Awards and Prizes

Ramon Magsaysay Awards for the year 2013

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation on 24 July 2013 announced the Ramon Magsaysay Awards for the year 2013 to three individuals and two organizations for changing their societies for the better. 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.

A Brief insight into the list of the Awardees

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.

About the Ramon Magsaysay Award

The Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, named after a popular Philippines President who was killed in a plane crash, was established in 1957 to honor people or groups who change communities in Asia for the better. Every year the award is presented in a ceremony conducted on 31 August in Manila and the winners are honoured with US 50000 dollars prize money. More than 300 people and groups, including the US Peace Corps and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have been recognized since 1958.

IIFA Award 2013 at Macau

Vidya Balan on 6 July 2013 got the Best Actress award at 14th IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards 2013 held in Macau for her portrayal of a pregnant woman in search of her husband inKahaani while Ranbir Kapoor was named Best Actor for Barfi.

Barfi also bagged the award for best film. In fact, it won 9 awards in technical category- Best Cinematography (Ravi Varman I.S.C.), Best Background Score (Pritam), Best Screenplay (Anurag Basu and Tani Basu), Best Production Design (Rajat Poddar), Best Song Recording (Eric Pillai), Best Sound Design (Shajith Koyeri), Best Sound Mixing (Debajit Changmai), Best Costume Designing (Aki Narula and Shefalina) and Best Make-Up (Uday Serali). Barfi is a romantic comedy about a mute and deaf man and his relationship with two women. Ranbir, who played a deaf-mute boy in Barfi was not present at the ceremony and the award was accepted on his behalf by the film’s director Anurag Basu.

Other highlights of IIFA 2013

• Gangs of Wasseypur won two awards, one for Best Action (Shyam Kaushal) and the other for Best Dialogue (Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia and Anurag Kashyap) was shared with Juhi Chaturvedi for Vicky Donor.
• The award for Best Editing was won by Kahaani (Namrata Rao) and Best Choreography went to Ganesh Acharya for Agneepath.
• Ek Tha Tiger won the award for Best Special Effects (Pankaj Khanopur, Sherry Bharda and Vishal Anand).

Where is Macau?

Macau is one of the two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the other being Hong Kong.

Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony 2013

Zubin Mehta, an Indian-Parsi mestro of western classical music on 10 July 2013 was named for the second edition of Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony for the year 2013. He was named for the award because of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony. His name was selected by a high level four-member Jury that was led by Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh and it comprised the Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Public Intellectual Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The first Tagore Award was conferred on Pt. Ravi Shankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012

About the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony

Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony was instituted by the Union Government of India in 2012 during the commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The award carries an amount of one crore rupees, a citation in a scroll, a plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft or handloom item.

About Zubin Mehta

• Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta.
• His father was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.
• He was appointed as the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in 1981
• Mehta was taught to play the piano by Joseph de Lima
• 1958, Mehta made his conducting debut in Vienna and in the same year he won the International Conducting Competition in Liverpool

National Youth Awards 2011-12

National Youth Award 2011-12 was conferred by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 4 July 2013 to 27 individuals and an organization at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan. It is for the first time that the National Youth awards were given by the President of India.

The youth award carries a Silver Medal, a Certificate and a cash prize of 40000 rupees in cases of individual awardees and 2lakh case prize for voluntary organizations.

About National Youth Award

National Youth Awards was instituted in the year 1985 and is conferred on youths every year, who have excelled in youth developmental activities and social service. The award is a source of encouragement to the awardees, as well as an example and catalyst to others. Selection of Awardees is first made at State level and then at National level. At the National level, a Screening Committee headed by the Joint Secretary scrutinizes the proposals recommended by the State Government/UT administration at first. These screened proposals are thereafter placed before the Central Selection Committee headed either by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports or Secretary, Youth Affairs that makes the final selection of youth awardees. The Central Selection Committee may, at its discretion, consider on merits, individuals or youth organizations not recommended by a State Government/UT, for the Award.

