General Awareness : Awards and Prizes - March, 2015

General Awareness For Bank's Exams) Awards and Prizes

March, 2014

Veerappa Moily selected for Saraswati Samman 2014

Former Union law Minsiter and INC senior leader Veerappa Mioly has selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his famous Kannada poem ‘Ramayana Mahanveshanam.
Saraswati Saman is given by the K K Birla Foundation since 1991 for an outstanding literary work in any Indian language mentioned in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution. The award carries a cash purse of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a plaque.
Ramayana Mahanveshanam, which divided into five volume was first published in the year 2007 in Kannada. This poem has been later translated into English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.
This poem basically speaks about the true principle of the ideal State from a secular and modern point of view.
Moily is an established writer in Kannada who has authored four novels, three collections of poetry, a number of plays and numerous essays. His novels ‘Kotta’ and
‘Tembare’ have been translated to Hindi, English and many other languages. Moily handled many ministries in the previous UPA regime including Petroleum and Natural Gas, Corporate Affairs, Power and Law. He was chief minister of Karnataka from 1992 to 1994.
The selection for the award was made by a 13-member panel of scholars and writers headed by former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti.
Namibian President bags Mo Ibrahim Prize 2014
Outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world’s prestigious award Mo- Ibrahim proze for African leadership for year 2014.
Hifikepunye Pohamba has served as Namibian President two terms. For first time he was elected in 2004 and again in 2009. Now, he is due to be succeeded by elected President Hage Geingob.
This prize is given each year to an elected leader who has governed well, raised living standards and then left office. It is named after Mo Ibrahim, a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist who had made billions of fortune from investing in Africa.
Mo Ibrahim had launched this prize in 2007 to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully. It is the world’s most valuable individual award and carries monetary award of 5 million dollar and also $ 200,000 a year for life.
The inaugural prize was awarded to Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique.

I & B Presents 4th National Photography Awards

Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Shri Bimal Julka has conferred the 4th National Photography Awards to eminent photographers at a function organized by the Photo Division, under the aegis of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Below are the list of awardee. Shri Surendra R. Patel was given the Life-Time Achievement Award, Shri Swarup Dutta was awarded the Best Professional Photographer Award and Shri R. Sasikumar was awarded Best Amateur Photographer. Awards were also conferred to 10 winners under the Special Mention category for both, the Professional and Amateur segments. The theme for the Professional Category was “Hamara Bharat Swachh Bharat” and for the Amateur Category is “Mother and Child”.
Shri Surendra R. Patel, the winner of the Life Time Achievement Award is an eminent professional in the field of photography. He has participated in several national and international exhibitions and salons from 1951 and has 200 awards to his credit. He has been honoured with several awards and felicitations. He is credited for having presented more than 100 slideshows on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, 1958 and pictorial photography in different parts of the country.

Namibian President bags Mo Ibrahim Prize 2014

Outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world’s prestigious award Mo- Ibrahim proze for African leadership for year 2014.
Hifikepunye Pohamba has served as Namibian President two terms. For first time he was elected in 2004 and again in 2009. Now, he is due to be succeeded by elected President Hage Geingob.
This prize is given each year to an elected leader who has governed well, raised living standards and then left office. It is named after Mo Ibrahim, a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist who had made billions of fortune from investing in Africa. Mo Ibrahim had launched this prize in 2007 to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully. It is the world’s most valuable individual award and carries monetary award of 5 million dollar and also $ 200,000 a year for life. The inaugural prize was awarded to Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique.

Stree Shakti & Nari Shakti Puraskar

President Pranab Mukherjee on the eve of International Women Day i.e,. 8th March has awarded ‘Stree Shakti Puraskar’ and ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ for the year 2015, to Six illustrious women.
The awardees were nominated by the state governments, MPs, VIPs as well as on suo-moto basis which were ten selected by a national level Screening Committee. Six noted women have been presented with the award on March 8, 2015. Each award carries 3 lakh rupees and citation.

The Stree Shakti Puraskar has been conferred to the following noted Indian women:
1. Anyay Rahit Zindagian NGO of Goa has been conferred with Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Award
2. Rani Lakshmibai Award has been presented to Seema Prakash of Madhya Pradesh
3. Astha Sansthan , NGO of Rajasthan has been awarded Rani Rudramma Devi
4. Chandraprabha Bokey from Maharashtra has been conferred Mata Jijabai Award
5. Dr. P Bhanumati of Kerala has been presented with Kannagi Award
6. Sister while Mariola from Rajasthan has been awarded Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang
The Nari Shakti Puraskar has been conferred for the first time this year. Each award carries a 1 lakh rupees and a citation. The eight women have been presented with this award by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in recognition to their contribution in specific areas.

Clemson University honours Ratan Tata with a Doctrate

Indian Businessman Ratan Tata has been honoured with Doctorate of Automotive Engineering by the Clemson University. He was presented with the honorary doctorate for his contribution to the global automotive industry at the South Carolina Automotive Summit this week. Ratan Tata holds bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cornell University. In 1962 he had joined the Tata Group. In 1981, he was named chairman of Tata Industries and led the group in various fields including transportation, consulting, communications, chemicals, hospitality and steel.

Ratan Tata serves as director on the boards of Alcoa Inc., Mondelez International. He is also on the international advisory boards of, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls-Royce, Mitsubishi Corp., Temasek Holdings and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

87th Academic Award

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The Academy Awards which is popularly known as Oscars were presented in twenty four categories.Below are the list of these awardee.

Best Picture- Birdman
Best Actor- Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress- Julianne Moore
Best Supporting Actor- J. K. Simmons
Best Supporting Actress- Patricia Arquette
Best Director- Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman
Best Original Screenplay- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Best Foreign Language Film- Ida (Poland).

Rajendra Singh bags Stockholm Water Prize

Prestigious Stockholm Water Prize 2015 has been conferred to Renowed enviornmental activist Rajandra Singh has been for his innovative water restoration efforts and courage to empower communities in Indian villages.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize, will present the prize during the World Water Week on August 26. The award carries $150,000 and a specially designed sculpture.
Stockholm Water Prize was constituted in the year 1991 to recognizes persons for their outstanding achievements in conservation and protection of the world’s water resources and presented annually.
Rajendra Singh is fourth Indian to win the prestigious global award, others are- Madhav Chitale in 1993, Sunita Narain in 2005 and Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak in the year 2009.

National Safety Award (Mines) for year 2011 & 12

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has presented the National Safety Awards (Mines) for the Years 2011 and 2012 at a function organized by Ministry of Labour & Employment.
For the purpose of the contest the National Safety Awards (Mines) has been divided into 7 different groups depending upon the type of mineral and nature of workings.These are - Coal mines - Belowground with difficult mining conditions; Coal mines - Belowground (others); Coal mines – Opencast; Metal Mines - Mechanised Opencast; Metal Mines – Manual Opencast; Metal Mines – Belowground and Oil Mines.

The indicators of safety performance for determining eligibility of these awards are-

Longest accident free period (LAFP) in terms of man shifts worked during three consecutive years ending with the contest year.
Lowest injury frequency rate (LIFR) during three consecutive years ending with the contest year. Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India instituted National Safety Awards (Mines) in 1983 (for the contest year 1982) with a view to promote a competitive spirit amongst mine operators for the betterment of safety standards in mines and to give due recognition to outstanding safety performance at national level. This award is generally given away by the Hon’ble President of India every year and has generated considerable enthusiasm amongst the Mining community.