Awards & Honours - Current Affairs for August, 2016

Eminent Dogri author Padma Sachdev won the Saraswati Samman 2015 for her autobiography Chitt-Chete.

• The 76 year old poet and novelist’s work was shortlisted from 22 written works
• She is the first modern woman poet of Dogri language and has also won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1971
• She received the Padma Shri and the Kabir Samman as well
• She has 60 books to her credit
• Award called Saraswati Samman is among the highest literary honours in India
• Instituted by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, it was named after Goddess Saraswati who expounded learning
• The inaugural award was given to Harivanshrai 'Bachchan' for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.

On National Sports Day (August 29 2016) Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society has been bestowed with National Sports Award Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraksar for Sports for Development by Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports.

• The society organises the famous Subroto Club Football Tournament and over the past 6 decades, has made considerable contribution towards the development if sports in the country
• The Subroto Cup was named after IAF’s first Chief of Staff, Late Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee OBE
• Conducted by the IAF, it his the largest football tournament for school children with 35000 national and international groups participating
• The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee also awarded the prestigious Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award to Shri Harbhajan Singh, IG, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in recognition of his life time contribution in the field of mountaineering here today. Shri Harbhajan
• Singh is 12th Himveer of the ITBP to be awarded with this respected adventure honour. He was part of 3 successful Mt. Everest Expeditions of ITBP. He also led 16 Indian and International level expeditions and has climbed and unfurled National Flag on different mountain peaks, to become one of the accomplished mountaineer of the Country.
• He is also a Padma Shri awardee and winner of the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service and President Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) has conferred him permanent membership for his remarkable contribution in the field of Mountaineering and adventure sports.

Thai golfer Thongchai Jadiee on 25th August 2016 was voted as the Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Month for July 2016

• He wins the award ahead of Chinese Taipei sensation Chan Shi-chang and Carlos Pigem of Spain
• The players were nominated by a selection panel before going into the voting process
• Thai professional golfer Jaidee plays on the Asian and European Tour
• On the Asian tour, he has the record for the most career earnings and is second in victories having won a record 13 times
• He was also the winner of Order of Merit on the Asian tour three times in his career
• In February 2004, he became the first Thai to win a tournament on the European tour by winning the Carlsberg Malaysian Open
• In 2006, he received a special invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and the second Thai to play in the Masters after Sukree Onsham
• He was also the first Thai to play 4 major championships
• He topped the Asian Tour order of Merit for the third time in 2009
• He won for the fifth time on the European Tour in June 2012 at the ISPS Handa Wales Open
• He qualified for the 2015 Presidents Cup squad for the first time
• He thus became the first Thai player to win this honour
• In September 2015, he won his seventh European Tour title at the Porsche European Open in Germany. He claimed his eighth European Tour victory in July 2016, with a four stroke victory at the Open de France.

Indian aerospace scientist G. Satheesh Reddy on 25th August 2016 won the first IEI-IEEE award for engineering excellence in 2015.

• Award is a recognition of Reddy’s significant national contributions towards missiles and aerospace technologies
• Award was presented by the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Asia Pacific region
• It was presented during the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Asia Pacific region
• It was presented during the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Reddy is a renowned aerospace and navigation scientist
• He is currently working as scientific adviser to Raksha Mantri and DG Missiles and Strategic Systems
• He is credited with the development of the Medium Range Surface to Air weapon system.
• He also developed India’s first guided bomb
• He was also the first from India to be a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London
• He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society
• Apart from his he is a foreign member of the Academy of Navigation and Motion Control Russia
• He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and a honorary fellow of the Computer Society of India

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the UEFA award as the best player in Europe last season after helping Portugal to win the European Championship.
Ronaldo has won another stellar campaign for Real Madrid.

