Indian Healthcare Visionary of the Decade Award

Harvard trained and internationally acclaimed Indian American Cardiac Surgeon and Healthcare Economist Dr Mukesh Hariawala on 28 June 2013 was recently conferred the prestigious Indian Healthcare Visionary of the Decade award at a glittering ceremony of the 4th Annual Business Leadership Conclave at Hotel Leela in Mumbai. Also felicitated with other prestigious awards were industrialists Ratan Tata , Transformational Leader of the Decade and Mukesh Ambani who is the Millennium Business Leader of the Decade. After the award ceremony, Mukesh convincingly laid out a 100 Billion Dollar Medical Tourism opportunity for India as a byproduct of US President Barack Obama’s new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which unofficially is also termed Obamacare.

Highest Cultural Award of France- the Commander of the Order

Paul Hewson, popularly known as Bono, the frontman of the rock band U2 as well as the anti-poverty activist was awarded with the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest cultural award of France on 17 July 2013 for the contribution to music. He was also praised for utilizing his popularity for the sake of humanitarian causes. The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters was awarded to Bono by the French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti in Paris. The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters was earlier also awarded to Shakira, David Bowie, Roger Moore, Bruce Willis, Bob Dylan and Sean Connery. The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters Award started for the first time in the year 1957.

About Paul Hewson (Bono)

• It is important to note that Bono, 53, had also received the award earlier for the music as well as campaigning since the band U2 was formed around 37 years ago.

• Bono has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times.

• The Times Magazine had awarded him with Time Magazine’s Person of the Year award in the year 2005.

• In the year 2007, he was conferred with the honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth.

About the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters award

• The Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters is also known as Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

• It is the Order of France, the highest cultural award of France.

• The award was established on 2 May 1957 by Minister of Culture.

• In the year 1963, it was made a part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle.

• The award recognises people who make significant contributions to the fields of literature, arts or help in spreading the motives of these fields.

• The origin of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters award is found in Order of Saint-Michel.

Mac Robert Award

The British firm Real VNC was presented Mac Robert Award by the Princess Royal for engineering innovation on 17 July 2013. The technology will enable IT workers to solve problems on other computers without leaving their desks and it will allow MRI scanners to be repaired remotely. The award carries a cash prize of 50000 ponds. Real VNC is a software company based in Cambridge. It was set up by some of the inventors of remote computer access software. It has collaborated with global technology giants such as Google, Apple, Intel and Sony and its technology is now said to be used in more than a billion devices across the globe. The Mac Robert gold medal was presented at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s awards dinner.

Krishna Menon honoured by Britain

The British Government on 17 July 2013 honoured V.K. Krishna Menon, India’s first high commissioner in London and former Defence Minister by placing a Blue Plaque at the house, where he lived when he moved to the city for the first time. The blue plaque will be placed plaque at 30 Langdon Park Road in Highgate, North London, where Menon stayed from 1929 to 1931. Menon, during his stay in London, after Indian independence as independent India’s first High Commissioner to the U.K played an active role in the socio-political life of the city. The plaque was unveiled by Tony Benn, veteran leader of the Left-Wing Labour.
Tony Benn is the son of William Wedgwood Benn, was secretary of state for India from 1929 to 1931, when Menon was campaigning for Indian independence in Britain. UK commemorates sites of historical and cultural importance in the country with blue plaques with a purpose of drawing attention of people.

V.K. Krishna Menon in London

• He served as the Labour Councillor for the Borough of St. Pancras for 14 years after being elected in 1934. He introduced travelling libraries and Children corners here.

• He served as an air warden around the Camden Square, during Second World War.

• In 1955, he became the second freeman of St. Pancras. The only person before Menon to be honoured with freeman status was George Bernard Shaw.

• He was described as the embodiment of the movement within Britain for India’s freedom, by former Labour Prime Minister, James Callaghan

Other Indians to be honoured with the blue Plaque with their locations

Other Indian leaders namely Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel have been honoured by this English Heritage, previously.

