1. K. Venu was awarded the Federal Bank Literary Award 2022
Tags: Awards
In January 2023, renowned author K Venu was awarded the Federal Bank Literary Award 2022 for his autobiography 'Oarnavashanthinte Katha'.
An Overview of the news
Mr. Venu received the award from Balagopal Chandrasekhar, Chairman and Independent Director, Federal Bank, at a special event organised as part of the Kerala Literature Festival.
10 works were selected for this award. The gist of this book brings back one of the most profound political memories in Kerala's modern history.
Federal Bank Literary Award
This is the first literary award instituted by the Federal Bank.
The award was announced by Nandakumar V, Executive Vice President & Head - Branch Banking.
Federal Bank
Founder of Federal Bank: K.P. Hormis
Federal Bank Headquarters: Aluva (Kerala)
Federal Bank CEO: Shyam Srinivasan
2. America's R Bonnie Gabriel became Miss Universe 2022
Tags: Awards
America's R'Bonnie Gabriel won the Miss Universe 2022 title at the 71st Miss Universe pageant.
Amanda Dudamel of Venezuela was declared the first runner up while Anderina Martinez of Dominican Republic became the second runner up.
R Bonnie Gabriel, 28, is a model, fashion designer and sewing instructor. She is the first American of Filipino descent to win Miss USA.
The pageant saw 84 women from around the world compete for the crown.
Divita Rai took part from India, who could only reach the semi-finals.
The 71st Miss Universe pageant was held in the city of New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana.
India's Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe 2021, the third Indian to win the crown after Sushmita Sen (1994) and Lara Dutta (2000).
The Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by Pacific Mills, a California-based textile company.
The first Miss Universe pageant was held in 1952 in Long Beach, California.
Armi Kuusela of Finland won the first Miss Universe title.
3. Rajamouli's film 'RRR' wins Critics' Choice Award for Best Song
Tags: Awards
SS Rajamouli's film 'RRR' won the 28th Critics' Choice Awards 2023 for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Song.
The film 'Rise, Roar, Revolt' ie RRR recently received the Golden Globe Award for the song 'Naatu Naatu'.
The film also won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Song for the song 'Naatu Naatu'.
For Best Song, 'RRR' was up against 'Where the Crowded Sing', 'Guilmeri del Toro Pinocchio', 'Top Gun: Maverick', 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' and 'White Noise'.
RRR won the Best Foreign Language Film award beating films like 'All Quiet on the Western Front', 'Argentina 1985', 'Bardo', 'False Chronicle of a Dumpful of Truths', 'Close' and 'Decision to Leave'.
Movie 'RRR'
'RRR' directed by SS Rajamouli is based on nationalism and brotherhood.
It stars famous actors Ram Charan and Jr. NTR in lead roles.
The film is based on the lives of real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem.
The song 'Naatu Naatu' is composed by MM Keeravani and sung by Kaal Bhairav and Rahul Sipligunj.
4. Best Agripreneurs honoured on National Youth Day
Tags: Awards National News
On the occasion of National Youth Day, 82 best Agripreneurs trained under Agri-Clinic and Agri-Business (AC&ABC) scheme were hounered for their significant contribution through Agri-Clinic and Agri-business services to the farmers.
An overview of the news
The Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Scheme is a mega flagship scheme of the Government, which was launched by the Government of India in April 2002 in collaboration with NABARD.
It aims to transform unemployed youth into self-employed agri-entrepreneurs through 45 days free residential training in different parts of the country along with access to loans and subsidies from banks.
The scheme is being implemented by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad through a network of 136 Nodal Training Institutes (NTIS) spread across all states.
5. Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 2023
Tags: Awards
President Draupadi Murmu honored 27 overseas Indians with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award on 10 January 2023 at the concluding session of the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention.
An Overview of the news
It is the highest award given to overseas Indians for their distinguished contributions and achievements abroad.
Chief among the recipients of the award were Guyana President Mohamed Irfan Ali and Suriname President Chandrika Prasad Santokhi. In this context, some of the major award recipients, their country and related field have been mentioned as follows:
Awardee Country Region
Archana Sharma Switzerland Science and Technology
Reena Pushkarna Israel Business and Social Welfare
Vaikuntham Iyer Canada Education, Health, Clean Tech.
Shivakumar Nadesan Sri Lanka Community Welfare
Jagdish Chennupati Australia Science, Technology, Education
Sanjeev Mehta Bhutan Education
Dilip Lundo Brazil Art-Culture-Education
Alexander Maliakale Brunei Medicine
Joginder Singh Nijjar Croatia Art & Culture
Ramji Prasad Denmark IT
Kannan Ambalam Ethiopia Community Welfare
Selection of Honor Recipients
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman recipients are selected by a committee headed by the Vice President. In which the External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar) is its Vice-Chairman. While other members of the committee come from different places.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the committee considers the nominations for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award and unanimously the winners are selected.
The awardees are expatriates who have made a mark abroad through their work in different fields.
6. Indian peacekeepers honoured with UN Medal for Exemplary Service
Tags: Awards
Over 1,000 Indian peacekeepers serving in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) were awarded the prestigious United Nations Medal at an award ceremony.
An overview of the news
At a special award ceremony in Upper Nile, 1,171 peacekeepers from India deployed with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan were awarded the United Nations Medal for their exemplary service.
For the first time, a woman officer of the Indian Army, Major Jasmine Chatha, led the parade of the Indian contingent at the award ceremony in Upper Nile.