• He was a favourite for the fourth world player of the year award
• He beat club teammate Gareth Bale of Wales and French Atletico Madrid star Antoine Greizmann
• Vote by journalists from UEFA’s 55 member countries was announced at the Champions League draw Thursday
• Ronaldo also received the award in 2014
• Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Franck Ribary previously won the award
• This award was conceived in 2011
• UEFA created the prize after the original European footballer of the year honour, known as the Ballon d’Or merged with FIFA world player award
• Lyon forward Ada Hegeberg won the women’s award

GPS enabled mobile app of the Telangana Aaroyasri Healthcare Trust bagged FICCI’s healthcare excellence award.

• This is the second award for the app.
• It has also won the Elite Smart Healthcare Conclave award for being the most important mobile app in the nation
• Mobile app was launched by Laxma Reddy in June 2016
• It was made by the project monitoring unit of the Trust that enables any patient to locate the network hospital within 10 km radius through a map
• It will also show the nearest routes to hospitals networked under Healthcare Trust
• This has been helpful during emergencies and road accidents
• App provides complete information pertaining to specialities available in each hospital district wise, phone numbers of the network hospitals, mail ids etc.

The awardees constituted the following:

• Dr P.S. Bhandari, Chief Veterinary Officer, Department of Animal Husbandry, Champawat, Uttarakhand was honoured for registration of Badri cattle of Uttarakhand;
• Dr S. Jeyakumar, Senior Scientist along with 7 others form ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair was awarded for Teressa goat of Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
• Dr T.J. Harikrishnan and Dr T. Ravimurugan were awarded for Kodi Adu goat and Chevaadu sheep of Tamil Nadu respectively;
• Dr Susanta Kumar Dash, Professor, OUAT, Bhubaneswar for Kendrapada sheep of Odisha
• Dr (Ms) M. Catherine Rutsa, Assistant Professor, Nagaland University for Tenyi Vo pig of Nagaland.
• Dr S. Jeyakumar, Senior Scientist along with 8 others were awarded for Nicobari pig of A&N Islands.
• Dr Galib Uz Zaman and Dr Subimal Laskar, Professor, AAU, Khanapara for Doom pig of Assam
• Dr Th. Ranadhir Singh from CAU Imphal, Dr P.K. Vij and Dr M.S. Tantia from ICAR-NBAGR Karnal for Kaunayen chicken of Manipur
• There was approved registration of nine new breeds of livestock and poultry.
• This includes one breed of cattle, two breeds each of goat and sheep, three breeds of pig, and one breed of chicken.
• After including these newly registered breeds, total number of indigenous breeds now in the country is 160, which include 40 for cattle, 13 for buffalo, 26 for goat, 42 for sheep, 6 for horses & ponies, 9 for camel, 6 for pig, 1 for donkey and 17 for chicken.

• Badri cattle: These are indigenous cattle available in hilly areas of Uttarakhand. Badri cattle are small in size having long legs and varied body colours. Estimated population is approximately 16 lakhs.
• Teressa Goat: It is an indigenous goat breed maintained by Nicobari tribal farmers of Nicobar group of islands.
• Kodi Adu Goat: Kodi Adu goats are native to Thoothukudi & Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu. Estimated population is about 1,58,200.
• Kendrapada sheep: Breeding tract of Kendrapada sheep comprises of six coastal districts of Odisha viz. Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur, Cuttack, Puri, Jajpur and Bhadrak . These sheep are mostly brown in colour. Estimated population is about 1,23,000.
• Tenyi Vo pig: These are indigenous pigs reared in Nagaland mainly for pork production. Approximate population is about 60,000-70,000.
• Nicobari pig: Nicobari pigs are indigenous pigs of Nicobar Islands and are reared by Nicobari tribes since ancient times. Estimated population is 35,000.
• Doom pig: Doom pigs are distributed in Dhubri, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts of Assam state. Estimated population is about 3,000.
• Kaunayen chicken: Its breeding tract consists of Thoubal, Imphal West, Imphal East and Bishnupur districts in the valley region. Some birds are also available in hill region consisting of Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong districts.Estimated population is approximately 60,000-80,000.

