AWARDS NOVEMBER 2016

AWARDS NOVEMBER 2016

• Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme Awards
  President Pranab Mukherjee on 19th November presented Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme Awards for 2015-2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi
  
  Eight programme co-ordinators, 20 programme officers and 31 volunteers from across the country were honoured in this ceremony. The Awards are given for the outstanding work done under the National Service Scheme (NSS). The NSS, one of the flagship programmes of the government, aims at developing of personality and character of students through voluntary community service.
  
• Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain was awarded Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice 2016
  Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, one of the three Bangladeshi hostages killed in the terrorist attack on the Holey Cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1 earlier in 2016, was awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice for 2016.
  
  The award was conferred posthumously by the Harmony Foundation in Mumbai on 20th November. Faraaz’s parents received the award on his behalf at a ceremony from the Foundation’s President Abraham Mathai. This is the first time the award has been conferred posthumously.
  
  The international award in memory of late Mother Teresa was first introduced in 2005 with Medecines Sans Frontieres, the largest volunteer medical organisation worldwide, receiving it that year.
  
• Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was conferred with first world Sanskrit award
   Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand was conferred the first 'World Sanskrit Award' on 21st November for her contribution towards promotion of the language. The award was presented by Vice President Hamid Ansari.
  
  The award, instituted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is presented to eminent Sanskrit scholars to recognize their outstanding contribution to the study/teaching/research in Sanskrit language and literature. The Thai Princess is an eminent Sanskrit scholar and had played a prominent role as Royal Patron for the World Sanskrit Conference held earlier in Bangkok. Sirindhorn is an educator and scholar of Sanskrit and Pali.
  
• Kehkashan Basu: A 16-year old Indian girl in the United Arab Emirates is among three finalists chosen for International Children's Peace Prize for her unique role in improving the rights and position of children. From a record number of 120 international entries, the expert committee chose Kehkashan Basu from the UAE, Divina Maloum from Cameroon and Muzoon Almellehan from Syria.
  
  The announcement was made by International children's rights organisation 'KidsRights' ahead of Universal Children's Day to be observed on 20th November.
  
  According to the committee, all three have improved the rights and position of children in unique and tangible ways. Kehkashan began campaigning for environmental protection at an early age.
  
  When she was just eight, she organised an awareness campaign for the recycling of waste in her neighbourhood in Dubai.
  
• Ban-Ki-moon: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received the Legion of Honour from French President Francois Hollande on 17th November for his contributions to tackling climate change.
  
  The South Korean diplomat helped push through the 2015 Paris Agreement, a deal aimed at moving away from fossil fuels to cleaner energies that was signed by almost 200 countries after nearly two decades of negotiations.
  
  It was largely because of your contribution, because many years ago you started putting this topic on all the agendas. The Legion of Honour was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and is considered to be one of France's highest civilian awards.
  
• Kalam Ignite Awards: President Pranab Mukherjee on 7th November gave away awards to winners of the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 Competition in New Delhi. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 competition -is a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years. It is organized by National Innovation Foundation every year to promote creativity and originality among children.
  
• Raj Bisaria and Banshi Kaul:Madhya Pradesh government’s prestigious Rashtriya Kalidas Samman will be given to eminent theatre artists Raj Bisaria and Banshi Kaul.
  
  Mr. Bisaria will receive the award for 2015-16 while Mr. Kaul will be given the award for 2016-17. Both the theatre artists are known for long cherished practice, excellence and continuous creative activeness in the country.
  
• Hadi Abdullah: Syrian freelance journalist Hadi Abdullah who unhesitatingly ventured into danger zones, where Western journalists are no longer willing to go, on 8th November won one of the world's top press awards for reporting from some of the most perilous zones in his country's five-year-old war.
  
  Reporters without Borders (RSF) said it is awarding the 29-year-old Syrian, the RSF-TV5 Monde prize, the second year running that the honour has gone to a Syrian. The award will be presented in Strasbourg on 9th November on the sidelines of the World Forum for Democracy, a meeting organised by the Council of Europe. In 2015, the award went to Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim for her reports from the besieged city of Aleppo. RSF ranks China and Syria 176th and 177th on its assessment of 180 countries for press freedom.
  
• Ramnath Goenka Awards
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave away the Ramnath Goenka awards for excellence in journalism on 2nd November in New Delhi. He gave the Awards across 28 categories for exceptional work in print, broadcast and online journalism in English, Hindi and regional languages. The awards were instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Foundation in 2005 to celebrate the legacy of the founder of The Indian Express Group.