• London has two English Heritage Blue Plaques linked to Mahatma Gandhi at 20 Baron’s Court Road in Hammersmith and Fulham and second one at Kingsley Hall, Powis Road in Tower Hamlets

• Jawahar Lal Nehru is honoured with a plaque at 60 Elgin Crescent in London’s Notting Hill Bal

• Gangadhar Tilak with a plaque at 10 Howley Place in Paddington

• Sardar Patel has a plaque at 23 Aldridge Road Villas, Ladbroke Grove, in West London

About the Blue Plaque Scheme of London

The Blue Plaque Scheme of London was founded in 1866 is run by the William Ewart MP and the Royal Society of Arts to commemorates the link between the notable figures of past and Britain’s famous residents. More than 760 plaques have been placed across London by now. It is a uniquely successful means of connecting people and place. The Royal Society launched the scheme in 1867 with the unveiling of a commemorative tablet for Lord Byron.

Simons Investigators Awards 2013

Four Indian-American Professors Kannan Soundararajan, Rajeev Alur, Salil P Vadhan and Senthil Todadri in fourth week of July 2013 won Simons Investigators Awards 2013.

Apart from these, 9 other mathematicians, theoretical physicists and theoretical computer scientists were also selected for the Simons Investigators Awards for their cutting edge research.

The 2013 awards were announced by the New York-based Simons Foundation, which is a non-profit organisation. Its mission is to advance the lines of research in mathematics and basic sciences.

The Simons Investigators program provides a stable base of support for outstanding scientists, enabling them to undertake long-term study of fundamental questions. The foundation was incorporated in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons.

Name of People Awarded with their field of Study

Field of Study Name of People awarded in Selected Fields

Physics

• Victor Galitski from The University of Maryland

• Randall Kamien from University of Pennsylvania

• Joel Moore from University of California, Berkeley

• Dam Thanh Son from the University of Chicago

• Senthil Todadri from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Xi Yin from Harvard University

Computer science

• Rajeev Alur from University of Pennsylvania

• Piotr Indyk from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Salil P. Vadhan from Harvard University

Mathematics

• Ngô Bao Châu from the University of Chicago

• Maryam Mirzakhani from Stanford University

• Kannan Soundararajan from Stanford University

• Daniel Tataru from University of California, Berkeley

About Simons Investigators

Simons Investigators are outstanding theoretical scientists, who receive long-term research support from the Simons Foundation.

Level and Duration of Funding: A Simons Investigator is appointed for an initial period of five years with possible renewal for a further five years. An Investigator will receive research support of $100,000 per year, with an additional $10,000 per year provided to the Investigator’s department. The Investigator’s institution will receive 20 percent for indirect costs.

OISD Safety Awards 2011-12

Oil Industry Safety Awards for the year 2011-12 were presented by Union Minister of Petroleum Minister Petroleum & Natural Gas, Veerappa Moily and , Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Panabaaka Lakshmi on 19 July 2013. The award was given to the Chief Executives of Winning Oil & Gas organizations in a ceremony organised by Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) at New Delhi.

Major Port of the Year Award

Paradip Port was conferred with the Major Port of the Year award for its excellent performance in the year 2012-13. The award was received by SS Mishra, Chairman, Paradip Port Trust, at the SCOPE International Conference & Exhibition 2013 held in Chennai. Paradip Port Trust (PPT) handled 56.55 million tonnes of traffic in the year 2012-13. There is an increase from 54.25 million tonnes of traffic in 2011-12. During 2012-13, the port also added 22 million tonnes of capacity, thus bringing the total to 102 million tonnes. It is important to note that the Paradip Port was also adjudged as the Major Port of the Year during 2009-10 at the Annual Indian Maritime Gateway Awards 2010 ceremony organised by Gateway Media Private Ltd.

About the Paradip Port

• Paradip Port is one of the major Indian ports that serve the Eastern and Central parts of the country.

• Its vicinity extends to the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

• The port primarily deals with the bulk cargos as well as clean cargos.

• From the past 10 years, there has been an exceptional growth in the traffic handled by the Paradip Port.

• The port carries out the operations 24x7x365.

• Paradip Port is equipped with latest equipments as well as technology.