Awards & Honours - Current Affairs for June, 2017

Former Indian hockey captain, Dhanraj Pillay would be conferred East Bengal football club’s highest honour - Bharat Gaurav - at its foundation day ceremony on 1 August 2017.

Pillay’s contribution to Indian hockey is immense and that the club is honoured and humbled that he has accepted their request and will be present for the Foundation Day.

Born on 16 July 1968, Pillay currently serves as the manager of the Indian national hockey team.

He is also a member of the ad hoc committee of Indian Hockey Federation, formed after the suspension of Kanwar Pal Singh Gill.

He is regarded as one of India’s best hockey players ever.

He has the distinction of representing India at four Olympics, World Cups, Champions Trophy and Asian Games in his career spanning over 15 years.

After his debut in 1989, he has made 339 appearances for the national team and scored 170 goals. He also played for clubs in countries such as Malaysia, France, England and Germany.

In an attempt to recognise his achievements, the government of India had awarded him the Padma Shri in 2000.

Besides Pillay, the East Bengal club has chosen former India footballers, Syed Nayeemuddin and Subhas Bhowmick, as well for the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the function.

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI), Pune has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of Yoga.

Established in 1975, Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has contributed significantly in spreading yoga across the globe.

The institute has published books on yoga and these have been translated into multiple languages. The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the screening committee, the government said in a statement.

On the occasion of the second International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh on June 21, 2016, PM Narendra Modi had announced the institution of awards for the promotion and development of yoga.

Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement.

The screening committee shortlisted 16 names from among the applications received, after detailed discussions and analysis of the contributions of the individuals and institutes, whose nominations were received.

In addition, the committee also recommended for consideration 15 names of eminent yoga individuals/ organizations who have long standing credibility in the field of promotion and development of yoga, but whose names did not figure in the applications received.

The jury chaired by the cabinet secretary, with the additional principal secretary to Prime Minister, the foreign secretary, secretary (AYUSH) and Dr. Veerendra Heggade as members, examined the recommendations of the screening committee, and also made its own analysis of the contributions made by the institutions and individuals shortlisted.

Qatar Airways on 20 June 2017 was announced the World’s Best Airline at the SKYTRAX 2017 World Airline Awards.

Qatar Airways was voted Best Airline by travellers across the world in the annual passenger survey.

The Doha based carrier has now won the prestigious Airline of the Year title for a fourth time.

Qatar Airways also won the World’s Best Business Class, the World’s Best First Class Lounge and the Best Airline in the Middle East awards.

On the other hand, AirAsia won awards for being the Best Low-Cost Airline in Asia for a month year in the row, and also as World’s Best Low-Cost Airline Premium Cabin 2017.

The World Airline Awards are most coveted Quality accolades for the airline industry. Travellers across the globe take part each year in the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the winner. Other awards that AirAsia won include world's best low cost airline. Air Astana won the best airline in Central Asia. The Bangkok Airways won the best regional airline in Asia. Indigo was awarded the best low-cost airline in central asia and India while Singapore Airlines won the best airline in Asia award.

The Bhupen Hazarika National Award, 2017 has been conferred upon the noted writer Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi.

This is the fifth edition of the award which was first conferred in 2012. The award has been instituted by Sarhad, a Maharashtra-based organisation.

The award honours an outstanding literary work at national and international level. The award consists of 51,000 rupees, a memento and a certificate.

Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi: Know More

• Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi belongs to the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. He graduated from Cotton College, Guwahati and did his MA from Guwahati University.
• In spite of having Sherdukpen as his mother tongue, Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi started writing his works in Assamese over which he has excellent command.
• So far, he has written about a dozen novels and numerous short stories and plays.
• His famous novel includes Mauna Onth Mukhar Hriday (Silent lips, murmuring hearts) which won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2005.
• Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi joined the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service in 1977 and was elevated to the IAS in 1992. He is the founder and president of Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society.

Haraprasad DasLegendary Odiya poet, essayist and columnist Haraprasad Das was conferred with the covetous Kalinga Literary Award on June 11 for his work and contribution to literature at the fourth edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF).

Das had also received the prestigious Moortidevi Award in 2013 for his book ‘Vamsha’ - a recreation of Mahabharata in the new idiom of contemporary poetry.

He has published various genres to his credit, which include two works on development. The 71-year-old has 12 works of poetry, four of prose, three translations and ‘Adhunikatara Samakala’ ( a work of fiction) to his credit.

A versatile artiste, Das is also known for acting in movies like Agun and Sampati, which were released in the late 1990s.

