General Awareness

AWARDS AND HONOURS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jan 28, 2019

Gita Mehta Turns Down Padma Shri

Author Gita Mehta, named in the honours list for a Padma Shri, declined to accept India's fourth highest civilian award, saying the "timing of the award might be misconstrued" ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections.
Mehta, who is Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik's sister, was announced as an awardee for her work in literature and education.

Pak, Lanka & Maldives bag China's 'BRI Awards'

China has bestowed special awards on the envoys of Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka for their contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of which the controversial China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship project.
The ambassadors of Pakistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Malta, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in China were conferred with Silk Road Super Ambassador Awards in Beijing.
The BRI, which aims to build infrastructure projects with Chinese investments around the world, is modelled on the ancient silk route.

Jan 26, 2019

AAI Wins Best Performance Award

Airports Authority of India (AAI) was awarded the best performer among Central Public Sector Units based on electronic tendering through Central Public Procurement Portal of NIC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
IN Murthy, Member (Operations), AAI, received the award.

Chhetri among Padma winners

Sunil Chhetri, India's leading scorer in international football with 67 goals, was among the eight sportspersons to be honoured with Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.
Bachendri Pal, first Indian woman to scale Mount Everest in 1984, was honoured with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award.
Among the other sportspersons to be named Padma Shri are: Harika Dronavalli (chess), Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Sharath Kamal (table tennis), L Bombayla Devi (archery), Bajrang Punia (wrestling), Prashanti Singh (basketball), Ajay Thakur (kabaddi).
Chhetri recently was India's top performer at the Asian Cup with two goals against Thailand in their first-ever win at the continental event in 54 years.
Gambhir, who retired in December last year, was the topscorer for India at the 2007 World T20 final as well as the 2011 World Cup final. On both occasions, India won the trophy.
Wrestler Bajrang is a silver medallist at the 2018 World Championships. He also won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Harika is a three-time medallist at the World Chess Championship. Sharath Kamal has been the star of Indian table tennis for the last two decades and has four Commonwealth Games gold medals along with two Asian Games bronze medals.
Archer Bombayla Devi has been a regular in the Indian Olympic contingent and has won team gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a team bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. She also has four World Cup gold in women's recurve team.

Bharat Ratna for Ex-Pres Pranab Mukherjee

The Narendra Modi government announced Bharat Ratnas to former President Pranab Mukherjee, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue the late Nanaji Deshmukh, and decorated singer the late Bhupen Hazarika — the first time in four years that India's highest civilian honour is being bestowed, and months ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The awards were announced by the President's office.
Mukherjee, 83, a Congressman for five decades before he became President (2012-2017), has held the key portfolios of finance, defence and foreign affairs.
Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh, a former Rajya Sabha member who died in 1990, was a social activist who worked in the fields of health care, education and rural affairs, and was a key organiser for the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, in the 1970s.
Hazarika, a singer, songwriter and film-maker, is from Assam and was regarded as one of the most prominent personalities from the north-east until his death in 2011.

Jan 25, 2019

First Kashmiri to Receive Highest Peacetime Honour

Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a surrendered militant who became a soldier, will be posthumously awarded India's highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, on Republic day for his courage during a fierce encounter in which six terrorists were killed in Kashmir last November.
President Ram Nath Kovind will present the award to Wani's wife, Mahajabeen Wani, at the 70^th Republic Day parade. Wani will be the first soldier from Kashmir to be awarded the Ashok Chakra.

Jan 23, 2019

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Presented Saraswati Samman for 2017

Gulzar presented the 27th Saraswati Samman awarded by the KK Birla Foundation for 2017 to Sitanshu Yashaschandra for his poetic work Vakhar, published in 2009.
Yashaschandra, a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award in 1987 and the Padma Shri in 2006, has authored 10 books of plays and three books of criticism. He was born in 1941 in Gujarat's Bhuj and has Ph.Ds in Gujarati and Sanskrit.
The award carries a citation, a plaque and a cash purse of ₹15 lakh and is conferred annually to an outstanding literary work by an Indian citizen for work published during the last 10 years in any language included in Schedule 8 of the Constitution.
The awardees are selected by a 13-member Chayan Parishad, or selection committee, which includes scholars and writers, under the chairmanship of Subhash C Kashyap, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha secretariat.
Past awardees include poet and writer Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Odia poet Ramakanta Rath and Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar, among others.

India-set short film on periods bags Oscars nomination

A film on menstruation, set in rural India, titled "Period. End of Sentence," has earned a nomination in the Documentary Short Subject category for the 91st Academy Awards.
Award-winning filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi has directed the short film, which has been produced by Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment.
The film came to being as a part of The Pad Project, started by students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton.
The documentary feature is set in Hapur village outside Delhi, where women lead a quiet revolution as they fight against the stigma of menstruation. For generations, these women did not have access to sanitary pads, which lead to health issues and girls dropping out from schools.
When a sanitary pad vending machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering their community. They name their brand "FLY"

Roma and The Favourite Receive 10 Nominations for 91st Academy Awards

Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite led with 10 nominations each for the 91st Academy Awards.
The Oscar night is slated for February 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles

KEY NOMINATIONS:

BEST FILM

Black Panther BlacKkKlansman Bohemian Rhapsody The Favourite Green Book Roma
A Star Is Born Vice

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale (Vice) Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate)

BEST ACTRESS

Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) Glenn Close (The Wife) Melissa McCarthy
(Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Olivia Colman (The Favourite) Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Vice) Marina de Tavira (Roma) Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) Emma Stone (The Favourite) Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Adam McKay (Vice) Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born) Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)

Jan 20, 2019

Rosa Parks Trailblazer Award

An Indian-American philanthropist and entrepreneur, Gurinder Singh Khalsa, has been presented with the prestigious Rosa Parks Trailblazer award for his campaign that forced US authorities to change their policy towards headgear of the Sikh community.
Indianapolis-based Khalsa, 45, was presented the award for his continued demonstration of courage and compassion. In 2007, Khalsa was refused access to board an airplane because of his turban.
Thereafter, Khalsa mobilised more than 67,000 people nationwide for petitions and took the issue all the way to the US Congress, which forced Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) to change its headgear policy towards the Sikh community.
As a result, Sikhs can now wear their turban through airport security in the US.

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