Vyas Samman

Professor Ramdarash Mishra and Dr Narendra Kohli were conferred with the Vyas Samman on 23 May 2013 for the year 2011 and 2012 respectively. Professor Ramdarash Mishra (89) was honoured with the award for his collection of poems Aam ke Patte published in 2004. The collection of poems has tried to establish a relationship of man with ordinary objects like pen and table and has reminded their unnoticed importance in human life. Dr Narendra Kohli (73) was honoured for his historical novel Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati published in 2004. The book has portrayed Swami Vivekananda, the culture of his time and his quest to be a sanyasi for National Unity. The award was presented by Professor Surya Prasad Dixit, a noted scholar of Hindi and the Chairman of the Selection Committee.

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.

National Florence Nightingale Award 2013

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented National Florence Nightingale Award 2013 to 35 nursing professionals for their services with devotion, sincerity, dedication and compassion in New Delhi on 12 May 2013. The awards were given on the occasion of international Nurses Day. The Florence Nightingale Award was instituted by the Health Ministry to appreciate the selfless services rendered by Nurses with devotion, sincerity, dedication and compassion. The Award carries 50000 rupees cash, a certificate, a citation certificate and a Medal. This award would inspire nursing professionals all over India to encourage them to join this noble profession and provide better healthcare service to the people.The National Florence Nightingale Award is given to the outstanding nursing personnel employed in Central, State/UTs. Nurses working in Government, Voluntary Organizations, Mission institutions and private institutions can apply with due recommendation of concerned State Government. Altogether 272 nurses have been decorated with this award by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare so far.

Man Booker International Prize 2013

American writer Lydia Davis won 2013 Man Booker International Prize for her innovative and influential writing. The winner of the Prize was announced at the awards ceremony at Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 22 may 2013. This was the fifth Man Booker International Prize. Lydia Davis is a professor of creative writing at the University of Albany. She is also an accomplished translator. Her works include The End of the Story and Varieties of Disturbance. Lydia Davis is also known for her work as a translator of French literature and philosophy, most notably of Marcel Proust and Gustave Flaubert. Her translations led her to be named aChevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. Well-known Kannada author UR Ananthamurthy was the only Indian to be shortlisted for the prestigious award.

The Man Booker International Prize recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. Worth 60000 ponds, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers. The Man Booker International Prize is significantly different from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction. In seeking out literary excellence, the judges consider a writer’s body of work rather than a single novel.

Gershwin Prize

US singer-songwriter Carole King became the first woman to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The President of America, Barack Obama conferred upon her, the Gershwin Prize that is given as a lifetime achievement in popular music.

The award was given away at the White House in Washington. Carole King is 71 years of age. She is known most popularly for her hit songs such as Aretha Franklin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Carole King has won the Grammy Award four times. She was the co-writer of her first number 1 hit song in 1960. The song was Will You Love Me Tomorrow which was recorded by The Shirelles. She became the first solo artist to sell over 10 million copies of a single album with 1971 release, Tapestry.

About the Gershwin Prize

• The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, also known as, Gershwin Prize is conferred upon the performer or composer for lifetime contribution to popular music.

• The award was created in 2007 by the Library of Congress.

• Gershwin Prize is named after brothers- George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, both of whom contributed to popular music.

• First recipient of this award was Paul Simon. Other awardees of this prize are Stevie Wonder (2008) and Sir Paul McCartney (2009).

UNA-USA’s Champion for Global Change Award

The Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai (15) was selected for UNA-USA’s Global Leadership Award called Champion for Global Change Award for 2013, in the month of May 2013. Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012 by Taliban for promotion of girl education. She will receive the Champion for Global Change Award for 2013 at Gotham Hall on 6 November 2013 in the event which will be hosted by UN Foundation and benefits UN Foundation and the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA)’s Global Classrooms Model UN programme. It was declared on 20 May 2013 that Malala will receive the UNA-USA’s Global Leadership Award for advocating education as well as empowerment of girls across the world. In 2012, the UN Secretary, General Ban Ki-moon had declared 10 November as the Malala Day. She was also given the title of daughter of the United Nations. UN Foundation as well as UNA-USA, together represents a single largest network of American supporters of UN.

List of awardees selected for UNA-USA’s Global Leadership Award 2013:

• Malala Yousafzai for advocating education of girls and empowerment of girls

• Front-line polio workers for commitment to vaccine those who have threat of contracting polio

• 10x10 for efforts to make sure that all girls receive education

• GE Africa for helping the countries in Africa on challenges to meet the demands of water and clean energy

United Nation’s Public Service Award

The Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy won United Nation’s Public Service Award for his Mass Contact Programme on 22 May 2013. In the Mass Contact Programme, he engaged with masses of Kerala to address the grievances. He was conferred with the first prize from the Asia Pacific region along with other awardees that are selected on yearly basis from five different zones of the world.