List of the Individuals Winners of the National Youth Award 2011-12

Shri M. Ramulu, Andhra Pradesh, Shri Aluwala Vishnu, Andhra Pradesh, Ms. Tilling Yam, Arunachal Pradesh, Shri Pardeep Raj(physically challenged), Delhi, Ms. Chanchal Aggarwal, New Delhi, Shri Girish Kumar, New Delhi, Ms. Malisa Zemira Simoes, Goa, Ms. Suman, Haryana, Ms. Ruchi Kaushik, Haryana, Shri Ashok Kumar, Haryana, Ms. Gurmeet Kaur, Himachal Pradesh, Shri Besar Dass Harnot, Himachal Pradesh, Shri Kiran Kumar Sharma, Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Lakshminarayana Kajegadde, Karnataka, Shri B. Hanumanthappa, Karnataka, Shri Fasal Varis, Kerala, Ms. Tara Usman Mulla, Maharashtra, Shri Jagdale Shantanu Ramdas, Maharashtra, Mrs. Soraishanm Taruni Devi, Manipur, Shri Kitboklang Nongphlang, Meghalaya, Shri M. Tejeswar, Odisha, Shri Gangadhar Behara, Odisha, Shri Dhyanananda Panda, Odisha, Ms. Khusmeet Kaur Bains, Punjab, Shri Gurnam Singh Sidhu, Punjab, Shri Ladu Lal Jat, Rajasthan, Shri Gulab Chand Salvi, Rajashtan

Bhavishya Educational and Charitable Society, West Bengal 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadhbhavna Award

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan was chosen for the 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadhbhavna Award for his contribution towards promotion of communal harmony and peace. It will be conferred on Amjad Ali Khan on 20 August 2013, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award (Rajiv Gandhi National Communal Harmony Award) is an award given for outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace. The award was instituted by All India Congress Committee of the Indian National Congress Party (INC), in 1992 to commemorate the lasting contribution made by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The award carries a citation and a cash award of five lakh rupees. The award is given on 20 August evry year, the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, which is celebrated as Sadbhavna Diwas (Harmony Day).The former recipients of the award comprise Mother Teresa, Bismillah Khan, Teesta Setalvad, Swami Agnivesh, Harsh Mander, Sunil Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Yunus, Maulana Wahiuddin Khan and K R Narayanan.

National Testing Agency (NTA)

The HRD Ministry on 31 May 2013 decided to set up a seven member Task Force under the Chairmanship of Sanjay Dhande. It will have the representatives from CBSE, UGC, NCERT, AICTE and from the Ministry. It will prepare a blue print for creating a special purpose vehicle to take the concept of National Testing Agency (NTA) forward. The rationale for setting up the NTA lies in ensuring that multiplicity of entrance examination leading to stress on the students is addressed in a comprehensive manner by formulating a uniform entrance examination for admissions in different branches of higher learning. The decision for setting up the National Testing Agency was taken in the meeting of Central Advisory Board for Education (CABE) which was held on 2nd April 2013. In the meeting it was decided that the proposal to set up National Testing Agency shall be taken forward in consultation with all stakeholders.

Bichitra Tagore Variorum Website

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee launched the Bichitra Tagore Variorum Website on 5 May 2013 at a function at Jadhavpur University, Kolkata. Bichitra would convey the message of Tagore’s art and thought across the world.

In fact, Tagore’s works are a treasure which speaks of humanity’s eternal message. By making Tagore‘s works available to all Bichitra will remind us the high moral standards he set for us. Let us reset our moral compass.
US Senate confirmed Srinivasan as top US Court Judge to the District of Columbia Circuit
The US Senate on 23 May 2013 approved Srikanth Srinivasan was as the most senior US Judge of the South Asian descent to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The unanimous approval of Srinivasan gave birth to speculations that one day he may be tapped for the Supreme Court. Srinivasan born in Chandigarh, India and raised in Kansas is the first justice who has been confirmed to the Washington court since 2006 a year after Chief Justice John Roberts’ elevation created a vacancy. The senate confirmed his name to fill the vacancy created seven years ago by 97 votes in his favour.
About Srikanth Srinivasan

·         He is the Principle Deputy Solicitor General and defends the policies of US President Barack Obama before the Supreme Court

·         Earlier he has also worked under the former President, George W. Bush

·         He is a proud recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003

·         He also won Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005

·         He is described as a trailblazer by the US President, Obama

·         He is the first India-American to be appointed to the top American Court

·         His nomination to the post for the first time was made by President, Barack Obama in June 2012, which was returned back to him on 2 January 2013 due to sine die adjournment of the senate. Obama re-nominated Srinivasan for the same position on 3 January 2013

·         In 1989, he received his BA with honours from Stanford University and in 1995 received his Juris Doctor (JD) in 1995 from Stanford Law School. He was elected to Order of the Coif and further served as the editor of the Stanford Law Review