AWARDS SEPTEMBER 2012

 AWARDS SEPTEMBER 2012

• Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 19 september has received prestigious Congressional Gold Medal, a rare honour bestowed to any foreign leader by the US administration.The National League for Democracy leader also met President Barack Obama on a day when the US lifted additional sanctions on Myanmar. In her Congressional Gold Medal acceptance speech Suu Kyi said it has always been her opinion that democracy offers the best balance between freedom and security for all of them.
  
• Noted Tamil scholar A A Manavalan was on 18 september,in New Delhi, conferred with the prestigious Saraswati Samman for his work 'Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalyum', a comparative study of epic Ramayana written in 48 languages.Corporate Affairs and Power Minister M Veerappa Moily presented a citation plaque, a memento and a cheque of Rs 7.5 lakh to Manavalan at a function organised by K K Birla Foundation.
  
• Liberty Medal awarded to Muhammad Ali, the Boxing Champion :
  The boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali who retired from the game in the year 1981 was honored with Liberty Medal in Philadelphia on 13 September 2012. The boxer who has been battling with Parkinson disease for the past 30 years was awarded with the honor for his contribution towards the humanitarian causes like religious freedom and civil rights. National Constitution Center of the United States administers the Liberty Medal and presents the honor of this medal to the leaders who fight in pursuit of freedom. Muhammad Ali, who was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay changed his name to be Muhammad Ali after converting himself into Isalm in the year 1964. He won the world heavyweight title three times and is nicknamed as The Greatest. In the year 1999, BBC crowned Ali, with the title; Sports Personality of the Century and Sports illustrated crowned him with the title of Sportsman of the century
  
• Renowned poet and film-maker Gulzar has been nominated for the 27th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration. Congress President Sonia Gandhi will give away the 27th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration to the 75-year-old lyricist and writer in recognition of his yeoman work in promoting and preserving spirit of national integration in the country.The Award consists of a citation and cash of Rs 5 lakh. Before Gulzar, some of the other film personalities, who received the award are director Shyam Benegal, lyricist Javed Akhtar, music composer A R Rahman and writer Mahashweta Devi. The award instituted in the name of late Indira Gandhi is given in recognition to outstanding contribution to this cause by individuals or institutions. Former Presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Shankar Dayal Sharma, Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, late Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, the former head of Ramkrishna Math and Mission Swami Ranganathananda, musician M S Subulakshmi, Aruna Asaf Ali, P N Haksar, Acharya Shree Tulsi Ji, Bishambar Nath Paride and Natwar Thakkar are among the other awardees.
  
• Ebrahim Alkazi, the grand old man of Indian theatre has been conferred France’s highest cultural award for his contribution in nurturing and presenting modern theatre in India and preserving the treasures of photography and other art forms for posterity. Alkazi, was awarded Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) on 28 September, in New Delhi by the French government who hailed him as “the universal man” for his patronage of fine arts and culture. French Ambassador to India Francois Richier recalled Alkazi’s association with France and his contribution in preserving and enduring the bonds between the two countries through his works and through the Alkazi Foundation of the Arts. The award is given to writers, filmmakers, musicians and other artists and persons who have distinguished themselves in the field of art, culture and literature or for their contribution to the influence of arts in France and throughout the world.
  
• Afghan human rights activist and former Minister Sima Samar (55) on 28 September won the Swedish Right Livelihood Award .A medical doctor by training, Ms. Samar fled to Pakistan in 1984. She returned in 2001 to become the first Minister of Women’s Affairs and in 2002 was named the head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which she still leads. Ms. Samar shares the award with American political theorist Gene Sharp (84) and an organisation campaigning for an end to British arms exports.
  
• Pieta the South Korean Film won Golden Lion Venice Top Prize:
  The Golden Lion Prize for best movie was given to the South Korean Movie, Pieta directed by Kim Ki-duk at the 69th Venice Film Festival on 8 September 2012. The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson walked off with two major awards namely, Special Jury Award and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Pieta is the brutal story about a debt collector with a habit of crippling those, who were unable to pay his debt. The brutality stops at a certain point of time, when he meets a woman who claims to be his mother.
  