Following the close of the Olympic Games in Rio, the Indian government on 22nd August conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna on Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik. Ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar and shooter Jitu Rai were also conferred with the honour.

• This marks the first time the nation’s highest sporting award has been conferred
• Karmakar’s coach Bishweshwar Nandi has been selected for the Dronacharya award along with Nagapuri Ramesh (athletics), Sagar Mal Dhayal (Boxing), Raj Kumar Sharma (Cricket) S. Pradeep Skumar (swimming) and Mahabir Singh (wrestling).
• 15 sportspersons will be honoured with the Arjuna award and three with the Dhyan Chand Award.
• Besides the Punjabi University of Patiala will be awarded the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Trophy.
• The Selection committee for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award was Justice SK Agarwal (retd. Delhi HC Judge).
• Selection committee for the Dronacharya Award and Dhyan Chand Award was headed by MC Mary Kom

• P.V. Sindhu (Badminton)
• Sakshi Malik(Wrestling)
• Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics)
• Jitu Rai (Shooting)

• Nagapuri Ramesh - Athletics
• Sagar Mal Dhayal - Boxing
• Raj Kumar Sharma - Cricket
• Bishweshwar Nandi - Gymnastics
• S. Pradeep Kumar - Swimming (lifetime)
• Mahabir Singh - Wrestling (lifetime)

• Rajat Chauhan (Archery)
• Lalita Babar (Athletics)
• Sourav Kothari (Billiards and Snooker)
• Shiva Thapa (Boxing)
• Ajinkya Rahane (Cricket)
• Rani (Hockey)
• Subrata Paul (Football)
• V R Raghunath (Hockey)
• Gurpreet Singh (Shooting)
• Apurvi Chandela (Shooting)
• Soumyajit Ghosh (Table Tennis)
• Vinesh Poghat (Wrestling)
• Amit Kumar (Wrestling)
• Sandeep Singh Mann (Para-Athletics)
• Virender Singh (Wrestling)

• Satti Geetha (Athletics)
• Sylvanus Dung Dung (Hockey)
• Rajendra Pralhad Shelke (Rowing)

Kamal Haasan has been selected for the Chevalier de L’Odre Arts et Lettres (Knight in the National Order Arts and Letters) as announced by the French Minister of Culture and Communication in August 2016.

• Distinction is awarded to those with artistic excellence and distinguished career achievements.
• Haasan is the second Tamil star after Sivaji Ganesan to be honoured with this award.
• He is a noted Indian film actor, director and screenwriter.
• He has won several Indian film awards like National Film awards and Filmfare awards.
• He has starred in highest number of films submitted by India for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film Category.
• Breakthrough as a lead actor game in 1975 and won his first national film award for portrayal of guileless schoolteacher caring for childlike amnesiac in Moondram Pirai.
• He is also a Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee.
• Meanwhile, noted Hindu writer Sunita Jain on 17th August was awarded the 25th Vyas Samman 2015 for her poetry collection Kshama
• She received the award from the West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi.
• Kshama portrays fine emotions between noted poet Tulsidas and wide Ratnavalli.
• Award was instituted by KK Birla foundation and carries cash prize of INR 2.5 lakhs.
• Sunita Jain writers in Hindi and English and has over 100 books to her credit
• She began writing at 22 and her writing in English include A Girl of Her Age and two short-story anthologies A Woman is Dead and Eunuch of Time and Other Stories.
• She is also a Padma Shri awardee and former IIT professor.

Indian football team goalkeeper Subrata Paul has been honoured with the Arjuna award.

• Paul has been nicknamed Spiderman for his acrobatic saves during the 2011 AFC ASIAN Cup.
• He has represented India for over a decade.
• Paul has also captained the team in several matches.
• Award will motivate him to do better, according to him; this is one of the highest awards for sportspersons in the country.
• Over the years Paul has won the AFC challenge Cup
• He also led the team in three editions of the Nehru Cup and the 2016 SAFF Suzuki Cup.
• He is the 24th footballer to have won the award.
• The previous footballer to win the Arjuna award was Sunil Chettri in 2011.

