Awards & Honours - Current Affairs for August, 2015

Rajendra Singh is also known as Waterman of India. He has contributed several decades of his life to defeat drought and empowering communities of Rajasthan through his organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh (India Youth Association).

Noted Indian agricultural scientist Dr Modadugu Vijay Gupta will receive the first Sunhak Peace Prize in South Korean Capital Seoul. He is a joint winner of the prize along with President of Kiribati Islands Anote Tong. Dr. Gupta was also recipient of the World Food Prize in 2005 for development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish farming.

Sunhak Peace Prize was founded by South Korean religious leader Dr Hak Ja Han Moon to recognise eminent individuals who contributed to peace and development of the world. Billed next only to the Nobel Prize in terms of money being awarded to individuals, the Sunhak Peace Prize will be given annually from this year.

Over the last two years, she has trained about 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately a third of them women, in print and TV journalism, and has helped establish many of the new emerging independent newspapers and magazines in the war torn country. Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organization that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition.

In France, 3 Americans and a Briton who foiled a suspected terror attack on a train have received France's top honour from President Francois Hollande. Mr Hollande presented Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman with the Legion d'honneur at the Elysee Palace on 24th Aug’15.

Vijay Singh Thakur is India’s high Commissioner to Singapore. Mr Modi was given the award in December 2014 for putting focus on India's development and getting the world "excited" about the prospects of the country again.

Babasaheb Purandare is a well-known writer and theatre personality from Maharashtra, known for his ballads and writing on Maratha warrior Shivaji.

Irfan Khan was awarded for best actor award for his performance in "Piku" film.

She won the best actress award for acting in a ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ movie.

The programme was organised at the National Gallery of Victoria attended by various personalities including Australian High Commissioner to India Patrick Suckling, Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri, Consul General Manika Jain, Anil kapoor, Bhumi Padnekar, Simi Grewal, Sonam Kapoor,film director Shojit Sircar.

Apart from Punjab, Gujarat is the second state which has got A+ Rating. Union Minister of State for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal has formally announced the award of the rating to the PSPCL.

Sania is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top award. Paes had been bestowed the honour way back in 1996 after his bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics. The Hyderabadi girl had won the Arjuna award in 2004. In 2006, she was bestowed the Padma Shri the country's fourth highest civilian honour.

Gadagkar is a professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He is also the president of the Indian National Science Academy and has published more than 270 research papers and two books.

Nasriya Naseem won the best actress award for her performance in the films 'Om Shanthi Hosana' and 'Bangalore Days' while Shreya Ghoshaal was adjudged the best female playback singer. Anna Fathima was adjudged the best child actress award.

The inmate is the only gold medalist from Varanasi region of IGNOU, which covers 20 districts. Ajeet Kumar Saroj, a culpable homicide convict was on 8th Aug’15 escorted to the Banaras Hindu University where he was awarded his diploma at the 28th convocation of IGNOU. Ajeet, is serving a 10-year imprisonment. He was lodged in jail in February 2012 and has pursued four certificate courses from IGNOU before pursuing the Diploma in Tourism Studies.

He has been recognised for outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic K-theory, algebraic cycles and the theory of motives. The prize is awarded jointly by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the International Mathematical Union (IMU) to a person under 45 working in a developing country.

The award is given by UP Hindi Sansthan every year. It carries a cash prize of 5 lakh rupees. He is best known for his most famous novel Kashi ka Assi, which captures the vibrant hues of Banaras.

In a statement issued in Chennai, Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has said the annual “Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award” consisting 8 gram gold, Rs 5 Lakh cash and a citation would be given from this year onward on every Independence Day to a person from the state who works with exceptional merit in science, humanities and students welfare. She has also announced that Dr Kalam’s birthday on October 15th would be celebrated as the “Youth Revival Day”.