(Current Affairs For SSC Exams) Awards & Prize | April , May 2014

(April + May) 2014

Sachin Tendulkar and CNR Rao conferred with Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour was conferred on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar (40) and eminent scientist Prof CNR Rao (79) by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. The awards were given at the Durban Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on 4 February 2014.

The recipient of the award will receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion. This award does not carry any monetary grants. With this felicitation, Sachin became the first sportsperson to be conferred with the honour of Bharat Ratna. He is also the youngest person alive to be conferred with the award. Master blaster Sachin retired from international cricket on 16 November 2013. Sachin after receiving the award dedicated it to his mother.

Prof CNR Rao is the third scientist who has been conferred with the award. He received the honour after CV Raman and A P J Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. Rao is recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry. Till now, he has published 1400 research papers and 45 books.

With this honour felicitation, Tendulkar and Rao have joined the selected list of 41 eminent personalities, who have been conferred with this award. Both of them are also recipients of Padma Vibhushan, which is the country‘s second highest civilian honour. The award was instituted in 1954 and is given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order.

At present, Prof CNR Rao is the head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. To accommodate the sportspersons with the top honour, the government of India revised the eligibility criteria of the sportsperson in December 2011. Apart from this, Sachin is the first active sportsperson, who became the Rajya Sabha member of the country. He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2013.

About Bharat Ratna Awards

Rajendra Prasad, the former President of India on 2 January 1955 gave his order to establish an award. As per the order of the then President (till 1966), the award did not allowed any one to grant the posthumous awards. Further in January 1966, a provision was inserted for this.

Till date, 12 posthumous awards have been given of which one includes Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose was given the award in 1992, which was withdrawn due to legal technicalities. The case of Bose is the only and last case recorded till date of withdrawal of the award. The Order of precedence of India is the protocol list (hierarchy of important positions) has placed Bharat Ratna awardees at the seventh position.

Non-Indians, who have been conferred with the award

  • Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987)

  • Nelson Mandela (1990)

  • Naturalised Indian citizen to be awarded

  • Mother Teresa (1980)

  • Vishwanath Tripathi selected for the Vyas Samman 2013

Vishwanath Tripathi, the eminent Hindi writer has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2013. He has been chosen for his memoir ‘Vyomkesh Darvesh’ that is a biography of the noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

Tripathi, who is 82-year-old has around 20 publications by his name that includes memoirs, novel and poetry collection. Surya Prasad Dikshit, the Hindi litterateur headed the selection committee for the award.

The Vyas Samman 2012 was given to Hindi litterateur Narendra Kohli for his historical novel Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati published in 2004 that is based on Swami Vivekananda and the era he belonged.

About Vyas Samman

Vyas Samman was instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation in 1991 and is awarded annually in recognition of the hindi literary work published in past 10 years in genres like plays, novels, poetry, short stories, critiques and others. The award carries 2.5 lakh rupees and a citation and a plaque.

Malala, John Wood and Indira Ranamagar nominated for World Children’s Prize in Sweden

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived after being shot in her head by Taliban was nominated for the World Children’s Prize in Sweden for championing education rights for girls on 6 February 2014. As per the 15 member of international prize jury of WCP name of Malala was selected as she is a child, who stood up for girls’ rights to education in Pakistan, but also in the world as a whole.

The World Children’s Prize (WCP) is also known as the Children’s Nobel Prize and was founded in 2000 with an aim to raise awareness of children’s rights in 60000 schools in 110 countries through educational programs.

Other candidates nominated for the year are John Wood from USA and Indira Ranamagar from Nepal. The WCP Program 2014 is open from 5 February to 15 October 2014.   

World’s Children’s Prize (WCP)

The WCP is a unique and world’s largest annual global education program. So far it has involved nearly 35 million children who have learnt about their rights and democracy. It operates with a goal or more humane world, where rights of children are respected by all.

It teaches young people about the rights of the child, democracy and global friendship. Three child rights heroes are selected by WCP child jury every year to be candidates for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.

About John Wood

He has fought for the children’s right to education for past 15-years. To fulfill his dream, he quit from his job at Microsoft as a manager. His dream is to fight poverty by giving children all over     the world the chance to go to school

His belief is that educated children are better equipped to demand their rights and can defend themselves against slavery, trafficking and abuse
He runs an organisation named Room to Read, which till date has built almost 1700 schools and 15000 school libraries in some of the poorest countries of the world

In local languages, he had published 874 books and has given over 10 million books to poor children, who have been deprived from access     to books

About Malala Yousafzai

  • Malala in 2013 was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her crusade for the right of all children to an education

  • She has been nominated for the 2014 award for her courageous and dangerous fight for girls’ right to education

  • At the age of 11, she started speaking out for the education of the girls after Taliban banned girls from going to school in the swat valley of Pakistan but Malala kept going to school even after the ban imposed by Taliban. She was shot at the age of 15 and was almost killed by the Taliban on her way home from school, but she survived.

Arunima Sinha awarded Amazing Indian Award

Arunima Sinha received Amazing Indian Award on 6 February 2014.The award was given by the Vice President of India, M Hamid Ansari. She was awarded for scaling Mount Everest despite being physically challenged.

The Amazing Indian Award was instituted by Times Now channel in September 2012.

