AWARDS OCTOBER 2012

 AWARDS OCTOBER 2012

• Lionel Messi, the Barcelonean forward footballer on 29 October 2012 won Golden Boot Award. Messi won the award in recognition to his record 50 goals scored in the Europe’s domestic football league in the last session. To win the award he scored 4 more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, the Spanish league star. This is the second Golden Boot award for Messi, as he won his first Golden Boot Award in the year 2010 after scoring 34 goals during Argentina International to help Barcelona win the league title. He is also in the list of the favorites to win the 2012 Ballon d’Or for the World’s best player.
  
• Famous Lyricist and well known poet Gulzar on 31 October 2012 awarded with Indira Gandhi National Integration Award by congress President Sonia Gandhi. The award was given on the eve of 28th death anniversary of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was assassinated on 31 October 1984.Earlier, Gulzar was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004 for his contribution to the arts.
  
• The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on 29 September 2012 awarded the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Award for 2012 for its outstanding contribution to the development of human resources, society and economy of India and also for promoting mutual understanding between India and Japan.It is the ninth edition of the JICA awards which in the past has been given mostly to Japanese organisation such as research institutions, non-government organisations and medical organisations. JICA and DMRC have been associated since the beginning of the Delhi Metro construction in 1998 in the National Capital Region.
  
• Indian Oil's Mathura Refinery was awarded the Platinum Award in the 13th Annual Greentech Environment Awards. The award was felicitated on 31 October 2012.Mathura Refinery was awarded in regard to the company's outstanding achievements and contribution to apt implementation of environmental friendly technologies and methodologies.Greentech Awards is a key component that values the need of environmental management in business sustainability.
  
• Indian Oil's Mathura Refinery was awarded the Platinum Award in the 13th Annual Greentech Environment Awards. The award was felicitated on 31 October 2012. Mathura Refinery was awarded in regard to the company's outstanding achievements and contribution to apt implementation of environmental friendly technologies and methodologies. Greentech Awards is a key component that values the need of environmental management in business sustainability.
  
• The Sujoy Ghosh directorial venture “Kahaani”, has been named as the best film at the film festival held in Labassa. The festival, that was partnered with Indian High commission and organized by Fiji National University and Film Fiji, had opened with the screening of Kahaani.While Raj Kumar Hirani received the ‘Best Director’ award for 3 Idiots, a special Jury Best Film award went to Kumavatara.
  
• Prof. Venkatesh Raghavan was honored with the 2012 Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software during the inaugural session of the FOSS4G-India 2012 conference held in Hyderabad, India. The award was presented by Ravi Kumar and Vundavallu Aruna Kumar, Member of Parliament. Venkatesh's dedication to FOSS4G and his community work around the world, promoting open source geospatial, is second to none. He has been involved in OSGeo since the foundation was formed in 2006. The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software is awarded annually by OSGeo to individuals who have demonstrated leadership in the GFOSS community. Recipients of the award will have contributed significantly through their activities to advance open source ideals in the geospatial realm. Sol Katz was an early pioneer of GFOSS and left behind a large body of work in the form of applications, format specifications, and utilities. In the early 80's, Sol assisted in the development of a public domain GIS package called MOSS (Map Overlay and Statistical System). This software was arguably the first open source GIS software in the world.
  
• India’s leading strategic thinker and analyst Brahma Chellaney has won the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award for his recently published “Water: Asia’s New Battleground” book.Chellaney will be honoured and presented with a $20,000 prize at a special event to be held at Asia Society’s headquarters in New York City on January 23. Established in 2009, the Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award is the only award that recognises non-fiction books for their outstanding contributions to the understanding of contemporary Asia or US-Asia relations, as well as potential policy impacts relating to the region.
  
• Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy has been conferred with the 2012 Hoover Medal in recognition of his philanthropic activities in India. Former US Presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and James Earl Carter are among some of the prominent recipients of this annual award established in 1930 to recognise great, unselfish and non-technical services by the engineers to humanity.Murthy was awarded with the award on October 2 at the Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle.The 70th recipient of the award, Murthy was recognised for establishing a foundation that forges outstanding improvements in healthcare, social rehabilitation, rural uplift and education following his formation of Infosys, an innovative company that provides business consulting, technology, and engineering services in over 30 countries.In 2008, former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had received this award.
  