Chinese President Xi Jingping on 21st August bestowed special honours on a PLA battalion posted in Tibet close to AP for outstanding performance in safeguarding borders.

• XI who heads the Central Military Commission an overall command authority of the PLA has signed orders to give honorary titles.
• "Troop 77656 is now titled as a "model plateau battalion" for its outstanding performance+ in safeguarding borders, ensuring stability and helping disaster relief,” according to an official statement.
• Close to six battalions are functioning under the Tibet Military Area Command.
• The Line of Actual Control covers a border of 3488 km.
• China says boundary despite is confined to 2000 km mainly in Arunachal Pradesh in eastern sector which it claims is part of the Southern Tibet.
• India holds that the dispute covered the whole of LAC including Aksai Chin occupied by China during the 1962 war.
• Both sides formed numerous mechanisms at levels of field commanders and HQ to defuse tensions arising out of aggressive patrolling of the disputed border
• India and China have held 19 rounds of Special Representatives talks to resolve the border dispute.
• Xi also honoured Submarine 372 whose crew saved it from a major disaster while on a patrol mission in 2014.

The Sursagar Society of Dilli Gharana in August 2016 announced it will confer the annual Sangeet Martand Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award on saunter maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

• Society has been felicitating stalwarts of Indian classical music and dance with the award since 1986
• The award is for recognising contribution towards enriching art forms.
• In 2015, the honour was conferred upon Kathak dance artist Pandit Birju Maharaj.
• Other recipients of the award include Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Abdul Halleem Jaffar kKhan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan.
• Award carries a prize of INR 50,000 and a memento and citation.
• Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is an Indian santoor player
• Santoor is the folk instrument of hill state of Jammu & Kashmir.
• Sharma was born in Jammu on 13th January 1938.
• He is credited with making the Santoor a popular classical instrument.
• He also composed background music for several films like Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje.
• In the year 1967, he teamed up with flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia and Nirj Bhushan Kabra to produce a concert album called Call of the Valley that turned out to be one of the greatest hits in Indian classical music scene.

Noted music composer AR Rahman was on 15th August 2016 conferred the Tamil Ratna award.

• The award is presented by NY based Tamil Sangam and was bestowed on the musician after his concert at the UNGA chamber.
• Rahman was invited at UNGA to perform a concert to honour MS Subbulakhsmi , the well known Carnatic musical legend
• The previous recipients of the Tamil Ratna include Bharathi Raja, Srinavasa Varadhan and Kamala Lakshman
• Rahman has combined Eastern classical music with electronic and world music for which he is also called the Mozart of Madras
• He was in 2009 named as one of Time’s most influential people.
• IN 2009, he won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the BAFTA awards for Best Film Music
• He also won two Academy awards (Best Original Score and Best Original Song) at the 81st Academy Awards that year
• Rahman has also won two Grammy Awards- Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Song Written for Visual Media
• He also won a Golden Globe, BAFTA and 2 academy award nominations in 2011 for his work in 127 Hours

CLRI/ Central Leather Research Institute Principle Scientist P Shanmugan on 15th August 2016 won the APJ Abdul Kalam award for meritorious services in Tamil Nadu’s Higher Education Department.

• State government bestowed the Kalpana Chawla award for Courage and Daring Enterprise to Jayanthi from Namakkal district.
• CM’s Best Practices Award was presented to Thanjavur District Collector N Subbaiyyan and Superintended of Police Mayivahanan.
• Tamil Nadu Rural Development Minister S P Velumani and Principal Secretary of Rural Development Hansraj Verma received the award for solid waste management in rural areas.
• State Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar and Revenue Department, Prinicipal Secretary B Chandramohan received the award in the field of online patta transfer.
• Dindigul Corporation received the Best Corporation Award.
• Pattukottai Municipality received the Best Municipality First Prize while Perambalur Municipality bagged the second prize.
• The Chief Minister's State Youth Award was conferred on K Masha Nazeem in women's category while in Men's category, P Ruban Santhosh bagged the award.