Haraprasad Das retired from civil services after more than four decades of experience.

KLF: Know More

• Focusing on literature for peace and harmony, the three-day KLF was inaugurated on June 10 by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, an eminent poet and Padma Vibhusan awardee Sitakant Mahapatra and renowned poet Ramakanta Rath.
• This year, the KLF introduced two new awards - the Kalinga International Literary Award, which was received by Anand Neelakantan for his contribution towards literature, and the Kalinga Karubaki Award, which was given to Paramita Satpathy for her contribution to Odia poetry.
• On the first day of the KLF, 10 books were released and eminent poets recited their poems.

Indian shooters Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu have clinched the gold medal in mixed team 10m air pistol event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup held at Gabala, Azerbaijan.

However, they narrowly missed out making to the finals of the individual men’s and women’s 10m air pistol event.

While Jitu Rai finished 12th, Heena Sidhu finished 9th in their respective qualification rounds. Only top 8 are eligible to compete in the finals.

Significantly, mixed team events have been approved as medal events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

This win is the Indian pair’s second World Cup gold together.

A total of 430 athletes from 45 nations are participating in the Gabala World Cup to qualify for the ISSF World Cup Finals (WCF).

The event will be the last chance for Rifle and Pistol shooters to qualify as only eight best shooters of the world in each Olympic discipline along with reigning Olympic and World Championship medalists and wild-cards will be able to compete in the WCF.

China presently leads the medal tally at Gabala.

Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, 82, has been selected for the highest French civilian honour, the Legion d’Honneur.

The award will be presented to the Kolkata-based actor by the French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler.

However, Chatterjee rejected any comparisons between him and legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who received the award 30 years ago.

The actor first worked with Ray in Apur Sansar in 1959.

He had also worked in Ray’s Abhijan (1962), Charulata (1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (1969), Ashani Sanket (1973), Sonar Kella (1974), Joi Baba Felunath (1978), Ghare Baire (1984) and Ganashatru (1989).

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted congratulating the actor. People from the

Soumitra Chatterjee: Know More

• Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an Indian Bengali film and stage actor and poet.
• He is best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray,
• Spouse: Deepa Chatterjee
• Major Awards: Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Bhushan, Legion d'Honneur

Popular writer Anand Neelakantan, Odia poet Haraprasad Das and author Paramita Satpathy were on 6 June 2017 announced as the winners of the Kalinga Literary Awards.

Neelakantan was selected for the Kalinga International Literary Award, Haraprasad Das was chosen for the Kalinga Literary Youth Award and Satpathy was honoured with the Kalinga Karubaki Award.

They will receive the award during the Kalinga Literary Festival 2017 which will be held from 10 June to 12 June 2017.

Kalinga Literary Awards 2017: Know More

• This will be the fourth edition of Kalinga Literary Festival that will be inaugurated by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
• Around 200 celebrities from the world of literature, cinema, media and politics will be present at the Kalinga Literary Festival in Bhubaneswar to deliberate on the theme ‘Literature for Peace and Harmony’

Bhandarkar, known for his path-breaking films was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India last year.

The filmmaker already has the National Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Director for Page 3 and Traffic Signal respectively.

Now, the ace director is being conferred with the Bharat Gaurav Award on June 9 at the United Nations Hall, New York.

Madhur Bhandarkar who started his career with Trishakti later on directed several critically acclaimed and commercially successful films.

The 48 year old will be conferred with Bharat Gaurav Award along with spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Late Kalpana Chawla, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak (who is behind Shulabh Shauchalayas in the country), Acharya Lokesh Muni and few others prominent personalities on June 9, 2017.

Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his movies which reflect the reality of the world. His films like Page 3, Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, Satta and Fashion were critically acclaimed along with the novel Indu Sarkar. This Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer film is set in the period of emergency in India.

The Ministry of Rural Development has selected Vizianagaram as one among the 17 districts for MGNREGA annual award.

The award will be given to Vizianagaram for its effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act during the time period 2015-16.

The district programme coordinator and District Collector would be presented the award at the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan to be held in New Delhi.

The district has been chosen after the field verification carried out by the selection committee.

The district was known to have generated works for 3,61,668 households in 2015-16 and disbursed INR 483.42 crore as wages to the workers with an average wage of INR 106.

The works carried out under NREGA in the district include 5,000 farm ponds, 240 rain water harvesting structures, and 440 water shed works, and de-siltation of 3,427 minor irrigation tanks. Vizianagaram is a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.