AWARDS SEPTEMBER 2016

AWARDS SEPTEMBER 2016

• MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Award for two Indians
   Two ex IITians Dr Subhash Kot and Dr Manu Prakash, from Bombay and Kanpur respectively, have won the esteemed MacArthur ‘genius grant’ award worth $625,000 ( approximately 4 crores). Both the doctors have received the fellowship for their creativity in their field of interest and both will receive the amount over the course of 5 years.
  
  Dr Subhash Kot studied from IIT Bombay and is a well known theoretical computer scientist at New York University. Under his reign, he solved some of the biggest problems of computer complexity and has developed the Unique Games Conjecture.
  
  Dr Manu, on the other hand, is a pass out from IIT Kanpur is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. He developed a phenomenal low-cost paper microscope that costs less than 1 USD.
  
  The foldable microscope has been designed on a single sheet of paper and has the potential to promote education and medical facilities in rural areas. Dr Manu has also developed a clock that works using tiny water droplets. Apart from these two, 21 other scientists were also given the fellowship in various fields including science, art and civil rights.
  
• Uttam Singh: Maharashtra government announced the Lata Mangeshkar Award for 2016 to veteran music composer and violin player Uttam Singh. He has worked with music legends like Naushad, Madan Mohan, S D Burman and R D Burman. He teamed up with Jagdish Khanna to compose music for films made in different languages. Singh was the music arranger for films like "Maine Pyar Kiya" and "Hum Apke Hai Kaun".
  
  He was also the music director of "Painter Babu" and "Clerk". After Khanna's demise, Singh started working independently. He has also worked on films like "Dil To Pagal Hai", "Dushman", "Farz" and others.
  
• Narendra Babubhai Patel: He is Indian-origin British obstetrician and member of the UK Parliament. He has been honored by a leading publishing group for his work in the medical profession and for being an incredible role model for social justice, equality and those less fortunate. He was given the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' during the Asian Achievers Awards for his work in the medical profession and public life in Britain over the years.
  
• Emmy Awards
  The People v OJ Simpson" triumphed at the 68th Primetime Emmys, winning five awards including best limited series, while fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" was honored as the best drama for the second consecutive year.
  Veep" was named best comedy series and its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won a record-breaking fifth Emmy as best comedy actress. "The People v OJ Simpson", which is the dramatic retelling of the infamous O J Simpson's murder trial, was honored for its writing and captured several acting awards.
  Courtney B Vance bagged best actor in limited series or movie, Sarah Paulson won best actress and the best supporting actor honor to Sterling K Brown.
  Overall it won 12 Emmys this year, out of 23 total nominations.
  
  Rami Malek has become the first minority actor in 18 years to win the Emmy Award for best leading actor in a drama series. The star, who is of Egyptian heritage, won the prize for his role in the USA Network drama Mr Robot.
  
• Abraham Varghese: An Indian-American physician and author, Abraham Varghese, has been presented with the National Humanities Medal, America's highest humanities award, by President Barack Obama. He was presented with the medal for his contribution in the field of medicine along with several other recipients at a ceremony held at the White House on 22^ndSeptember.
  Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, Varghese has authored several acclaimed books.
  
  Started in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects. As many as 12 medals are awarded each year.
  
• Wildlife awards for Indians: Two Indian forest officials have been selected for the 2016 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards that honour individuals engaging in exemplary law enforcement actions to protect wildlife.
  Range officer Sanjay Dutta of Belakoba Forest Range Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Assistant Conservator Ritesh Sarothiya of Madhya Pradesh State Forest Service have been selected as winners of the Bavin Awards, President Cathy Liss of Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) in Washington, D.C., U.S., said in an email. The U.S.-based Species Survival Network, in cooperation with the AWI, coordinates the presentation of the awards.
  The ceremony will be held on October 3 at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  
  The honour is named in memory of Bavin, the late Chief of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Law Enforcement. Bavin pioneered the highly effective use of covert investigations and ‘sting’ operations to uncover illegal wildlife trade.
  
• Syrian aid group wins Livelihood award: The White Helmets, a Syrian civil organization of emergency responders in rebel-held areas, on 22^nd September won the Right Livelihood Award, the jury for the Swedish human rights prize announced.
  Also known as the Syria Civil Defence, the group was honored for their outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement in rescuing civilians from the destruction of the Syrian civil war.
  Russian activist Svetlana Gannushkina, who has championed the rights of refugees for decades, Egypt’s feminist leader Mozn Hassan, and Cumhuriyet , a leading independent newspaper in Turkey, also shared the prize with the White Helmets.
  
  Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull founded the donor-funded prize in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation refused to create awards honouring efforts in the fields of the environment and international development.
  
• Abraham Verghese: Indian-American physician-author Abraham Verghese, whose work has emphasised empathy in medicine, has been selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal, the White House has announced.
  
  US President Barack Obama would confer the honour upon Verghese, along with 11 others, and the recipients of 2015 National Medal of Arts at ceremony on September 21.
  
  Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine Verghese has authored several acclaimed books, including "My Own Country" and "Cutting for Stone".
  
  Inaugurated in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honours individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects, according to the National Endowment for the Humanitie website. Up to 12 medals are awarded each year.
  
• Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma conferred with Arjuna Award
  Sports Minister Vijay Goel on 16th September conferred Arjuna Awards on cricketers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane at a function in New Delhi. Sharma was given the award for 2015 and Rahane for 2016.
  
  Earlier, the two cricketers could not receive the awards from the President Pranab Mukherjee as they were participating in international tournaments.
  
• Two Indo Americans awarded
  Two Indo-American scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been conferred with prestigious awards for their path-breaking inventions
  
  Nasik-born Ramesh Raskar, an imaging scientist and inventor at MIT, has been awarded the five lakh US Dollars Lemelson-MIT Prize 2016.
  
  Raskar, is the co-inventor of radical imaging solutions including femto-photography -- an ultra-fast imaging system that can see around corners -- low-cost eye-care solutions for the developing world, and a camera that allows users to read pages of a book without opening the cover.
  
  Dinesh Bharadia, researcher at MIT, won the Paul Baran Young Scholar Award of the US-based Marconi Society. A doctorate from Stanford University in April 2015 and a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Kanpur, Bharadia, has been awarded for his contribution to radio waves. The Marconi young scholar award includes four thousand US Dollars prize. He will receive the award at a ceremony in Mountain View, California, on November 2.
  
• Indian film 'Thithi' wins best film award at BRICS Film Festival
  Indian film Thithi won the best film award at the BRICS Film Festival concluded in New Delhi on 6th September. Best Director Award went to Huo Jianqi of China. South Africa's Thabo Rametsi took home the best Actor award while Russian actor Yulia Peresild was given best actress award.
  
• Rishi Kapoor: Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor was on felicitated at the opening ceremony of the 1st BRICS Film Festival in New Delhi by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathod and Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh for his and the Kapoor family’s contribution to the field of cinema.
  
  The festival, which is part of the special events planned in the run-up to the 8th BRICS Summit to be held in India, kickstarted here at Siri Fort Auditorium Complex with the screening of National Award-winning filmmaker Jayaraj’s multilingual film “Veeram”.
  
  The festival — which is an initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last BRICS summit that was held in Russia — has a competition section in which 20 films will be screened.
  
  The jury of the festival will include one member from each country. These include journalist, producer and curator of film shows Francis Vogner do Reis from Brazil, Academic Secretary of the National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences of Russia Kirill Razlogov, professor Hou Keming from Beijing Film Academy, China, member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Xoliswa Sithole from South Africa, and Indian writer, director and actor T.S. Nagabharana.
  
  The films that will be competing from India include magnum opus “Baahubali: The Beginning”, Bengali film “Cinemawala”, Kannada film “Thithi” and Bollywood film “Bajirao Mastani”. The closing ceremony of the festival will focus on the journey of Indian cinema and a cultural performance from China, the host for the next edition of the film festival. The first edition of the BRICS film festival will end on September 6 with the screening of Jackie Chan’s “Skiptrace”.
  
• Coimbatore wins the best corporation Skoch award
  The Coimbatore City Corporation has been adjudged the best among 100 corporations selected from across the country by Skoch, a Gurgaon-based independent group dealing with social economic issues. Coimbatore corporation commissioner K Vijaya Karthikeyan received the best corporation award at the 45th Skoch summit held in Hyderabad on 9th September. Pune was adjudged the second best city corporation while Surat and Vijayawada came third.
  
  The Coimbatore Corporation also won three platinum awards for different projects. In addition, it won seven orders of merits. The Coimbatore corporation won the order of merits for projects like Toilet First (in which a crowd funding application and website were launched to gather funds for constructing toilets for slum dwellers), Ukkadam Lake Restoration, solar lighting for roads and parks, happy child project Smart School with technology enabled learning and no food waste and decentralised solid waste management.
  
  Many officials and members of the NGO accompanied the corporation commissioner and received the award as well. The Trichy City Corporation bagged the Skoch award for best practices in community toilets.