About Arunima Sinha

  • she is the first Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest on 21 may 2013

  • She scaled the 8848 metre-high summit of the world’s highest peak on 21 May 2013

  • She is a former national volleyball and football player from Uttar Pradesh

Krishi Karman Awards for 2012-13

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, presented Krishi Karman Awards for the year 2012-13 on 10 February 2014. The awards were presented during inaugural function of World Congress on Agro-Forestry (WCA-2014) held in New Delhi.

The awards were presented in two categories. In the Total food grain production category, the awards were presented to Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Manipur states. In the excellence in the Individual food grains crops category, the awards were presented to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar States.

Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura got commendation prizes for total food grain production. Maharashtra got commendation prize for rice, Assam for pulses and Punjab and Haryana for rice and wheat.

About KRISHI KARMAN AWARDS

Krishi Karman awards were instituted in 2010-11 by the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture.

Krishi Karman awards are  given to States for their effort and contribution towards raising the country’s food grain production.

Krishi Karman Awards comprises of three awards for total food grain production and four awards for production of rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses - the crops that constitute the food grain basket.

Each award winning State gets a trophy, a citation and cash award. The cash award is 2 crore rupees for total food grain production and 1 crore rupees for each of the four crops included in food grains.

President Pranab Mukherjee conferred Award of Honour of Rotary International

The President, Mukherjee was awarded for the leadership he has provided and the India’s victory over Polio. Recently India completed three years without reporting any case of polio on 13 January 2014.

Officially the World Health Organisation (WHO) certified India as polio-free on 11 February 2014. The WHO on 24 February 2012 removed India from the list of countries with active endemic wild polio transmission.

About Award of Honour

The Rotary’s highest award, Award of Honour is recognition for Heads of countries or governments who have rendered unique service to the humanity and served the country and its people upholding values reflected in Rotary’s motto Service Above Self.

The Rotary Club is one of the World’s first service organizations established on 23 February 1905 in Chicago with the vision of Paul P Harris.

The Rotary Club is a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.

Killa, a Marathi film bagged Crystal Bear award at 64th Berlin International Film Festival Killa, a Marathi film on 17 February 2014 won the Crystal Bear for the best film award by the Children’s jury in Generation K-plus section at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. The film has been directed by Avinash Arun.

The jury in its citation for the award to the film said that the film deals with the universal conflict of migration and how it impacts the lives of people, especially children made them want to discover India. The film Killa convinced the jury in all respects with good camera work and the great actors.

In the entire history of the award, Killa is the third Marathi film to be selected and is the first Indian film to win this award.

  • Film Killa has been produced by Madhukar R Musle, Ajay G Rai and Alan McAlex

  • It has been made under the banner, Jar Pictures and has been presented by M R Filmworks. Another film of Jar Films that was selected in the Sundance Film Festival 2014 in World Dramatics Competition Section was Liar’s Dice starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui

  • This film is a part of NFDC Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress (WIP) Lab in 2013

  • Amruta Subash of Vihir fame, Archit Deodhar, Parth Bhalerao of Vhootnath Returns and Shrikant Yadav are some actors of the film.

Killa is a film that deals with the universal conflict of migration and the process, how this migration impacts the lives of people, mainly children. The story of the film revolves around a young boy named Chinu who finds it difficult to adjust to the new surroundings after he migrated following death of his father.

The 67th BAFTA Awards

The 67th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards were given in London on 16 February 2014. The Awards were conferred for the outstanding performances in films and documentaries screened at British Cinemas in 2013.

Category Names

  • Best Film 12 Years a Slave

  • Best Director Alfonso Cuar’on (Gravity)

  • Best Actor Chiwetel Ejofor (12 years a Slave)

  • Best Actress Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

  • Best Supporting Actor Barkhad Abdi (Capitan)

  • Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

  • Best British Film Gravity

  • Best Debut By a British

  • Writer, Director or

  • Producer Kieran Evans

  • Best Original Screenplay American Hustle

  • Best Adapted Screenplay Philomena

  • Best Film Not In

  • The English Language The Great Beauty

  • Best Documentary The Act of Killing

  • Best Original Film Score Gravity

  • Best Cinematography Gravity

  • Best Editing Rush

  • Best Sound Gravity

  • Best Animated Film Frozen

  • Best Visual Effects Gravity

  • Best Makeup and Hair American Hustle

  • Best Production Design The Great Gatsby

  • Best Costumes The Great Gatsby

  • Best Short Film Room 8

  • Best Animated Short Sleeping With The Fishes

  • BAFTA Rising Star Award Will Poulter

About BAFTA

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) supports, promotes and develops the art forms of moving image like film, Television and Video games.

BAFTA Identifies, rewards and celebrates excellence at it’s internationally- renowned, annual awards inspiring the practitioner and benefiting the public.

Madan Babu won Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014

Madan Babu, an Indian-born scientist, won the Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014 at Cambridge, UK on 20 February 2014. The Protein Science Young Investigator Award is given by the Protein Society for important contribution made in the study of proteins.

Madan received the award for his contributions to the understanding of the principles of regulation in biological systems, especially in the fields of intrinsically disordered proteins and gene regulation. With this award, he became the first scientist of Laboratory of Molecular Biology  (LMB) to win the award.

At present Madan Babu heads the Regulatory Genomics and Systems Biology group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.

About the Award

The Award recognises important contributions to the study of proteins, by a scientist in the early stages of an independent career. The award is named after The Protein Society’s academic journal, Protein Science.

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