AWARDS JULY 2013

AWARDS JULY 2013

• The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced the Ramon Magsaysay Awards for the year 2013 to three individuals and two organizations for changing their societies for the better on 24 July. Afghanistan's first woman governor Habiba Sarabi and a Myanmar civil society organiser Lahpai Seng Raw, who both helped families displaced by conflict in their home nations, are among five winners of Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the year 2013.
  1. Habiba Sarabi of Afghanistan honoured for helping build a functioning local government and pushing for education and women's rights in Afghanistan's Bamyan Province despite discrimination and poverty.
  2. Lahpai Seng Raw of Myanmanr honoured for helping the rehabilitate work in damaged communities amid armed conflict.
  3. Ernesto Domingo, a 76-year-old Physician honored for dedicating his career to pushing for the poor's access to Health services and for groundbreaking and successful advocacy of neonatal Hepatitis vaccination that has saved millions of lives in the Philippines.
  4. The Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission), Indonesia's independent anti-corruption Government body, was honored for a 100-percent conviction rate in the 169 cases it fought between 2004 and 2010, during which it recovered more than US 80 million dollars in stolen assets.
  5. The Nepalese group Shakti Samuha (Power Group), formed by survivors of human trafficking, has recognised for helping fellow victims by setting up halfway homes and emergency shelters.
  
  
• Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who exposed the widest US global surveillance operations awarded German Whistleblower Prize 2013 worth US $ 3,900 in absentia on 25th July. Snowden has exposed the substantial and unsuspecting monitoring and storage of communication data by US and other western intelligence agencies, which cannot be accepted in democratic societies.
  
  It was the top secret National Security Agency documents that were leaked by Snowden since the beginning of June 2013 which in turn made it possible and unavoidable intensive investigations to establish whether the operations of domestic and foreign intelligence services have violated the existing rules applicable to them.
  
  Snowden has undertaken great personal risks in leaking the documents on the operations of the US and other western intelligence agencies, aware of the current criminal prosecution of whistleblowers in security areas.
  
  Even after proving that the espionage operations partly or to a large extent were protected by the law, Snowden has helped in exposing such a dangerous situation, which cannot be accepted in democratic societies.
  
• Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland has been listed among 13 novels long listed for the Man Booker Prize 2013. The long list for the prize, one of the English language's top fiction awards, names 13 writers from seven countries. The "Man Booker dozen" 2013 comprises an diverse list of 13 novels that will astonish and intrigue in equal measure.
  
• There are 13 outstanding novels range from the traditional to the experimental, from the first century AD to the present day, from 100 pages to 1000 and from Shanghai to Hendon..
  
• The Lowland, is story set in India and America, which is going to be published in September 2013 and is one of the highly anticipated books of the fall. It is being pitched as an easy frontrunner in London’s literary circles.
  
• Paradip port has been conferred the ‘Major Port of the Year’ award in recognition of its excellent performance in 2012-13. S.S. Mishra, Chairman, Paradip Port Trust, received the award at the SCOPE International Conference & Exhibition 2013 held in Chennai on 25 July .In 2012-13, PPT handled a total of 56.55 million tones of traffic, up from 54.25 mt in 2011-12. Also, during the year, the port added 22 mt of capacity bringing the total to 102 mt.
  
• The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) has conferred its highest honour ‘The Honorary Fellowship’ on HRD Minister Dr M.M. Pallam Raju for his scientific vision and invaluable contribution to the progress in the field of electronics and telecommunication. The IETE honoured the Minister at a function held in New Delhi on 18th July. It earlier conferred on him a ‘Fellow of IETE’ in 2006 on his assumption of charge as Minister of State for Defense. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad and Temple University, USA, conferred an honorary doctorate and Doctor of Humane Letters respectively in the years 2008 and 2013. On the occasion Dr. Pallam Raju said “It is a privilege to be accorded this honour by a distinguished institution such as the IETE. I truly thank the IETE for having considered me worthy of this honour.” The honour is accorded to persons of eminence who are achievers in the field of Electronics, Telecommunication and Information Technology or have made valuable contribution in the aforesaid fields for the betterment of the society. The IETE is India’s leading professional society devoted to the advancement of science and technology and of Electronics, Telecommunication and IT.Founded in 1953, it serves more than 52,000 members through its 52 centres all over India and abroad.
  
• Paul Hewson, popularly known as Bono, the face of the rock band U2 and anti-poverty activist, was awarded with the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest cultural award of France on 17th July for the contribution to music.
  
• He was also praised for utilizing his popularity serve the humanitarian causes. The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters was awarded to him by the French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti in Paris. The award was started in the year 1957 and the previous awardees include Shakira, David Bowie, Roger Moore, Bruce Willis, Bob Dylan and Sean Connery, among others.
  
• Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony, 2013 is being conferred on the noted Maestro Zubin Mehta. A High-level Jury under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and comprising the Chief Justice of India, Justice Altamas Kabir, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi after detailed discussions on 4th July, 2013, unanimously decided to select Shri Zubin Mehta to be the second recipient of the Tagore Award, 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony. The annual award was instituted by the Govt. of India during the commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The first Tagore Award was conferred on Pt. Ravi Shankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012.The award carries an amount of Rs. 1 crore, a citation in a scroll, a plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or sex.
  
• An Indian woman entrepreneur Vandana Gandhi has received UAE’s prestigious award for business excellence for her work in the field of nursery education. Founder and CEO of British Orchard Nursery won the Emirates Women’s Award 2013 (EWA) in the ‘Overall Winner in Business Category’. The awards, which honor local and expatriate business achievers from diverse fields, were organized by Dubai Quality Group. Winners in various categories were selected on the basis of their leadership skills, strategy and financial planning, achievement levels, community contribution and innovation. British Orchard Nursery is the first nursery chain to be ISO 9001:2008 quality certified.