministic Approach to the Position, Trajectory, and Collision Prediction of Particles within Bounded Two-Dimensional Environments”. Suhani Sachin Jain and Divya Kranthi of Centre Point School in Nagpur won the third award in plant sciences for developing an “Innovative Strategy using Endophytes for Effective Biocontrol of Insect Pests in Cotton”.
  
  Vasudev Malyan of Maharaja Agarsain Public School in Delhi won fourth spot in translational medical science for the development of a “Novel Paper Sensor as a Diagnostic Test for Multiple Sclerosis”. The 16 Indian students were selected to attend ISEF as finalists of the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) 2016 that featured more than 1,700 young scientists selected from 419 affiliate fairs in 77 countries.
  
  The Intel Foundation also awarded $1,000 grant to each winner’s school and to the affiliated fair they represented.
  
• Sunil Mittal: Bharti Enterprises founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal has received this year's Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award.
  
  The award, presented annually since 1968, is the highest honour the Harvard Business School confers on its alumni who have contributed significantly to their companies and communities while upholding the highest standards and values. On receiving the award, Mittal credited the Harvard Business School's management programme with helping him create Bharti Airtel.
  
• Aditi Krishnakumar: Indian woman author Aditi in Singapore has won the 'Scholastic Asian Book Award' for her 32,000-word manuscript rooted in "love of Indian history"
  
  Aditi Krishnakumar won the Singapore dollar 10,000 award this week for her manuscript "Codex: The Lost Treasure Of The Indus".
  
  Aditi, who submitted her manuscript hours before deadline last September, said she juggles writing with her career in finance and ekes out time at night and on weekends to dream up stories.
  
  The Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA) is the joint initiative of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) and Scholastic Asia.
  
• UR Rao: Former ISRO Chairman UR Rao will become the first Indian to be inducted into the 'International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Hall of Fame'.
   Eminent space scientist Prof UR Rao will be honoured by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) with the 2016 'IAF Hall of Fame Award" for his outstanding contribution to the progress of astronautics within the framework of the IAF activities.
  
  The IAF award is intended to reward personalities for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the Federation. He will receive the 'IAF Hall of Fame' Award during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in September 2016.
  
• Han Kang: South Korean author, Han Kang, has won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her novel 'The Vegetarian'. It tells a story of a wife who decides to become a vegetarian. The decision provokes cruelty from her husband, and from her father, and obsession from her sister’s husband, as the woman, Yeong-hye, dreams obsessively about becoming a tree.
  Han is the first South Korean to win the prize. The writer and her British translator will share the 72,000 Dollar prize money. The book was translated by Deborah Smith.
  
  The novel was picked unanimously by the panel of five judges, beating six other novels including "The Story of the Lost Child" by Italian sensation Elena Ferrante and "A Strangeness in My Mind" by Turkey's Orhan Pamuk. Judging panel chairman Boyd Tonkin said Han Kang's work was unforgettably powerful and original.
  
• Syamantak Payra: A 15-year old Indian-American student has won the prestigious Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for creating a device for people who cannot walk well through disease or injury.
  Syamantak Payra, a student at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, Texas, received one of two Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards worth 50,000 dollars for developing a low cost electronically aided knee brace that allows an individual with a weakened leg to walk more naturally.
  
  Syamantak tested his prototype on two people partially disabled by polio, and it instantly increased their mobility and restored a more natural pace.
  
• Indian-American, Pakistani-American honoured by Obama
  US President Barack Obama has felicitated an Indian-American scientist and a Pakistani- American doctor with the nation's top honors in the field of science, technology and innovation respectively.
  
  Rakesh K Jain of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital was presented with the National Medal of Science for his role in developing novel strategies for manipulating tumors and translating those strategies into improved cancer detection, prevention, and treatment in humans.
  
  Humayun, who is a grandson of personal physician of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for invention, development, and application of bioelectronics in medicine, including a retinal prosthesis for restoring vision to the blind, thereby significantly improving patients' quality of life.
  
• The National Florence Nightingale Awards were given away by the President Pranab Mukherjee to thirty-five nursing personnel at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of International Nurses Day. The Award carries a cash award of 50 thousand rupees, a certificate, a citation and a medal.
  The International Nurses Day is celebrated all over the world on 12th May every year to commemorate Florence Nightingale's birthday.
  
  President Pranab Mukherjee presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards for the year 2016 to thirty-five nursing personnel at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of International Nurses Day. These awards are being given since 1973. The International Nurses Day is celebrated all over the world on 12th May every year to commemorate Florence Nightingale's birth anniversary.
  
  Florence Nightingale introduced nursing to the world... It is pertinent to note that in the present time, the number of nurses in the country is about 16 lakh 60 thousand and by 2017, according to one estimate, 17 lakh nurses would be required to enable smooth functioning of health services in the country, while by 2022, there will be a requirement of 27 lakh nurses.
  
