President Pranab Mukherjee Conferred Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards

President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards on 9 January
during the 12th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD). Peace activist Ela Gandhi, who
is a grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, was among the 13 non-resident Indians (NRIs),
persons of Indian origin (PIOs) and organizations honoured with the prestigious Pravasi
Bharatiya Samman Awards. Ela Gandhi was given the award for public service and for
enhancing Indias image and for promoting ties between India and South Africa. Lisa Maria
Singh is the first member of Australian Parliament of South Asian descent and has held
several ministerial portfolios in the past. She is a senator from Tasmania. Singh was given
the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman for public service and fostering friendly relations between
India and Australia. Ramkrishna Mission, serving in Fiji since 1937, was honoured for
community service and philanthropic activities and enhancing Indias prestige abroad.

Three Security Personnel Selected For Kirti Chakra Award

Three personnel of the armed forces have been selected for the year 2014 Kirti Chakra
award , the second highest peace time gallantry award, for their acts of bravery on the Line of
Control (LoC), anti-maoist operation and relief operation in flood-hit Uttarakhand,
respectively. The three are among 368 gallantry award winners this year including 10
Shaurya Chakra awardees.

Indian-American
Wins
Top
US
Teaching
Award
India-born Meera Chandrasekhar, professor of physics and astronomy and Curators Teaching
Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri, has on 18 January won Baylor
Universitys 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

Mohinder Singh , Radhakrishnan Selected For Communal Harmony Awards

National Communal Harmony Award for Mohinder Singh for his work done in restoring
peace after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and noted academician N Radhakrishnan for his
promotion of Gandhian values were announced on 25 January. Singh, along with Gandhian
Radhakrishnan of Kerala, have been selected for the coveted award in the individual category
while the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai has been selected in the
organisation category.
Sachin
Tendulkar
and
CNR
Rao
Received
Bharat
Ratna
Renowned scientist C.N.R. Rao and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar were on 4 February
conferred the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country for exceptional
contribution in any field of human endeavour.The award was presented by President Pranab
Mukherjee at a brief ceremony in the historic Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Malala
Nominated
For
Childrens
Nobel
Prize
Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai is among three persons nominated for an

award known as the Childrens Nobel Prize.Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for the
2014 Worlds Childrens Prize with John Wood from the US and Nepalese child rights worker
Indira Ranamagar.

VV Dongre and Guocheng Zhang Won International Gandhi Award 2013

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 15 February presented the International Gandhi
Award for the year 2013 to Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre (VV Dongre) and Prof.
Guocheng Zhang at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. They were awarded for making
outstanding contributions in the field of leprosy to eradicate the disease through treatment,
training and research.

Sikkim
Won
National
Tourism
Award
2012-13
Sikkim has been declared as best state in the country in implementation of Rural Tourism
Projects by Ministry of Tourism Govt of India .Union Minister for Human Resource
Development Dr. Shashi Tharoor,presented the National Tourism Award 2012-13 to Sikkim
tourism minister Sh Bhim Dhungel in a function at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 18
February.
86th
Annual
Academy
Oscar
Awards
2014
The 86th Annual Academy Oscar Awards 2014, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the actors, technical achievements, and films of 2013
and took place on 2 March 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
List
of
Winners
at
86th
annual
Academy
Awards
:Best
Picture
:12
Years
a
Slave.
Best
Actor
:Matthew
McConaughey,
Dallas
Buyers
Club.
Best
Actress
:Cate
Blanchett,
Blue
Jasmine.
Best
Supporting
Actor
:Jared
Leto,
Dallas
Buyers
Club.
Best
Supporting
Actress
:Lupita
Nyongo,
12
Years
a
Slave.
Best
Directing
:Alfonso
Cuaron,
Gravity.
Best
Foreign
Language
Film
:The
Great
Beauty,
Italy.
Best
Adapted
Screenplay
:John
Ridley,
12
Years
a
Slave.
Best
Original
Screenplay
:Spike
Jonze,
Her.
Best
Animated
Feature
Film
:Frozen.
Production
Design
:The
Great
Gatsby.
Best
Cinematography
:Gravity.
Best
Sound
Mixing
:Gravity.
Best
Sound
Editing
:Gravity.
Best
Original
Score
:Gravity,
Steven
Price.
Best
Original
Song
:Let
It
Go
from
Frozen.
Best
Costume
:The
Great
Gatsby.
Best
Makeup
and
Hairstyling
:Dallas
Buyers
Club.
Best
Animated
Short
Film
:Mr.
Hublot.
Best
Documentary
Feature
:20
Feet
from
Stardom.
Best Documentary (short subject) :- The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life.
Best
Film
Editing
:Gravity.