United Nation’s Public Service Award

Since the year 2003, United Nations has been awarding people as part of the programme for Public Service Day that is celebrated on 23 June. The United Nation’s Public Service Award was instituted through the UN resolution and are announced after the three-tier security as well as meticulous examination. The candidates who are shortlisted are kept under examination by the seven-member sub-committee of Committee of Experts in Public Administration of the United Nations. The UN Public Service Day ceremonies are scheduled to be organised from 24 June 2013 to 27 June 2013 in Bahrain. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will confer the awards on the awardees on 27 June 2013.

The Mass Contact Programme of Oommen Chandy

The Mass Contact Programme was appraised worldwide as the democratic experiment. The CM of Kerala, Oommen Chandy met a lot of people without intermediaries. He got up to 5.5 lakh petitions, out of which he resolved approximately 3 lakh petitions and also distributed financial aid of 22.68 crore Rupees as part of this programme. The criteria of evaluation included mechanism for increasing the ability of people to receive information on time, monitor the decision making as well as transparency. Other parameters included documentation and accountability, procedural as well as fiscal requirement as well as evidence of the conformity of government.

Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran 2013

Singer Hariharan was conferred with the Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran in Indore on 20 May 2013. The Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran is conferred by the Madhya Pradesh government on playback singer, Hariharan. The award distribution was a part of three-day cultural event held in Indore.

About Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran

• Madhya Pradesh government instituted the award in 1984.

• The first recipient of this award was music composer Naushad.

• The Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran consists of 2 lakh Rupees as well as citation.

• It is instituted by Madhya Pradesh government.

• The award is conferred upon to the music composer and singer alternately. In 2012, the award was given away to Rajesh Roshan.

• This was the 28th Annual Lata Mangeshkar Award.

• Hariharan is the Padma Shri recipient as well. He sung various songs in different languages including Hindi, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi.

Champions of Change

The US government on 6 May 2013 honoured 15 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women as champions of change in recognition of their important contribution to the community. This includes two Indian-Americans; Aparna Bhattacharyaa from Atlanta and Pramila Jayapal from Wahington State. Aparna Bhattacharyya is the Executive Director of Raksha, in Atlanta. She is a passionate advocate for immigrant survivors of family and sexual violence and plays a key role in providing them access to safety, justice and healing.

Aparna at present is a board member for the Georgia Coalition against Domestic Violence, VIDA Legal Assistance and the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project. Pramila Jayapal founded the non-profit organization OneAmerica in the aftermath of 9/11. One America is the largest immigrant advocacy organisation in Washington State. Pramila at present is the Distinguished Taconic Fellow at Center for Community Change and a Distinguished Fellow at the University of Washington Law School. The Champions of Change programme honours groups of Americans, individuals, businesses and organisations, who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities. Other awardees of the Champions of Change are; Minh Dang from California; Catherine Eusebio from California; Atsuko Toko Fish from Boston, Lusiana Tuga Hansen from Alaska, Myrla Baldonado from Chicago, Arline Loh from Delaware, Mia Mingus from California, Natalie Nakase from Los Angeles, Mary Frances Oneha from Hawaii, Nancy Tom from Chicago, Karen Suyemoto from Boston, Van Ton-Quinlivan from California and Shireen Zaman from Washington, DC.

Asom Ratna Award

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented the Asom Ratna Award for the year 2012 to Indira Goswami (posthumously) and the Srimanta Shankardeva Award for the year 2008 to Sharmila Tagore on 13 May 2013 at a function at Guwahati, Assam. Sharmila Tagore has contributed richly to India’s cultural life as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and Chairperson of the Indian Film Censor Board.

Indira Goswamy was a legendary story teller and prolific novelist who courageously advocated social change in a very volatile period in Assam’s history. She would be particularly remembered for her role as a mediator in talks between armed militants in Assam and the Government of India. In all her works, ‘Mamoni’ as she was known, had focused on women, the disadvantaged and the oppressed in society. By creating a consciousness about these problems, she was able to sow the seeds of change. The Srimanta Sankardeva award would propagate the teachings of Swami Srimanta Shankardeva, an Assamese saint, scholar and social reformer who lived in the 15th and 16th Centuries. His Neo-Vaishnava movement repudiated caste barriers and sought to create an egalitarian civil society based on the shared values of fraternity, equity, humanism and democracy.

Jnanpith Award 2011

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 47th Jnanpith Award for the year 2011 on Pratibha Ray on 22 May 2013 at Balyogi Auditorium in New Delhi. The award includes cash prize of 11 lakh Rupees, a citation as well as bronze replica of Goddess Saraswati.

About Dr. Pratibha Ray

• Pratibha Ray was born in Alabol, a village in Jagatsingpur district of Odisha.

• She is the first Oriya woman and fourth Oriya writer to get the coveted award. Prior to her, Sitakant Mahapatra (1993), Sachidananda Rout Roy (1986) and Gopinath Mohanty (1973) were the other Oriya writers to be conferred with this award.

• Her first novel was Barsa Basanta Baishakha in 1974, for which she was recognised as a writer for the first time.