• Musa Sayeed’s Valley of Saints bagged the special jury award in the international competition section at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival that concluded on 25 October. Mr. Sayeed dedicated the film to the people of Kashmir who inspired him to make the movie. Veteran actor Waheeda Rehman was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In the international competition category for first feature films, the award went to Aquí Y Alla (Here And There) directed by Antonio Mendes Esparza. It also won the award for best direction. The jury award for technical excellence went to Pankaj Kumar for Ship of Theseus directed by Anand Gandhi.In the newly introduced competition section for Indian feature films, Miss Lovely directed by Ashim Ahluwalia bagged the best film award, while Shahid , directed by Hansal Mehta, based on the real-life story of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi who was killed in Mumbai, was the runner-up.Another special jury award was given to Manjeet Singh for Mumbai Cha Raja . The Mumbai Young Critics chose Beasts of the Southern Wild , directed by Benh Zeitlin, as the best film, while Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt was selected winner of the Audience Choice Award.
  
• Narendra Kumar the IPS officerwho was brutally killed by illegal mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh and many other Security Personnel who had laid down their life for fighting against Maoists and anti Social element on 20 October 2012 was awarded with Singham Bravery Awards. The awards were handed over to the family members of the police officers by reel life 'Singham' Ajay Devgan,who is also the brand ambassador of Maharashtra police ,actor Sunil Shetty and former CRPF Director General K Vijay Kumar. Besides Narendra Kumar, the award was posthumously presented to Surinder Singh, Narinder Singh Ranjeet Singh, Prakash S Meena, K C Meena, Tanveer Singh and Sanjeev Kumar.Marking the occasion, Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty, were also bestowed with 'Pride of Nation' awards.The Singham Bravery Award was organised by the All India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF) and were held on the occasion of National Police Day 2012 to felicitate those who had risked - some had even sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
  
• President Felicitates Rashtrapati Bhavan Medical Officer Major Surendra Poonia for Winning Seven Medals at 33rd World Medical Games. The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee felicitated Major Dr. Surendra Poonia, VSM at Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 6, 2012 for winning seven medals (two Gold Medals and five Silver Medals) at 33rd World Medical and Health Games held in Antalya, Turkeyfrom July 7 to 15, 2012. Major Poonia won two gold medals in Powerlifting and 800 meters race and five Silver medals in 400 meters race, 1500 meters race, 5000 meters race, cross country race and Pentathlon. This year Major Poonia was awarded by ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’ by the President of India for his outstanding performance in sports for year 2011. He is also a qualified paratrooper (123 jumps) and has served in Para Special forces earlier in J&K and in Jodhpur.
  
• Charu Udaya, Vinayak Bagare, Keertan Kumar and Sanjay Kumar on 18 October, received the India Biodiversity awards for sustained efforts to conserve forests and natural resources at the global biodiversity summit. They represented Pir Jahania Jungle Suraksha Samithi, Odisha; Shankarpur Village Gram Panchayat, Maharashtra; Van Utthan Sansthan from Rajasthan and the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, respectively. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is partnering the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in supporting these awards. The award carries Rs one lakh, a citation and recognises good practices in India, from community-run institutions, local self-governance bodies, joint forest management committees and protected area management agencies. Veerle Vandeweerd, UNDP Director, Environment and Energy Group, New York, told that at the ceremony, UNDP currently works in 146 countries, managing 512 projects on ecosystems and biodiversity with $1.6 billion in funding from the Global Environment Facility and other sources and co-financing of $3.5 billion.
  
• British Writer Hilary Mantel on 16 October 2012 won the prestigious literary prize, the Booker Prize for her novel “Bring up the Bodies”, the second in a historical trilogy set during the reign of King Henry VIII. Hilary Mantel had earlier won the Booker prize in 2009 for "Wolf Hall," the first novel in the trilogy. Hilary Mantel is the third author to win the prize twice, alongside South-African-born J.M. Coetzee and Australian Peter Carey. With this she also became the first British author, and the first woman, to achieve a double Booker Prize. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe.
  
• Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) SEZ refinery at Jamnagar has won the ‘Globe of Honour Award’ for excellence in environmental management. The award is given by the British Safety Council, London. This is the first time that a Reliance Industries’ manufacturing site has been bestowed with such a coveted award. The award will be presented at a celebratory luncheon at Mansion House in the City of London on November 23. The British Safety Council is a global health, safety and environmental charity. For over 50 years, the British Safety Council has been a champion of workplace health and safety.
  
• Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley of America were awarded the Nobel economics prize on 15 October 2012 for their work in market design and matching theory. The award was cited to the economist by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the 8 million crown ($1.2 million) prize, called their work an outstanding example of economic engineering. The two economists were working independently on the same research project. Lloyd Shapley used game theory to study matching models, and Alvin Roth built on them to make real-world changes to existing markets, including school choice and organ transplants, Alvin Roth is a professor at Harvard and Lloyd Shapley teaches at the University of California in Los Angeles
  
• Mo Yan, the Chinese writer won 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature on 11 October 2012. The Swedish Academy of Stockholm praised the Chinese writer for the writer called his hallucinatory realism. The writer combines the folk stories, modern events and the history in his works. He is the first Chinese writer in the 111 years of Nobel history to become a Nobel Prize winner. Before him, Gao Xingjiana a French citizen born in China won a Nobel in literature in 2000.Mo Yan will receive the prize medal and the prize amount of more than 1 million $ on 10 December 2012, the death anniversary of the prize founder, Alfred Nobel.
  
• Max India founder and Vodafone Chairman Analjit Singh has been given this year's Golden Peacock Award for personal leadership and his contribution to society. Eric Pickles, Former Prime Minister of Sweden and Co-Chair of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, presented the award at the third 'Global Conference on Sustainability' in London on 11 October.
  
• The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) has won the coveted U.N.-India Biodiversity Governance awardinstituted by the Government of India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the best managed protected area of the country. The award was announced at the venue of the Conference of Parties to Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad on 17 October. Sanjayankumar, deputy director of the reserve, and Hydros Meeran, chairman of the Periyar East Eco Development Committees’ Confederation, received the award. The award carries a purse of Rs.50, 000 and a citation.
  
• The PTR, first tiger reserve in the State, is home to 35 tigers. The reserve, which is spread over an area of 925 sq km, is also one of the best known eco-tourism centres of the country which is visited by around seven lakh people annually. The park supports a wide range of wildlife, including tigers and elephants. It is also one of the elephant reserves of the country. The reserve had earlier bagged recognition as one of the best tiger reserves of the State. The National Tiger Conservation Authority had bestowed the best tourism regulated park award on the PTR last year.
  
• 11th Economist Crossword Book Award was declared on 18 October 2012 at Mumbai. The Folded Earth and A Free Man-a nonfiction book, written by Anuradha Roy and Aman Sethi respectively were declared among winners of the 11th Economist Crossword Book Award. The Folded Earth was declared winner in English Indian Fiction Category, whereas, A Free Man won the award in the English Non-Fiction Category for 2011.
  
• Few more books that won awards in different categories were English Translation by Arunava Sinha of a book on short stories, 17 written by Anita Agnihotri and The Araya Woman written by Naayan and Translated by Catherine Thankamma were declared joint winners of the award for Indian Language Translation and the Incredible Banker written by Ravi Subramanian fetched the Popular Award
  
• Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, renowned Burmese opposition leader and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma, received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco on 29 september,2012 in recognition for her years of extraordinary work giving voice to the marginalized and strength for the oppressed. In December 2007, the University honored the Buddhist monks of Burma at a commencement ceremony with an honorary doctorate for their courage, compassion, and commitment in seeking to protect the human and democratic rights of the Burmese people in the face of a harshly brutal military dictatorship. It was this proven commitment to social justice that led the local Burmese community to select USF as the venue location for this historic visit by the 67-year-old Nobel laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest for opposing military rule. This trip to the United States marks her first return since she worked at the United Nations in New York City from 1969 to 1971.
  