Best
Live
Action
Best Visual Effects :- Gravity.

Short

Film

:-

Helium.

Indian Author Pankaj Mishra Won Windham Campbell Literature Prize

Award-winning Indian author Pankaj Mishra is among eight writers from seven countries
who have won a $1,50,000 Yale University prize each in recognition of their literary
achievements.Essayist and novelist Mishra has been selected on 9 March for the prestigious
Windham Campbell Literature prize in the non-fiction category.

German Honours Three Indians with Cross of the Order of Merit

Germany has conferred three Indians with its Cross of the Order of Merit award for their
contribution in strengthening Indo-German relations over the past decades.The awards were
bestowed on Anand Singh Bawa, Kalyan Sachdev and Syed Hasnain by German Ambassador
Michael Steiner in New Delhi at a function on 11 March.

Tomas
Halik
Won
2014
Templeton
Prize
Tomas Halik, a Roman Catholic priest and philosopher, onetime Czech political activist and
an advocate for religious freedom and interfaith dialogue, won the 2014 Templeton Prize on
13 March for religious and spiritual progress.The prize, valued at about $1.8 million, is one
of the largest awards given annually to a single individual. Founded in 1972.
Veteran Film Lyricist and Director Gulzar Selected For Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2013
Veteran film lyricist, director, screen writer, producer and poet Gulzar has been conferred the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2013. He is the 45th Dada Saheb Phalke Award
Winner.The ministry of information and broadcasting announced on 12 April. The Dadsaheb
Phalke award is Indias highest award for an individual for their contribution towards Indian
cinema. It is annually given by the Government of India.He was born in 1934 in Punjab in
pre-independence India. Sampooran Singh Kalra was his original name and he took the pen
name of Gulzar Deenvi after becoming an author.

61st
National
Film
Awards
The 61st National Film Awards for 2013 was announced in New Delhi on 16 April by the
Directorate of Film Festivals. Ship of Theseus directed by Anand Gandhi has won the
Golden Lotus for Best Feature Film. The Best Actor award is shared between Shahid star
Rajkummar Rao and Malayalam actor Suraj Venjaramudu. Geetanjali Thapa won Best
Actress
for
Liars
Dice.
Following is
the listing
of Winners
for important Categories
:*
Best
Feature
Film

Ship
of Theseus
(Anand
Gandhi)
*
Best
Director

Hansal
Mehta
for

Shahid

* Best Actor Raj Kumar for Shahid in hindi and Suraj Venjaramoodu for
Perariyathavar

in
Malyalam
* Best Actress Geetanjali Thapa for Hindi film Liars Dice

* Best Non Feature Film Rangbhoomi (Hindi film by Kamal Swaroop)

* Best Film on Social Issues Tuhya Dharma Koncha (Marathi)
* Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration Thalaimuraigal
(Tamil)
* Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film Nagraj Manjule for Fandry (Marathi)
* Best Non Feature Film on Social Issues Gulabi Gang
* Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Bhaag Milka Bhaag
(Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra)

Indian-American Rajendra Singh Named White Houses Solar Champions Of Change

Indian-American professor Rajendra Singh was on 18 April named by the White House as the
Solar Champions of Change in recognition of his immense contribution towards developing
alternate source of energy and promoting solar deployment in residential, commercial and
industrial sectors.

Indian Activist Honoured with Goldman Environmental Prize 2014

Indian environment activist Ramesh Agrawal has on 28 April won the prestigious Goldman
Environmental Prize 2014 for helping villagers fight coal mining in Chhattisgarh and success
in shutting down one of the largest planned coal mines in the area.
Indian
Scientist
Ravinder
Dahiya
Won
British
Research
Fellowship
Ravinder Dahiya, an Indian scientist in Britain, has been granted a prestigious fellowship
worth 1,068,000 pounds (around $1.8 million) on 2 May by a top British agency that funds
research in engineering and the physical sciences.