67 personnel have been awarded Fire Service Medals on the occasion of Independence Day
President’s Fire Service Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to 4 personnel. Fire Service Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to 4 personnel, President’s Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service to 10 personnel and Fire Service Medal for Meritorious Service to 49 personnel.

• 59 personnel have been awarded Home Guard and Civil Defence Medals on Independence Day in 2016.
• President’s Home Guard and Civil Defence Medal for Gallantry have been awarded to 4 personnel, Home Guard and Civil Defence Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to 1 personnel, President’s Home Guard and Civil Defence Medal For Distinguished Service to 4 personnel and Home Guard and Civil Defence Medal for Meritorious Service to 50 personnel
• 948 personnel have been awarded Police Medals on occasion of Independence Day.
• President’s Police Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to 7 personnel and Police Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to 170 personnel.
• President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service was conferred on 88 personnel and the Police Medal for Meritorious Service to 683 personnel.
• 19 personnel have been awarded the President’s Correctional Service Medal for Distinguished Service to 2 personnel and Correctional Service Medal for Meritorious Service to 17 personnel

President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces approved the following gallantry awards to armed forces personnel and members of the paramilitary forces.

• Ashok Chakra- 1
• Shaurya Chakra- 14
• Sena Medals - 63
• Nau Sena medals- 2
• Vayu Sena Medals- 2.

Corporal Gursevak Singh, Indian Air Force (Security) was deployed as Special Forces Operative at an IAF Garud Special Forces Unit since September 30, 2013.

• He was inducted for special operations at Air Force Station Pathankot as part of the Garud team on Jan 1, 2016 and lost his life fighting terrorists who attacked the base till he died.
• Due to this actions, the base remained safe from infiltration.
• For this act of exceptional gallantry, Corporal Gursevak Singh was awarded the Shaurya Chakra posthumously

Squadron leader B.K. Dubey was awarded the Vayu Sena for valour on field while battling terrorists on 2nd Jan 2016 despite injuries.

• He is the Commanding Officer of the Indian Air Force Special Forces Unit since May 2013
• Squadron Leader AS Tanwar was also awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry when he stayed on a flight despite fire in the engine of the Sukhoi 30 MKI squadron.

Lt.Cdr Vikash Kumar Narwal displayed utmost competence and complete disregard to safety by choosing to land a malfunctioning MiG-29-K aircraft instead of ejecting from it.

• Landing the aircraft safely at INS Hansa with structural damages onboard, the officer saved civilian lives on ground.
• The incident, which took place on 3rd August 2015 earned the officer a Nau Sena Medal for gallantry

President announced the Certificate of Honour to the following scholars in the disciplines of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Arabic and Persian:

Sanskrit

• R. Venkataraman
• VG Krishna
• JL Kamboj
• B Jha
• PC Shastri
• Grumped K Hedge
• ST Nagaraja
• Santan Mishra
• Shrishti Lakshmi Prasannanjaneya
• SLP Sarma
• L. Sharma
• B. Bhattacharya
• Ramnarayan Das
• R. Awash
• HR Sharma
• Janice Prasad Dwivedi
• Fernando Tola

Arabic

• Abdul Musabbir Bhuiya
• Sayad Asad Raza Hussaini
• Bard-E-Jamal Islahi

• Syed Ghulam Mehdi Raz
• Chowdhry Wahhaj Ahmad Ashraf
• H. Rehman Qabli

• Bela Bhattacharya

• Damodar Shastri

Telangana state has received the highest number of gallantry medals for police personnel in the nation on the eve of Independence Day.