  Anjali Chandrashekar: A 22-year-old Indian artist is among the three winners of a UN poster competition aimed at raising awareness about nuclear disarmament, with her poster of a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon garnering appreciation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
  
  Anjali Chandrashekar, a New York-based designer and "artivist", won the third prize in UN Poster for Peace contest presented by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) to raise awareness of the need for nuclear disarmament.
  
  Titled 'Cutting Barriers through Peace', the poster features a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon. Another poster 'Break Free' by the Chennai girl, that shows doves flying out of a bird cage at the top of a nuclear weapon, received an honorable mention.
  
  She received her third-prize certificate from Ban at an award ceremony held here on May 3. Apart from the three winners, nine honorable mentions were chosen from among more than 4,100 entries representing 123 countries.
  
  The young artist was only 10 when she founded 'Picture It', a non-governmental organisation that uses imagery to raise awareness and funds for various health, humanitarian and environmental causes. The first prize went to 38-year-old Ivan Ciro Palomino Huamani from Peru for his 'Spinning Peace', which features a nuclear weapon being unraveled into string which is then used to fly kites and balloons, and to jump rope.
  
  Second place winner, 15-year-old Michelle Li, named her poster 'Peace in our Hands', which features a shadow puppet of a peace dove above a broken nuclear weapon.
  
  The competition was organised to commemorate the anniversary of the very first UN General Assembly resolution adopted in 1946 establishing a Commission to deal with problems related to the discovery of atomic energy.
  
• President gives away National film awards; Manoj Kumar honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke
  President Pranab Mukherjee on 3rd May conferred National film awards for the year 2015 at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi. Veteran Film Actor Manoj Kumar was presented with prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
  
  A total of 21 Awards were given by the President in the Non-Feature film category while 51 awards in the Feature Film category. Three awards were given to Best Writing on Cinema.
  
  In the Feature Film category, the Award for the Best Feature Film was given to Baahubali. The Award for the Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment was given to Hindi film Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The Award for the Best Film on Social Issues has been given to Nirnayakam.
  
  Best Director Award was conferred on Sanjay Leela Bansali for his Hindi Film Baajirao Mastani. Best Actor Award was given to Amitabh Bachchan for his film Piku and the Award for the Best Actress was conferred on Kangana Ranaut for the film, Tanu weds Manu Returns.
  
  The award for the Best Children's Film was given to Hindi Film Duronto. Master Gaurav Menon was conferred Award for Best Child Artist for Malayalam movie Ben.
  
  The Award for the Best Music direction has been conferred on M Jayachandran for Malayalam movie Ennu Ninte Moideen. Amdavad Ma Famous film got the award for best non feature film. This year National Film Awards included a special award given to the state of Gujarat for being the most film friendly state in the Country.
  
• Agriculture project in Andhra Pradesh wins WSIS 2016 prize
  An agriculture project in Andhra Pradesh meant to collect very specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalised information through SMS has won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2016 prize in e-Agriculture category. The prize was announced in Geneva by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Houlin Zhao on 4th May.
  
  WSIS in a statement said that the project, Harmonized Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda - Precision Technology for Agriculture or Harita-Priya, uses wireless sensor networks to collect micro-climatic information from farms. The data is used to create advisories and alerts on irrigation schedules and pests and plant diseases. Based on this state agriculture officers disseminate personalised crop advisories in Telugu language to farmers by way of SMS.
  
  The WSIS Prizes recognize all players in the effort to improve global connectivity, from governments and global ICT (information communication technology) companies to grassroots NGOs leading innovative ICT-oriented projects at the local level. A total of 18 prizes were awarded in categories ranging from international cooperation to information ethics. The prize in the e-Agriculture category was the only one won by an Indian organisation.
  
• Award for LIGO scientists
  A team of scientists, who are working with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment, have received a Special Breakthrough Prize in fundamental physics.
  
  The LIGO experiment had discovered the gravitational waves in September 2015. Since 2012, the Breakthrough Prizes have been given for breakthrough achievements in mathematics, physics and the life sciences. Along with each prize also comes a reward of whopping $3 million.
  
  A ceremony will be held in the fall of 2016 in which the laureates will all be recognised, website of the Breakthrough Prize says. The international LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), which involves thousands of scientists and engineers, maintains and operates the LIGO. Two subsets of the LSC will receive the prize of $3 million out of which $1 million will be distributed among the three conceivers of LIGO – Kip Thorne, Ray Weiss and Ron Drever.
  
  The another $2 million will be distributed among 1,012 scientists who helped discover the gravitational waves.
  
  According to the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru, 37 researchers from around India belong to the second subset. Seven, including including Bala Iyer, a notable veteran of gravitational physics research, are from the ICTS itself.