Two Indian-American Chefs Won James Beard Food Awards 2014

Two Indian-origin chefs Vikram Sunderam and Vishwesh Bhatt have been conferred with the
prestigious James Beard Food Awards for 2014, considered as the Oscars of the US food and
beverage industry. Sunderam and Bhatt were awarded the Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic and
Best Chef in South respectively. The James Beard Food Awards, which were presented during
a ceremony at the Lincoln Centre at the James Beard Foundations annual awards ceremony
in New York on 5 May, are widely considered the top honours in American cooking.

Six Indo-Americans
Felicitated
with
Ellis
Island
Medal
of
Honor
Six Indian Americans have been felicitated on 10 May with the prestigious Ellis Island Medal
of Honor for the year 2014.The Ellis Island Medals of Honor by the National Ethnic
Coalition of Organization is given annually to US citizens who have distinguished themselves
within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life.
Among the recipients of the award are Yash Paul Soi , Narpat Bhandari , Samir Desai , Arun
Kumar Pramanik , Ketki Sharadkumar Shah , Abdul M Suleman, were also felicitated with
the prestigious award.

Winter Sleep Won Palme dOr Award At 67th Cannes Film Festival
Winter Sleep, a film by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, was honoured with Palme dOr
Award at the 67th Cannes Film Festival held in Cannes from 16 May to 25 May 2014.
Julianne Moore won the Best Actress prize for Maps to the Stars , while Turner star
Timothy Spall was named Best Actor.
RGIA
gets
ACI
award
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), operated and managed by GMR Group, has
become the first Indian airport to be awarded the ACI Director Generals Roll of Excellence
accolade. The award recognises the airports ranking among the worlds top three airports for
five consecutive years in the ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey.

IGI
Named
Worlds
Second
Best
Airport
For
Service
Quality
Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) of Delhi was ranked as second best airport in the
world in service quality among airports that handle 25 to 40 million passengers per annum
(MPPA). For this achievement, IGI received Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Award by Airport
Council International (ACI) in South Korea. IGI received the ASQ award for third time in
row. Apart from this, IGI was placed at sixth position among the best airport in the world
against fourth in 2013.

Indian-Origin Physicist Tejinder Virdee Awarded Honorary Knighthood

Indian-origin physicist Tejinder Virdee has been awarded with an honorary knighthood by
Queen Elizabeth II on 14 June. He was awarded for his work on the Higgs Boson theory.
Professor Virdee is one of the creators of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment.
The CMS experiment is a part of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva.

Noted Hindi Poet Kedar Nath Singh Selected For Jnanpith Award 2013
Noted Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh on 20 June 2014 was chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith
award for 2013. He is the 10th Hindi writer to receive the honour and joins the likes of
Sumitra Nandan Pant, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar among others. He will be the recipient of 49th
Jnanpith award.
Shah
Rukh
Khan
Received
Knight
Of
The
Legion
Of
Honor
Bollywood Actor Shah Rukh Khan was conferred with top French civilian award Knight of
the Legion of Honor (National Order of the Legion of Honour) on 1 July for his outstanding
contribution to cultural diversity across the world.

Indian Mathematician Named Joint Winner Of 2014 George Polya Prize

Nikhil Srivastava, a young Indian mathematician, on 10 July became the first joint winner of

the prestigious 2014 George Polya Prize for finding a solution to a problem that had
eluded mathematicians for more than half a century.

Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt Received Gandhi Peace Prize 2013

Eminent Gandhian and environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt on 15 July was awarded with
the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013. He was awarded by the President of India
Pranab Mukherjee at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

2014
Ramon
Magsaysay
Awards
Announced
The prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards for year 2014 were announced on 31 July and it
included six winners. Education is a big theme in this years awards, with two individuals
who have dedicated their lives to educating indigenous communities a Filipino and an
Indonesian and a Pakistani organization that builds schools for girls, among the 6 awardees.
The
2014
Awardees
are:i)
Saur
Marlina
Manurung
(Indonesia)
ii)
Randy
Halasan
(The
Philippines)
iii)
Hu
Shuli
(China)
iv)
Omara
Khan
Masoudi
(Afghanistan)
v)
Wang
Canfa
(China)
vi) The Citizen Foundation (Pakistan)

Jaitley, Karan Singh, Sharad Yadav Conferred with Outstanding Parliamentarian

Awards

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ( for 2010), Congress leader Karan Singh (2011) and JD(U)
President Sharad Yadav (2012) are conferred with Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards by
the President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 August in New Delhi. The awards were given for their
invaluable contribution in discharge of their parliamentary duties.

