Current Affairs January 2020 - Awards

1 - Piyuus Jaiswal honoured with Global Bihar Excellence Awards 2019

Piyuus Jaiswal was honoured with International Peace Excellence Humanitarian & International Bihar Excellence Awards 2019. Rajya Sabha MP and Padma Shri Awardee Dr CP Thakur and Bihar Women Commission president Dilmani Devi presented the award to Piyuus in Patna.

International Bihar Excellence Awards 2019 was given to Piyuus to felicitate his contribution towards social welfare, women empowerment and introducing new talent in the field of arts and culture. He has provided a platform to many women and new talent.

2 - Dr. N Kumar conferred with Harit Ratna Award 2019

Dr. N Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, was conferred with National Award for Agriculture sector namely “Harit Ratna Award 2019”. This award was organised by the All India Agricultural Students Association.

Dr. N Kumar was honored for dissemination of ₹30-crore entrepreneurship project in agri-business, for motivating youth to the agriculture sector in the State and his contribution to increase the impact of Fertigation, precision farming, ultra high density planting system for increasing farmers’ income.

3 - I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar conferred First Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar conferred the First Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas to 30 media organizations as a unique honour to media organizations that contributed to the spread of Yoga for the benefit of society.

The awards were given in the following three categories −

• Eleven Awards were conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Newspapers.

• Eight Awards were conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Television.

• Eleven Awards were conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Radio.

4 - India's Sucheta Satish won Global Child Prodigy Award in Dubai

Dubai-based Indian girl, Sucheta Satish, has won the 'Global Child Prodigy Awards 2020' for singing in most languages during one concert and the longest live singing concert by a child. She can sing in 120 languages.

The 100 Global Child Prodigy Award is supported by the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation and Oscar winning music director AR Rahman among others. The award celebrates the talent of children in different categories: dancing, music, arts, writing, acting, modelling, science, innovation, sports.

5 - Jasbinder Bilan bagged 2019 Costa Children’s Award

India-born author Jasbinder Bilan was honored with the Costa Children's Book Award, a coveted UK children's book award for her debut novel ‘Asha and the Spirit Bird’. “Asha and the Spirit Bird” was shortlisted among 144 other entries.

The Costa Book Awards are a set of annual literary awards honoring English-language books by writers based in Britain and Ireland. Awardees receive £5,000 under 5 categories namely novel, first novel, children's book, poetry and biography.

6 - Prof. M S Swaminathan presented with ‘Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu National Award’

Eminent Agricultural Scientist Dr. M S Swaminathan was presented the ‘MuppavarapuVenkaiah Naidu National Award for Excellence’ for his distinguished contribution to the field of agriculture. The Award instituted by the Muppavarapu Foundation carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakhs and a citation.

Mr. Swaminathan is regarded as the “Father of the Green Revolution in India and the Doyen of Agricultural Science”. TIME magazine had described him as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20^th century.

7 - Ishwar Sharma won ‘Global Child Prodigy Award’

A 10-year-old British Indian yoga champion Ishwar Sharma won Global Child Prodigy Award 2020 for achievements in spiritual discipline yoga. Yoga champion Ishwar Sharma belongs to south-eastern England’s Kent in United Kingdom. Ishwer was honored with Certificate of Achievement by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and Dr Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

Global Child Prodigy Award honors child prodigies from across 45 countries and 30 different categories such as palaeontology, biking, choreography, fitness and martial arts.

8 - Puri received Swachhata Darpan Awards 2019

Puri district of Odisha received the Swachhata Darpan Awards 2019 for its initiatives for plastic waste management at Open Defecation Free Sustainability Workshop held in Delhi. Puri has successfully managed the plastic wastes in the district with its effective policies by engaging the people of the district towards single use plastic through awareness programmes, hence keeping the town's environment pollution free.

Swachhata Darpan Award 2019 was given by Indian Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to Puri Municipality Additional Executive Officer Saroj Kumar Swain.

9 - Indian scientist Sakya Singha Sen awarded “Merck Young Scientist Award 2019

Dr. Sakya Singha Sen from CSIR-NCL received the Merck Young Scientist Award 2019 in Chemical Sciences at Bangalore instituted by Merck for doing remarkable research in chemical science. Sen has expertise in main group chemistry and involves in the synthesis of compounds with main group element and their catalytic application.

Merck Young Scientist Award is given to honor researchers with less than ten years of experience for their talent in solving some of the toughest problems in chemical sciences.

10 - President of India presented 14^th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the 14^th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. This year’s recipients of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards constitute works from the year 2018. The key winners are −

• Photojournalism: C Suresh Kumar from The Times of India (Print/Digital)

• Books (Non-Fiction): Gyan Prakash (Print)

• Business and economic journalism category: Nidhi Verma fom Thomson Reuters (Print/Digital)

• Hindi category awards: Shadab Ahmad Moizee, TheQuint.com (Broadcast), Diti Bajpai, Gaon Connection (Print/Digital)

• Investigative journalism category: Poonam Agarwal, TheQuint.com (Broadcast); Teena Thacker, Mint (Print/Digital)

11 - President of India presented Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2020 to 49 children. Soumyadeep Jana, Ishaan Sharma, Pema and Lalkansung received the award under Bravery category. Darsh Malani, Manoj Kumar Lohar, Gauri Mishra, Korok Biswas and Omkar Singh were awarded under Art & Culture category.

