Awards & Recognition

· Freelance filmmaker Deepti Pillay Sivan’s most touted documentary, “Decoding Shankar” about the life and career of the celebrated musician Shankar Mahadevan, recently won the Best Film Award in the Documentary section (Best Biographical) at the Toronto International Women Film Festival, 2021.

· The Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar, the national award instituted in memory of late poet laureate Kuvempu, has been awarded to renowned Odia poet Dr. Rajendra Kishore Panda for the year 2020. The prestigious award carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a silver medal, and a citation.

· Invest India has been awarded the world’s most innovative Investment Promotion Agency 2021 by OCO Global. OCO Global is a leading authority on foreign investment and offers a range of economic development services, products, and unique company assessment tools.

· Korean Air has been announced the winner of one of the most prestigious honours in the aviation industry: Air Transport World’s (ATW) 2021 Airline of the Year. This year’s award is even more meaningful to Korean Air, as the global industry has been suffering from the unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19.

· Indian economist Kaushik Basu has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award for Economics. The award was conferred on him by Professor Dr Hans-Bernd Schäfer of Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany. A former chief economist of the World Bank, Basu is currently a professor of Economics at Cornell University. He also served as the Government of India’s chief economic advisor from 2009 to 2012. Basu is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.

· The Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for the manufacture and supply of Akash missiles to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The total worth of the deal is around Rs 499 crore.

· Hyderabad’s hunger activist Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, who has been feeding thousands of people every day as part of his food drive ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ was awarded a top UK award recently.

· Journalist and playwright Omchery N N Pillai has been selected for the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS)’s Literary Award for 2021. BKS president P V Radhakrishna Pillai, general secretary Varghese Karackal and literary wing secretary Firoz Thiruvathra announced the award.

· The Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank (TSCAB) has been adjudged the best State Cooperative Bank in the country while Karimnagar District Cooperative Credit Bank (DCCB) was adjudged the best DCCB in South India by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

· Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyinar Producer Company Limited and Snehakunja Trust are among the 10 awardees of the prestigious Equator Prize 2021 for their work in the field of conservation and biodiversity. The UNDP gives a biennial award to recognize community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

· Director Payal Kapadia’s, “A Night of Knowing Nothing” won the Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award for best documentary at the 74th Cannes Film Festival. The Mumbai-based filmmaker’s first feature bagged the prestigious prize in a formidable field made up of 28 documentaries presented across various sections of the festival.

· Former India and Mohun Bagan shot-stopper Shibaji Banerjee, who famously denied Brazil’s legendary football player Pele from scoring a goal in an exhibition match in 1977, will be conferred with Mohun Bagan Ratna posthumously.

· Cachar Deputy Commissioner, Keerthi Jalli received the National Silver SKOCH Award a few days ago for ‘Pushti Nirbhor’ (nutrition-dependent), a convergence project on transformation and development entailing setting up Nutri-gardens at houses in Dinnathpur Bagicha village. The village is near the India-Bangladesh border in the Katigorah circle of the Cachar district.

· Senior India defender, Sandesh Jhingan was named the AIFF men’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21 season. It is the first time that the towering central defender has received the AIFF Player of the Year award, having won the Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2014.

· While midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam was picked as the Emerging Player for the year award for 2020-21. The 20-year-old Suresh, who made his Blue Tigers debut earlier this year against Oman, was part of the Indian side that competed at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.

· Indian Women’s National Team Forward, Ngangom Bala Devi has been named as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Women’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21.

· World No. 1 para shuttler Pramod Bhagat was named Differently Abled Sportsman of the Year at Indian Sports Honour for 2019.

· Indian-origin British author, Sunjeev Sahota is among the 13 authors longlisted for the prestigious 2021 Booker Prize for fiction for his novel ‘China Room’, alongside Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers.

· Vaidehi Dongre, a 25-year-old girl from Michigan, has been crowned Miss India USA 2021 at the beauty pageant. Arshi Lalani from Georgia was declared the first runner up and North Carolina’s Mira Kasari was declared the second runner up. Dongre, who has majored in international studies, won the ‘Miss Talented’ title in the pageant for giving a flawless performance of Indian classical dance from Kathak.

· The Maharashtra Bhushan Selection Committee chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has unanimously selected legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle for the prestigious award.

· Graphic artist Anand Radhakrishnan has won the prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, considered the Oscars equivalent of the comics world. The Eisner Awards are given out annually and the award won by Radhakrishnan “Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)” recognises the creator of a graphic novel’s art and images.