Indian-origin Professor Manjul Bhargava Won Nobel Prize of Maths

Two Indian-origin professors have won global prizes in the field of mathematics with one of
them being awarded the Fields Medal, known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics. Manjul
Bhargava won the Fields Medal while Subhash Khot won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize,
awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), at the International Congress of
Mathematicians 2014 held in Seoul on 13 August.

Army
Major
Mukund
Varadarajan
Honoured
with
Ashok
Chakra
Indias highest peacetime gallantry award Ashoka Chakra has been awarded posthumously
to Major Mukund Varadarajan of 44th Battalion of the Rastriya Rifles (22 Rajput). 55
gallantry awards (peacetime) were announced on the eve of 68th Independence Day on 14
August 2014. There have been one Ashoka Chakra, 12 Shaurya Chakras, 39 Sena Medal, one
Nao Sena Medal and two Vayu Sena Medal this year.

Pakistani Journalist Asma Shirazi Won 2014 Peter Mackler Award

Asma Shirazi, Pakistans first female war correspondent and host of popular TV talk shows,
was named 2014 Winner of Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism on
22 August. Shirazi is the second woman to win the award since its creation in 2008, after
Honduran radio news editor Karla Rivas won in 2011.
South
Africa-based
Organization
Awarded
The
Gandhi
Prize
A South Africa-based outfit involved in conflict resolution has been awarded the Mahatma
Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace for its efforts in promoting peace
and addressing disputes globally. Graca Machel, chairperson of The African Centre for
Constructive Resolution of Disputess (Accord) Board of Trustees and former First Lady
when her late husband Nelson Mandela was President, accepted the award on behalf of the
institution at the Annual Gandhi Awards Celebration, hosted by the Gandhi Development
Trust in Durban.

MS University Chancellor Mrunalinidevi Conferred with Best Manager Award

Dr Mrunalinidevi Puar, Chancellor of Maharaja Sayajirao University, has been conferred with
the Best Manager award by the Oxford Summit of Leaders (Science and Education) in UK
on 2 September.

Indian Scientist Kamal Bawa Won Midori Prize In Biodiversity 2014

Indian scientist Kamal Bawa, an eminent professor of biology at the University of
Massachusetts in Boston, has won the prestigious Midori Prize in Biodiversity 2014 for his
research that included climate change in the Himalayas.

Snowden
and
Rusbridger
Won
Swedens
Alternative
Nobel
Prize
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on 24
September won Right Livelihood Award. The award was shared between the two.The Right
Livelihood Award is also known as Alternative Nobel prize of Sweden.
Indian
American
Thomas
Won
US
National
Medal
of
Science
Thomas Kailath, a Pune educated Indian-American engineering professor at Stanford
University, is one of the recipients of the US National Medal of Science announced by
President Barack Obama on 3 October.

Nobel
Prize
Winners
2014
Announced
The Nobel Prize winners of 2014 in the different categories were announced in the month of
October 2014. Nobel Prizes are announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences every
year in the memory of Alfred Nobel.The categories were the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine, the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, The Sveriges Riksbank

Prize in Economic Sciences, The Nobel Literature Prize and The Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Prize Winners of 2014 in the different categories were as follows:* Physiology (or) Medicine :- U.S.-British scientist John OKeefe and Norwegian couple
May-Britt Moser, Edvard Moser won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the
inner Global Positioning System (GPS) that helps the brain navigate through the world.
* Physics :- Three Japanese-born researchers Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji
Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics. They were honoured for inventing efficient
blue Light-Emitting Diodes(LED) lamps that worked as a bright and energy-saving white
light sources.
* Chemistry :- American scientists Eric Betzig and William Moerner and Germanys Stefan
Hell won the 2014 Nobel prize for chemistry. The trio of Betzig, Moerner and Hell were
conferred for their contribution in the area of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy which
helped in bringing optical microscopy into the nano-dimension.
* Literature:- The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014 was awarded to French author Patrick
Modiano for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human
destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation. He is the 14th French writer to be
awarded the Nobel Prize in literature (one, Jean Paul-Sartre, declined to accept it).
* Peace :- Indian childrens rights activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani child education
activist Malala Yousafzai have been jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their
struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children
to education.
* Economics :- French economist Jean Tirole won the 2014 Economics Nobel Prize for his
analysis of market power and regulation.It was the second Nobel Prize for a French national
this year after author Patrick Modiano won the literature award.