• The Government of Spain has conferred on 11 October, the Great Cross of Civil merit on Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy. This is the highest possible honour accorded by the Spanish Government to somebody who is not Head of State or Government. Dr. Abdullah has been honoured for his efforts to promote sustainable economic development through the promotion of renewable energy. The honour was received by Dr. Abdullah from Mr. Gustavo de Aristegui, the ambassador of Spain in a function in the Spanish Embassy. Dr. Abdullah thanked the Spanish Government for conferring this honour on him. He accepted it on behalf of the people of India and hoped that one day he would be able to see his vision of every India household electrified become a reality. Spain is the 4th largest producer of wind generated power and is top-ranked worldwide in terms of photovoltaic solar power capacity. The Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA), run under the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness is considered one of the largest and best R&D facilities for Concentrating Solar Power Technologies (CSP Technologies). The Order of Spanish Civil Merit was created by Queen Isabel II in the XIX century to honour Spaniards and foreign citizens with exceptional qualities who have performed great services for their communities and contributed to a better understanding between nations.
  
• 11 exceptional personalities including, Flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, santoor player Shivkumar Sharma, sarod player Amjad Ali Khan and Manipuri dance guru Rajkumar Singhajit Singh were conferred the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships by President Pranab Mukherjee on 9 October in New Delhi. They receive a purse of money of Rs.3 lakh and a citation. Other fellows include mridangam player Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman, Kalamandalam Gopi (kathakali artist), Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharatnatyam dancer), Chandrasekhar Basavanneppa Kambara (Kannada poet, playwright and folklorist) and Manipuri theatre personality Heisnam Kanhailal. Currently, the Sangeet Natak Akademi has 40 living fellows. Altogether, 36 artists received the Akademi awards for their contribution to performing arts and music.
  
• The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize-2012. In this regard the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the 27-nation EU for rebuilding after World War Two and for its role in spreading stability to former communist countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989."The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe," Nobel Committee president Thorbjoern Jagland said in Oslo. The prize, worth $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10.Giving the award to an organization is not unprecedented. Something called the International Peace Bureau won all the way back in 1910, and other past recipients include the International Red Cross, Doctors With Borders, and UNICEF.
  
• Chinese writer Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel prize for literature on 11 October, for works which combine "hallucinatory realism" with folk tales, history and contemporary life grounded in his native land. The prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy, is worth 8 million kronas ($1.2 million).Mo, who grew up in Gaomi in Shandong province in the northeast of the country and whose parents were farmers, sets his works mainly in China.
  
• Two Chennai-based auto component makers, Lucas-TVS and Rane (Madras), have bagged the Deming Grand Prize for quality excellence. The coveted prize (originally established as the Japan Quality Medal) is given by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. Lucas-TVS and Rane (Madras) now join an elite group of 25 companies worldwide, including three companies from India (Wabco TVS, M&M Farm Equipment and Rane TRW), which have won this honour for excellence in total quality management (TQM). The Deming Grand Prize is given to companies for TQM approach in business processes with a focus on customer orientation, improvement and employee involvement. Lucas-TVS, which make auto electricals, launched the TQM movement in 1998; it secured the Deming Application Prize in 2004 for its TQM commitment and appreciation. The Deming Grand Prize is the next higher level of award. Rane (Madras), which makes steering and suspension systems, had earlier won the Deming Application Prize in 2007.
  
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2012 to Serge Haroche, College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France and David J. Wineland, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado Boulder, CO, USA "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems". Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland have independently invented and developed methods for measuring and manipulating individual particles while preserving their quantum-mechanical nature, in ways that were previously thought unattainable.
  
• The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has on 8 October, decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop. John B. Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialisation of cells is reversible. Shinya Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later, in 2006, how intact mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. Surprisingly, by introducing only a few genes, he could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells, i.e. immature cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body. These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation.
  
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2012 to Robert J. LefkowitzHoward Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA and Brian K. Kobilka Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA “for studies of G-protein–coupled receptors". Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka are awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for groundbreaking discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family of such receptors: G-protein–coupled receptors. The Prize amount of SEK 8 million, to be shared equally between the Laureates. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplines.
  