It was the only State Unit to secure President’s Police medal for gallantry.
• Other units to receive the award were Central Reserve Police Force, ITBP and IB
• Sub Inspector Duddekula Siddaiah and Constable Chougoni Nagaraju included the list of awardees.
• Telangana also got the President’s Police Medal for distinguished service to Fire Services DG Rajiv Ratan.
• Police Medal for meritorious service was announced for 11 police personnel.
• 24 more police medal were awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry including DIGs T. Prabhakar Rao and Rajesh Kumar.
• Other awardees included Additional Superintendent of Police Mutakoduru Chandra Shekar, Inspectors Kaitha Ravinder Reddy, Annareddy Chinna Bala Gangi Reddy, Ch. R.V. Phaneendar, and Vemula Bhaskar; Deputy Superintendent of Police Mada Dayananda Reddy, Head Constables Syed Abdul Kareem, Mohd. Mujeeb, and Syed Sarwar Pasha; Constables Md. Taj Pasha, S. Rajavardhan Reddy, Md. Musharaf Baba, N. Anil Kumar, Vemdadi Ramesh, Konatham Madhusudhan, Thodeti Shiva Koteshwar Rao, Muthineni Srinu , Janaki Ram, Golanakonda Narender, and Md. Quadeer; Reserve Sub-Inspector Gangani Satyanarayana, and Assistant Sub-Inspector Soni Lal Amrit.

31 CBI officers have been awarded the President’s Police Medal and Police Medal on Independence Day with 2 IPS officers in the list.

• They were officers involved in probe of Agusta Helicopter scam besides securing successful prosecution of former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chauthal.
• 
  List of awardees include:
  
• Ashwani Kumar Chand (IPS Officer 2000 Batch Sikkim cadre)
• Navjyoti Gogol (IPS Officer 200 Batch Rajasthan cadre)
• Atul Hajela (DSP in ACB)
• Harish Chandra Sharma (SP Jodhpur)
• Vijay Kumar Shukla (DSP Special Crime Unit Agency)
• Ramesh Chand (Head Constable, HP)
• Sanjay Kumar Dhal (DSEP, STF, CBI)
• S. Balasubramony (ASP)
• Krishnaswamy Kumaresan (Inspector)
• Rawat Singh (ASI)
• Samir Kumar Karmakar (Constable)
• Sub hash Ramrup Singh (ASP)
• Nagesh Murlidhar Parab(DSP)
• Neeraj Agarwal (DSP)
• Surender Singh (DSP)
• Loverson Kuruvila (DSP)
• Maharishi Ray Hajong (DSP)
• Arvin Dadaji More (Inspector)
• Tej Prakash (Inspector)
• Detrain Sanjay Sharma (Inspector)
• Subhash Chander (Inspector)
• Kuljeet Singh (Inspector)
• Sandeep Kumar Sharma (Constable)
• Satnarain (Constable)
• Bani Singh (constable)
• Devashish Bose (steno Grade II)

Havildar Hangpan Dada killed 4 terrorists before laying down his life at the height of 13,000 feet in the harsh and icy Himalayan range of North Kashmir, that won him the Ashok Chakra.

• He was honoured posthumously with the highest award to an army man during peace time operations on the eve of the Independence Day.
• Dada laid down his life for India on May 27, 2016 and hailed from Arunachal Pradesh.
• He was popularly known as Dada among his team members.
• He was enrolled in Assam Regiment of the Army in 1997 and posted with the 35 Rashtriya Rifles, force carved for counter insurgency operations.

Lt. Col Niranjan EK, head of the NSG bomb disposal unit was killed while neutralising a dead terrorist during the Pathankot based terror attack in January 2016 has been honoured with the third highest peacetime gallantry medal of the country, Shaurya Chakra.

• Niranjan was a officer of the Army’s Corps of Engineer was part of the special NSG commandos unit.
• He was a senior counter IED officer and suffered a lung collapse due to a bomb detonation on the dead terrorist’s body; for this act of valour, he was awarded Shaurya Chakra.
• He had vast experience in anti sabotage and sanitisation checks on live bomb including IEDs.