• The most acclaimed work of Pratibha Ray was Yajnaseni, for which she received Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust’s Moorti Devi Award in 1991. She was the first woman to be conferred with this prestigious Moorti Devi Award in 1991.

• Apart from this, she also won various awards such as Orissa Sahitya Akademi Award, Moortidevi Award by Bharatiya Jnanpith and Saptarshi Award.

• Pratibha Ray has 20 novels, 24 short stories, 10 travelogues, two poetry collections and a number of essays to her credit.

• Her literary works have been translated into not just English, but various other foreign languages and various Indian languages as well.

• Pratibha Ray is one of the most widely read Oriya novelists and short story writers.

• She is also renowned for her role of woman’s voice.

• Her works revolve around various themes such as racial consciousness, mythology, lifestyle, fiction, rural culture and many more. Her novels have various subject matters as well as interests.

About the Jnanpith Award

• The Jnanpith Award is one of the highest literary honours of India. Other honour includes Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.

• This award was instituted first in 1961 and is presented by Bharatiya Jnanpith, the trust founded by Sahu Jain family, the publishers of The Times of India newspaper.

• Any Indian citizen who presents his/her work in any official Indian language can be eligible for this award.

• G. Sankara Kurup was the first one to receive this award in 1965.

• Post 2011, the cash prize of this award has been increased from 7 lakh Rupees to 11 lakh Rupees.

Whitley Award 2013

A young Indian biologist, Dr. Aparajita Datta was honoured with the Whitley award, also known as Green Oscar, in London on 2 May 2013. Aparajita Datta, the Indian wildlife biologist was conferred with the award by Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, at the Royal Geographical Society in London for her efforts in order to save the endangered hornbills in Eastern Himalayas. Aparajita Datta is the head of the program for conservation of the hornbills in dense tropical forests of Arunachal Pradesh, at Nature Conservation Foundation. The tropical forests of Arunachal Pradesh are an abode to five hornbill species. Hornbills are the brightly coloured and curved-beak birds which are catalyst of seed dispersal; these birds remain endangered for the beats as well as feathers by a tribal group, known as Lisu. Aparajita Datta set up the community-based conservation program along with tribal hunters in order to protect hornbills. The focus of the program was to bring down the poaching activities. Schools were started by her and the team in order to build the river embankments for checking soil erosion. The team of Aparajita Datta also focused on marketing the handicrafts of Lisu as well as development of the nature tourism, which would in turn facilitate Lisu with better financial gains than poaching. The Whitley awards are given every year in order to honour exceptional individuals for the efforts in conservation of nature in the developing countries. Aparajit Datta won the award along with eighth other conservationists who belonged to different countries. They shared the prize money worth 295000 pounds.

ISRO Young Scientists Award for 2013

Jenita Mary Nongkynrih, A young woman scientist from Meghalaya was selected for ISRO Young Scientist Award 2013 for her urban information system project in the North East. The award for Jenita Mary Nongkynrih carries a citation and cash of 50000 rupees. Jenita Mary Nongkynrih is currently working as a scientist at the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Umiam, Nongkynrih.

UN Public Service Award 2013

Cottage and Village Industry Department of the Madhya Pradesh Government on 16 May 2013 bagged United Nations Public Service Award for year 2013 for their initiative named Graamin Haat. The United Nations honours outstanding public welfare works at international level under different categories every year. The Cottage and Village Industry Department of Madhya Pradesh was successful in winning the honour of United Nations for their initiative of Graamin Haat. The initiative of Graamin Haat was started in the state with the aim of strengthening and empowering the women’s self-help groups. The initiative has helped the self help group in becoming more self-reliant economically and ensured participation of women in social decisions.

The award will be presented to Kanchan Jain, the Principal Secretary of the Cottage and Village Industry Department of Madhya Pradesh on 27 June 2013 in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Apart from Graamin Haat other Indian initiatives those were recognized and won award include

Institution Initiative

Chief Ministers Office Mass Contact Programme (MCP)

District Administration,

Dhanbad Swavalamban

United Nations Public Service Award for year 2013

The United Nations Public Service Forum Day and Awards ceremony will take place in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain, from 24 to 27 June 2013 with its theme, Transformative e-Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All. The Forum is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA), in collaboration with the hosting Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The United Nations Public Service Awards 2013 will be given in three different categories and they are

• Category 1 – Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service

• Category 2 – Improving the Delivery of Public Services

• Category3 – Fostering participation in public policy decision making through innovative mechanisms

• Category 4 – Promoting whole-of-government approaches in the Information Age

• Category 5 – Promoting Gender- Responsive Deliveries of Public Services

Gallantry and Distinguished Service Awards

President of India and the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces of India Pranab Mukherjee on 27 April 2013 conferred one Kirti Chakra and twelve Shaurya Chakras to Forces Personnel for displaying conspicuous gallantry, indomitable courage and extreme devotion to duty at a solemn ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Two of the Shaurya Chakra was given posthumously. The President also conferred ten Param Vishisht Seva Medal, one Uttam Yudh Seva Medal four Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and twenty seven Ati Vishisht Seva Medals to senior officers of the Armed.

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