The Bal Shakti Puraskar is conferred to recognize the special contribution of the children in the fields of social service, innovation, bravery, sports, art and culture and scholastic. The award carries a medal, a certificate, a citation and a cash prize worth Rs 1lakh.

12 - Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2020

The government announced the winners of Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar on 23^rd January, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. For the year 2020, Disaster Mitigation & Management Centre, Uttarakhand (in the institution category) and Shri Kumar Munnan Singh (Individual category) were selected.

In case the winner being an institution, it shall receive a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakhs. In case of the winner being an individual, winner shall receive a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakhs.

13 - Priya Prakash won Cisco Youth Leadership Award 2019

The founder and CEO of India based HealthSetGo, Priya Prakash won the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award for 2019. HealthSetGo is India’s largest healthcare organization that supports the UN’s goals and ensures that every child in India grows healthy and disease-free. The organization has impacted more than 200,000 children and parents in India across more than 77 cities, and it hopes to reach 1 million people by 2023.

The award honors the individuals who have made strides to end extreme poverty and provides $250,000 prize for achieving the UN Global Goals.

14 - 26^th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at USA

The winners of the 26^th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced at Los Angeles, USA. Joaquin Phoenix (actor) and Renee Zellweger (actress) received the award for best performance in a leading role for movie Joker and Judy respectively.

15 - Government announced Padma Vibhushan Awards

The government has awarded the Padma Vibhushan for 2020 to seven prominent personalities. The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, second only to the Bharat Ratna. It is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service.

The winners of Padma Vibhushan 2020 are George Fernandes (Posthumous), Arun Jaitley (Posthumous), former Prime Minister of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth, Mary Kom, Chhannulal Mishra, Sushma Swaraj (posthumous) and Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi (Posthumous).

16 - Government announced Padma Bhushan Awards

The government has awarded the Padma Bhushan for 2020 to 16 prominent personalities. The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. It is awarded for distinguished service of high order.

The winners of Padma Bhushan 2020 are −

17 - Government announced Padma Shri Awards

The government has awarded the Padma Shri for 2020 to 118 prominent personalities. The Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. It is awarded for distinguished service.

Some key winners of the award this year are −

18 - Two Sri Lankan women receive Padma awards

The Government has conferred Padma Shri award to two women from Sri Lanka for their pioneering contributions in their individual fields and for strengthening India-Sri Lanka ties. The awards have been conferred on Deshabandu Dr. Vajira Chitrasena for her contribution to dance and Late Prof. Indra Dassanayake for her contribution to Hindi literature.

Dr. Vajira Chitrasena has been adorned with one of Sri Lanka’s highest national awards Deshabandhu among many other awards and she heads the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance foundation and. The other Padma Shri recipient late Professor Indra Dassanayake was a renowned Professor of Hindi at Kelaniya University.

19 - Two Bangladeshis receive Padma awards

Bangladeshi Career Diplomat late Syed Muazzem Ali and veteran museologist Enamul Haq have been nominated for the Padma Awards by the government of India this year. Syed Muazzem Ali has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan award posthumously. He was the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India.

Renowned academic and Museologist from Bangladesh Enamul Haq has been nominated for the Padma Shri award. Born in 1936, Eanmul Haq has taught at many universities including Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, and BRAC University. Haque was the founder director general of the Bangladesh National Museum.

20 - Deepika Padukone Honoured with Crystal Award at WEF 2020

Deepika Padukone was honoured with the Crystal Award 2020 at the 26^th annual Crystal Award ceremony during the World Economic Forum’s opening session on January 20, 2020. She was honoured for playing a leading role in raising mental health awareness and her foundation Live Love Laugh.

The other winners of the award this year are −

• Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates for his leadership in creating sustainable communities

• China’s Jin Xing for her leadership in shaping inclusive cultural norms

• Australian artist Lynette Wallworth for her leadership in creating inclusive, immersive narratives and multi-media art about forgotten communities

21 - President approved Tatrakshak medals to Indian Coast Guard personnel

The President has approved Tatrakshak Medals to the following personnel of the Indian Coast Guard for their act of conspicuous gallantry/meritorious service on the occasion of Republic Day 2020.

22 - President approved 409 Gallantry awards

President Ram Nath Kovind has approved 409 gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces personnel and others on the eve of 71^st Republic Day. These awards include 9 Shaurya Chakras, 28 Param Vishisht Seva Medals and 4 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals.

The Shaurya Chakra awardees include Lieutenant Colonel Jyoti Lama, Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedar Narender Singh, Naib Subedar Sombir, Naik Naresh Kumar, Sepoy Karmdeooraon, Challapilla Narasimha Rao, Kamal Kishore and Aman Kumar.

23 - 62^nd Grammy Awards 2020 held at Los Angeles

The 62^nd Annual Grammy Awards were announced in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year.