Nijat Rahimov, from Kazakhstan has broken the world record to win the gold medal of the men’s 77 kg weightlifting class on 10th August 2016

• Lu Xiaojun of China took the silver and Mohamed Ihab of Egypt claimed the bronze.
• Rahimov won by lifting 214 kg and formerly represented Azerbaijan
• He won gold for Azerbaijan at the 2010 Summer Olympics and gold at the 2010 European Junior Weightlifting Championship
• He was served a doping ban between 2013 and 2015
• He won gold for Kazakhstan setting a world record in clean and jerk
• Another gold medal winner from Kazakhstan was Dmitriy Balandin who on 10 August 2016 won gold medal in the men's 200-meter breaststroke final. It is Balandin’s first Olympic medal.
• He won the second gold medal for the country in the 2016 Olympics and the first ever medal for the nation in a swimming event
• Currently, he holds two Kazakh records in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke.
• He set a historic milestone for his nation by striking the breaststroke triple at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Eminent Carnatic vocalist MS Subbulakshmi will be honoured at the UN on India’s 70th Independence Day through a tribute and performance by Oscar winning composer AR Rahman at the UNGA

• Commemoration to mark the legendary vocalist’s birth centenary also includes a photo exhibition at the UN HQ by India’s Permanent Mission apart from a cultural extravaganza to coincide with the Independence Day of the company
• Rahman will be the second Indian artist after Subbulakshmi to perform at the UN after she was invited for a performance 5 decades ago
• Subbulakshmi is also the first musician to be awarded Bharat Ratna in India
• Indian mission is organising the concert coinciding with 50 years of Subbulakshmi’s performance at UNGA

West Bengal has been selected for the All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project Award 2015 marking the first time this state will be given the award

• It was selected by the 51st committee from the Indira Gandhi Krishi Bikash Kendra
• West Bengal also won the Krishi Kamran Puraskar for three consecutive years
• The state has been selected for the award for its achievement in four key areas that include scientific research for seeds.
• The state government has also bagged the award for the second position for participating in International Agriculture and Horticulture Expo.
• All India Coordinated Rice Improvement project was instituted by ICAR in 1965

Advisory committee of the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana award on 30th July 2016 selected Shubha Mudgal as its 23rd recipient.

• Mudgal will be awarded the honour for promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill.
• She is a a well known classical Hindustani music singer of Khayal, Thumri, Dadra and Indie Pop Music.
• She is also a National Award Winner and a Padma Shri awardee.

Kerala tourism has bagged six National Tourism Awards for 2014-2015 in the marketing category.

• It also received two more awards including for Responsible Tourism initiative in Wayanad.
• It received three of six awards for states in Tourism promotion and Publishing category.
• Sargaalaya Arts and Crafts Village at Iringal fetched the award for Kerala Tourism in rural tourism project category.
• Third award for Kerala tourism came for innovative use of information technology.
• Turtle on the Beach, Kovalam was judged best 5 star hotel while Coconut Lagoon won the Best Heritage hotel award and Coconut Creek Farm and Homestay was given the award for best B&B

Translator and artist Anita Gopalan was awarded the 2016 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants for English translation of Hindi novel Simsim by Geet Chaturvedi.

• Gopalan is the second Indian translator to be selected for the grant.
• Simsim was first published in 2008 and focuses on 4 central characters and a decaying library in prime Mumbai locales.
• Book contrasts old and traditional India with corporate greed and consumerism.
• Gopalan has graduated in computer science and maths from BITS Pilani and has worked in the banking sector for 14 years.

The Mohun Bagan Ratna was conferred on former India captain and later National coach Syed Niyammuddin who became the 16th recipient of the prestigious award.

• Nayeem who contributed as a player and coach received a citation of INR 1 lakh.
• Karuna Shankar Bhattacharya award for best footballer was shared by Sony Norde and Jeje Lalpehklua.