• 2011 Nandi Awards winners list:
  The Nandi Awards for the year 2011 was announced 13 October by the chairman of the jury committee, cinematographer S Gopal Reddy. While Mahesh Babu won the Best Actor (Male) for his act in the superhit Dookudu, Nayanthara walked away with the Best Actor (Female) for her role as Sita in Sri Rama Rajyam, which also won the Best Film award. Nagarjuna's Rajanna came second.
  N Shankar won the Best Director for the film, Jai Bolo Telangana, which also won the Sarojini Devi Award for a Film on National Integration. Gaddar was adjudged the Best Singer for his rendition of Poru Telangana in the critically acclaimed film. While Lakshmi Manchu was declared the Best Actor in a Negative Role for Anaganaga O Dheerudu, Prakash Raj and Sujatha Reddy were declared the Best Supporting Actors for their roles in Dookudu and Inkennalu respectively. .
  
• Complete List of Nandi Awards - 2011
  1. Best Film - Sri Rama Rajyam
  Second Best Film - Rajanna
  Third Best Film - Virodhi
  2. Best Director - N Shankar (Jai Bolo Telangana)
  3. Best Actor - Mahesh Babu (Dookudu)
  4. Best Actress - Nayanthara (Sri Rama Rajyam)
  5. Best Supporting Actor - Prakash Raj (Dookudu)
  6. Best Supporting Actress - Sujatha Reddy (Inkennallu)
  7. Best Character Actor - Gandhi (Rajanna)
  8. Best Comedian (Actor ) - M S Narayana (Dookudu)
  9. Best Comedian (Actress) - Ratnasagar (Karalu Miriyalu)
  10. Best Villain - Lakshmi Manchu (Anaganaga O Dheerudu)
  11. Best Cinematographer - Raju (Sri Rama Rajyam)
  12. Best Music Director - Ilayaraja (Sri Rama Rajyam)
  13. Best Editor - M R Varma (Dookudu)
  14. Best Art Director - S Ravinder (Rajanna)
  15. Best Screenplay - Srinu Vaitla (Dookudu)
  16. Best Story Writer - Raj Madiraju (Rushi)
  17. Best Dialogues - Neelakanta (Virodhi)
  
• President Pranab Mukherjee on 5 October participated in the occasion of the presentation of Federation of Indian Export Organisation’s Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu awards ceremony in New Delhi. He urged exporters to focus on products of high export intensity, which currently have low penetration abroad, and said India had been a part of global efforts to restore growth and reform financial systems. The President gave away 52 awards — 46 Niryat Shree Awards to exporters for their performance in 12 categories, which cover agriculture, plantation products; chemicals, drugs, pharma and allied products; engineering; gems and jewellery, handicrafts, carpets; textiles, leather, service providers; and 6 Niryat Bandhu Awards to Export Promotion Councils and Banks for their support to the exporting community. Among the Niryat Shree awardees who were presented a gold trophy was MIOT Hospitals Limited for being the highest foreign exchange earner in the country among all service providers. The award was received by company chairperson Mallika Mohandas. Reliance Industries too was awarded a gold trophy for earning the highest foreign exchange. PC Jewellers was awarded a silver trophy in the Gems and Jewellery category. In the Niryat Bandhu category for banks, the winners were Canara Bank (gold trophy) followed by Bank of India (silver) and Punjab National Bank (bronze).
  
• ISRO Scientist Tessy Thomas Conferred with Lal Bahadur Shastri Award:
  President Pranab Mukherjee on 1 October 2012 conferred the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award 2012 to ISRO scientist Tessy Thomas at an award function in Rashtrapati Bhawan. The award was given on the eve of Birth anniversary of Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri. Tessy Thomas 48 years old is the Key Scientist for Agni-V in Defence Research and Development Organisation Hyderabad. She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India. Tessy Thomas was an associate Project director (mission) for Agni-I, II and III systems. She was associated with the Agni Programme since their developmental stages. She has designed the guidance scheme for long-range missile systems, which is used in all Agni missiles. Presently, she is the Project Director of Agni -IV, which is a major project with state of the art technologies. The Agni-IV was successfully flight tested on 15th November, 2011.