Australian Author Richard Flanagan Won 2014 Man Booker Prize

Australian author Richard Flanagan was on 15 October awarded the 2014 Man Booker Prize
for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The novel narrates story of a
love and war during the construction of the Thailand Burma Death Railway in World War II.
Flanagan is the third Australian to win the prize after Thomas Keneally and Peter Carey.

Malala
Won
2014
Worlds
Children
Prize
Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan won the 2014 Worlds Children Prize on 29 October 2014 after
a global vote involving millions of children. She received the prize at a ceremony in
Mariestad near Stockholm. World Childrens prize was created in 2000 and is run by the
Worlds Childrens Prize Foundation (WCPF), based in Mariefred, Sweden.
Manmohan
Singh
Received
Japans
Top
National
Award
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was conferred with the Grand Cordon of
the Order of the Paulownia Flowers Award on 5 November. The Grand Cordon of the Order

of the Paulownia Flowers is perceived as the second highest civilian award of Japan after
Order of the Chrysanthemum. The award was presented to Manmohan Singh by Japanese
Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. He was given this award for his significant
contribution to the enhancement of relations and promotion of friendship between Japan and
India. He became the first Indian to receive this prestigious award.

West Bengals Darjeeling Zoo Selected For Earth Heroes Award 2014
The Darjeeling Zoo or the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park was on 1 November
selected for the prestigious International Award The Earth Heroes Award 2014. It has become
the first zoo in India. It has competed with 300 zoos across the world. Padmaja Naidu
Himalayan Zoological Park is largest high altitude zoo of India. It is located in West
Bengal.The Earth Heroes award is annually awarded by the Royal Bank of Scotland in
collaboration with the Government of United Kingdom.

Neha
Gupta
Received
International
Childrens
Peace
Prize
2014
Indian-American student Neha Gupta has won the 2014 International Childrens Peace Prize
Award for her exceptional work to raise money for underprivileged children around the
world. Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu the patron of the Dutch childrens rights
organization presented her with the award on 18 November in The Hague, Netherlands. She
is the first American to be awarded with this prize.

ISRO
selected
For
Indira
Gandhi
Prize
For
Peace

2014
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been selected for the Indira Gandhi Prize for
Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014 in recognition of its path-breaking
achievements including the Mars Orbiter Mission and contribution in strengthening
international cooperation in peaceful use of outer space. ISRO was selected for the award by
a jury chaired by Vice President Hamid Ansari on 19 November 2014.
Narendra Modi Named The Straits Times Asian Of The Year 2014
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on 5 December named Asian of the Year 2014
for being a development-focused leader by editors of Singapores leading daily, The Straits
Times. Last years award was shared by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinas
President Xi Jinping.

Time Magazine Named Ebola Fighters As Person of the Year 2014

The countless doctors, nurses and caregivers at the forefront of battling one of the worst ever
outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus, were on 10 December collectively named as Time
magazines 2014 Person of the Year. The Ebola fighters have been awarded for their
tireless acts of courage and mercy and for risking, persisting, sacrificing and saving.

Fidel
Castro
Awarded
Chinas
Confucius
Peace
Prize

2014
Cubas former leader Fidel Castro has been awarded the Confucius Peace Prize -2014,
Chinas alternative to the Nobel. He did not attend the Confucius Peace Prize award
ceremony on 9 December. A Cuban exchange student accepted the award on his behalf. The
Confucius Peace prize was established in 2009 as an eastern alternative to the Nobel Peace
Prize following the proposal of Chinese businessman Lui Zhiqin.

Atal Bihari Vajpee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya To Be Awarded Bharat Ratna
The Union Government on 24 December 2014 made announcement to award the Bharat
Ratna, countrys highest civilian honour to Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and
educationist and social reformer Madan Mohan Malviya(posthumously). The announcement
coincides with Vajpayees birthday on December 25 which the government has already
declared as Good Governance Day. Malviya is the 11th person to receive the award
posthumously, while Vajpayee is the sixth Prime Minister to receive the award. Till now 43
people have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna. Educationist Madan Mohan Malviya and
former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are the 44th and 45th distinguished personalities
who have been conferred with countrys highest civilian award. In 2013, cricketer Sachin
Tendulkar and scientist C N R Rao were awarded Bharat Ratna for their contribution in their
respective fields