• Ten scientists bag India Citation Awards
  Ten senior scientists, including theoretical physicists Thanu Padmanabhan and Varun Sahni and environmental scientist Vinod Kumar Garg, were on 12 September honoured with the India Citation Awards instituted by Thomson Reuters. The other awardees are Anunay Samanta (physical chemistry and photochemistry), Murali Sastry (nanobiotechnology), Rabin Banerjee and Sandip Trivedi (both theoretical physics and cosmology), Umesh Waghmare (applied physics and materials science, computational methods). Sarit Kumar Das (mechanical engineering, heat transfer) Velayutham Murugesan (physical, organic and environmental chemistry) were also among the awardees. The awardees were selected on the basis of their highly cited research papers written over a decade between 2002-2011. Indian scientists who had previously been recognised at Thomson Reuters awards in 2004, 2006 and 2009 were not considered for selection. While Samanta is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Hyderabad, Sastry is the Director of India Innovation Centre of DSM India Private Limited. Banerjee is a Senior Professor, Department of Theoretical Sciences, S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. Trivedi teaches Theoretical Physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. While Das is the Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT-Madras, Padmanabhan is a Research Scientist at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). Waghmare is the Professor, Theoretical Science Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). Sahni is a Professor at IUCAA. Murugesan is the Professor of Chemistry (Eminence) at Anna University and Garg is an Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar
  
• Liberty Medal awarded to Muhammad Ali, the Boxing Champion :
  The boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali who retired from the game in the year 1981 was honored with Liberty Medal in Philadelphia on 13 September 2012. The boxer who has been battling with Parkinson disease for the past 30 years was awarded with the honor for his contribution towards the humanitarian causes like religious freedom and civil rights. National Constitution Center of the United States administers the Liberty Medal and presents the honor of this medal to the leaders who fight in pursuit of freedom. Muhammad Ali, who was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay changed his name to be Muhammad Ali after converting himself into Isalm in the year 1964. He won the world heavyweight title three times and is nicknamed as The Greatest. In the year 1999, BBC crowned Ali, with the title; Sports Personality serious of the Century and Sports illustrated crowned him with the title of Sportsman of the century.
  
• Andhra Pradesh State Literacy Mission Authority (SLMA) received three National Level Awards for its excellent work in the State. The Authority has received awards for its work in Vizianagaram district and one gram panchayat P Yeleru of Anantapur district. Andhra Pradesh is the only State which received the Saakshar Bharat Award in the entire Country. The Awards comprising a trophy and a certificate which will be given by the Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari on the occasion of International Literacy Day to be celebrated on September 8 at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The National Literacy Mission Authority has instituted Saakshar Bharat Awards to encourage the institutions working in the field of the literacy and Skill Development and the awards are presented on International Literacy Day on 8th of September every year. In Andhra Pradesh, Saakshar Bharat programme is being implemented in 19 districts where female literacy is less than 50 per cent. The overall literacy rate of Andhra Pradesh is 67.44 per cent as per 2011 census. Under Saakshar Bharat Programme, so far 37 lakh non-literates were enrolled and about 33 lakh non-literates were made literate. Thus, the literacy rate among adults in the age group of 15+ above will be around 72 per cent which is nearer to the National Average.
  
• Author Siddhartha Deb has been named among the winners of the 2012 PEN Awards, considered the most comprehensive literary awards programme in the US, for his non-fiction work on India, which is described as a "gripping analysis" of the country and an "important book" of current times. Deb's book The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India won the PEN Open Book Award, which carries a $5000 cash reward "for an exceptional work of literature by an author of colour. "Deb's book chronicles varying lives in contemporary India, including that of highly paid call centre workers, an entertainment mogul and the tragedy of the farmer suicides.
  
• K.C Abraham, the Managing Director of Kunnath Pharmaceuticals and the producer of world famous Musli Power X-tra has won the Switzerland Business Excellence Award 2012on 8 September 2012 at Zurich, Switzerland. He got shortlisted for the award because of his visionary leadership skill, hard working nature and dedication.
  
• The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies on 5 September 2012, on the occasion of teacher’s day felicitated Dr. AN Purohit with siksha ratna award. Dr. Purohit is a former vice-chancellor of HNB Garhwal University. Dr Purohit has widely worked in the Himalayan belt, particularly in Uttarakhand, on specific subject of plant physiology, ecophysiology of trees and the environment.He was awarded Padmashree in 1997 by the President.