Golden Peacock Award

♦ Saule Biluvaite directorial Toxic bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock Award at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2024 at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Goa on November 28.

♦ The film Toxic bagged the most coveted Golden Peacock Award for Best Feature Film this year. 

♦ Clement Faveau bagged the Best Actor Male award for his stellar performance and Vesta Matulyte and Leva Repuikaite jointly won the Best Actor Female honor for their roles in film Toxic.

♦ In the Indian section, Navjot Bandiwadekar was recognized as the Best Debut Director of an Indian Feature Film for Gharat Ganpati while, the Best Web Series OTT award went to Lampan. 

♦ The festival honoured Vikrant Massey as the Indian Film Personality of the Year, celebrating his acting talent and diverse characters portrayed on screen.

♦ One of the ceremony’s highlights was the presentation of the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema to legendary Australian Film Director Phillip Noyce, honouring his invaluable contributions to the art of cinema. 

♦ Actor Vikrant Massey got the Indian Film Personality of the Year for the film 12th Fail.

The Indira Gandhi Prize

♦ The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development for 2023 was presented to Daniel Barenboim and Ali Abu Awwad on 19 November 2024.

♦ The award was presented virtually on Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary.

♦ The prize was given to Barenboim for his contribution to foster peace through musical and cultural dialogue initiatives and to Awwad for his advocacy for dialogue through his organisation Roots, an outfit that he started after spending time in an Israeli jail. 

♦ The selection of the awardees was made by a jury led by former Chief Justice of India T S Thakur. 

The Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger

♦ Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Nigeria’s second-highest national award - the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger. President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Abuja gave this award to Modi on 17 November 2024. Modi became the second foreign dignitary to receive this distinction, after Queen Elizabeth in 1969. 

♦ This marks the 17th international award conferred upon PM Modi by a foreign country.

Dominica Award

♦ Dominica has announced to confer its highest national honour to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 November 2024.

♦ The Dominica Award of Honour will be bestowed to the Prime Minister in recognition of his contributions to Dominica during the COVID-19 pandemic and his dedication to strengthening the partnership between India and Dominica. 

♦ President of Dominica Sylvanie Burton will confer the award during the upcoming India-CARICOM Summit, scheduled to take place in Georgetown, Guyana from 19th to 21st of November.

♦ India supplied Dominica with 70 thousand doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during the Covid pandemic in February 2021. 

Bal Sahitya Awards

♦ The Sahitya Akademi presented its 2024 Bal Sahitya Awards in Lucknow on 14 November 2024, recognising 23 authors across various Indian languages for their significant contributions to children’s literature.

♦ Each awardee received a copper plaque and a cash prize of Rs.50,000.

♦ The awardees included Ranju Hazarika (Assamese), Dipanwita Roy (Bengali), Bharjin Jacob Mosahari (Bodo), Bishan Singh Dardi (Dogri), Gira Pinakin Bhatt (Gujarati), Krishnamurthy Biligeri (Kannada), Muzaffar Hussain Dilbar (Kashmiri), Harsha Sadguru Shetye (Konkani), Narayanji (Maithili), Unni Ammayambalam (Malayalam), Kshetrimayum Suvadani (Manipuri), Bharat Sasne (Marathi), Vasant Thapa (Nepali), Manas Ranjan Samal (Odia), Kuldeep Singh Deep (Punjabi), Prahlad Singh Jhora (Rajasthani), Harshdev Madhav (Sanskrit), Dugai Tudu (Santali), Yuma Vasuki (Tamil) and Pamidimukkala Chandrashekhar Azad (Telugu).

♦ The Bal Sahitya Akademi awards were started in 2010 by the Sahitya Akademi, which was formed in 1954 as India’s National Academy of Letters –“ a central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country.

Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award

♦ Veteran Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce will be honored with the prestigious Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

♦ The annual film festival will run through November 20 - 28 in Goa, will present over 180 international films from 81 countries, including 15 world premieres, three international premieres, 40 Asian premieres and 106 Indian premieres.

♦ Noyce, known for films such as the Angelina Jolie-starrer “Salt”, “Patriot Game” starring Harrison Ford, and “The Bone Collector” featuring Denzel Washington and Jolie. 

Anil Pradhan

♦ Anil Pradhan from Odisha was awarded the third Rohini Nayyar Prize. HE got this award for his outstanding contribution to rural development for his work in promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education among students in rural India. His work in STEM education and innovation has impacted over 2.5 lakh students to date.

♦ Pradhan is a co-founder of the Young Tinker Foundation, came up with the idea of ‘Tinker-on-Wheels’ — a mobile learning lab that offered hands-on experiences in areas like robotics and 3D printing to school students in rural regions of Odisha, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.

♦ The Rohini Nayyar award was instituted in memory of Rohini Nayyar, an economist and former IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh who served with the Planning Commission of India. The prize honors young leaders under 40 making notable contributions to rural development in India. The award includes a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh, a citation, and a trophy.