India is one of the largest troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions
Peacekeepers of India are commended for their excellent work and duties while serving in missions.
As of June 2022, 2370 Indian military personnel are deployed with UNMISS, second only to Rwanda (2637).
About UN Peacekeeping
UN peacekeeping began in 1948 when the UN Security Council authorised the deployment of UN military observers in the Middle East.
It helps to bring countries from conflict to a difficult path of peace.
It deploys soldiers and police from all over the world for peacekeeping.
India is one of the largest military and police contributors to UN peacekeeping operations.
There are currently more than 5,700 Indian peacekeepers deployed in nine of the 12 UN peacekeeping missions.
7. RRR's Naatu Naatu wins historic Golden Globe for best original song
Tags: Awards
South Cinema's film RRR has created history at the 80th 'Golden Globe Awards 2023' award ceremony, the film's Telugu song 'Naatu Naatu' has won the Best Song award.
An overview of the news
'Naatu Naatu' is the first Indian song to win this prestigious award.
The song was composed by MM Keeravani and sung by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj.
In the 'Golden Globe Awards 2023' award, the film 'RRR' received nominations in two categories, including 'Best Film - Non-English' and the other 'Best Original Song - Motion Picture'.
'RRR' directed by Rajamouli is based on nationalism and brotherhood.
It stars famous actors Ram Charan and Jr. NTR in lead roles.
The two play real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem in the film.
The film is based on a fictional story set in the pre-independence era.
The film 'RRR' is the first Indian film after two decades to be nominated for the awards.
Rajamouli recently won the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.
Earlier in the 'Foreign Language' category, the films 'Salaam Bombay!' (1988) and 'Monsoon Wedding' (2001) were nominated. Both these films were directed by Mira Nair and both the films are completely different from 'RRR'.
8. Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files' selected for Oscars 2023
Tags: Awards
Vivek Agnihotri's film 'The Kashmir Files' has been shortlisted for Oscars 2023. That means now this film has qualified to get an Oscar.
An overview of the news
Actors Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborthy, Darshan Kumar and Pallavi Joshi are also shortlisted for the best actor category.
Rishabh Shetty's 'Kantara', Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Gangubai Kathiawadi', Paan Nalin's 'The Chello Show' and SS Rajamouli's 'RRR' have also made it to the Oscar shortlist.
Originally made in Kannada with a budget of less than Rs 16 crore, 'Kantara' went on to become one of the highest-grossing Kannada films with Rs 400 crore at the box office.
Marathi films Me Vasantrao, Tujhysa Sathi Khai Hi, Kannada film 'Vikrant Rona' and R Madhavan's 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect' have also been shortlisted for Oscars 2023.
The film 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect' is a biopic of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who was accused of spying for ISRO and was later acquitted.
Apart from these, Shaunak Sen and Kartiki Gonsalves' documentary 'All That Breathes' 'The Elephant Whispers' is also a part of the list.
9. CJI Chandrachud to be conferred with 'Award for Global Leadership' by Harvard Law School Center
Tags: Awards
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has been selected for the "Award for Global Leadership" by the Harvard Law School Center in recognition of his lifetime service to the legal profession nationally and internationally.
An Overview of the news
The award was presented to CJI Chandrachud in an online program on 11 January 2023.
Chandrachud holds an LLM degree and a Doctorate in Juridical Sciences (SJD) from Harvard Law School in the United States.
Justice Chandrachud, who has been a part of the apex court bench which delivered several landmark judgments including the Ayodhya land dispute case.
Dr DY Chandrachud
Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud was born on 11 November 1959 in Mumbai.
He did his schooling from St. Columbus School and did his BA Honors in Economics from St. Stephen's College followed by LLB from Campus Law Center, University of Delhi followed by LLM and Doctorate in Jurisprudence from Harvard Law School, USA .
Judicial Life of Dr. DY Chandrachud
Justice Chandrachud was designated a Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998 and was appointed Additional Solicitor General in the same year.
Justice Chandrachud was a judge of the Bombay High Court from 29 March 2000 to 31 October 2013.
After this he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. On November 9, 2022, he took oath as the 50th CJI.
10. Odisha wins World Habitat Award 2023 for its JAGA Mission
Tags: Awards State News
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Odisha government’s slum improvement and land titling programme, JAGA (Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission) Mission has won the UN-Habitat’s World Habitat Awards 2023. This year it was awarded the bronze medal.
This is the second time that the programme has received the UN-Habitat’s World Habitat Award. In 2019, the project received the World Habitat Awards for its success in providing land tenure security to slum dwellers.
This award is given by World Habitat, a United Kingdom -based organization, in partnership with United Nation (UN)-Habitat, every year, in recognition of innovative, outstanding, and revolutionary ideas, projects, and programmes from across the world.
JAGA Mission Plan of the Odisha Government
The Govt. of Odisha in May 2018 launched JAGA Mission based on the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017”.
It is the world’s largest slum titling and upgradation initiative.
It aims to make Odisha the first state in India to be slum free by the end of 2023.
Achievements of the Mission
- According to the state government under the JAGA mission out of 2,919 slums in the state;
- 100 percent of households in 2,724 slums have been provided with pipe water connections,
- 707 slums have transformed fully into liveable habitats,
- 100 percent of households in 666 slums have individual toilets, and
- 8 cities have become slum-free.”
- In the last five years, 1, 75,000 families have been granted land tenure security.
Chief Minister of Odisha: Naveen Patnaik
