ATI VISHISHT RAIL PURASKAR

♦ Union Minister of Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw conferred 69th Ati Vishisht Rail Seva Puraskar to 101 Railway officials and 22 Shields to best performing Zones in different categories at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on 21 December 2024. 

♦ Indian Railways confers ATI VISHISHT RAIL PURASKAR to its employees every year. 

♦ These awards are given into two categories, the individual awards, as well as Shields  presented to the best-performing Railway Zones. 

♦ Individual awards serve as a platform to acknowledge and celebrate the dedication, hard work, and exceptional contributions of Railway personnel towards making the Indian Railways a more efficient, safe, and passenger-friendly organization.

♦ Shield awards in various categories are presented recognizing their outstanding achievements and contributions to the overall performance of the Indian Railways.

Lifetime Achievement Award

♦ The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has awarded prominent Indian Environmentalist Madhav Gadgil with the Lifetime Achievement Award on 20 December 2024.

♦ This is the United Nations’ highest environmental honour. Gadgil now joins the hall of fame with other esteemed laureates such as David Attenborough and Joan Carling.

♦ In total, six individuals have been named recipients of the Champions of the Earth 2024 Award: Amy Bowers Cordalis and Gabriel Paun for Inspiration and Action; Lu Qi for Science and Innovation; Sekem for Entrepreneurial Vision; and Sonia Guajajara for Policy Leadership.

♦ Madhav Gadgil has authored seven books and over 200 scientific papers. His landmark work, famously known as the Gadgil Report, called for the protection of India’s ecologically sensitive Western Ghats mountain range.

Progressive writer Penugonda Lakshminarayana

♦ Progressive writer Penugonda Lakshminarayana of Andhra Pradesh bagged the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Academy award for 2024. He bagged the award for his book -Deepika Abhyudaya Vysa Samputi under literary criticism category. He was the lone Telugu literary personality to get the award in the current edition.

♦ Lakshminarayana served as president of progressive writers' association (Abhyudaya Rachaithala Sangham-Arasam) at district, state and also national level. He started his literary career with Samidha poem way back in 1972.

♦ Sahitya Academy announced annual awards in 21 Indian languages on 18 December 2024. Award winners would get Rs.1 lakh cash reward and a memento. 

♦ Academy would present the awards at a function to be held in New Delhi on 8 March 2025.  

♦ Curiously, Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy himself won the Sahitya Academy award in 2014 and served as Arasam state president in the past prior to Penugonda Lakshminarayana.

Kaun Des Ko Vasi: Venu Ki Diary

♦ Suryabala’s novel “Kaun Des Ko Vasi: Venu Ki Diary” was selected for the 34th Vyas Samman 2024.  

♦ This novel was published in 2018. Vyas Samman was instituted in 1991 by the KK Birla Foundation.

♦ The award is given to an outstanding Hindi literary work by an Indian citizen published during the last 10 years. It carries a cash prize of Rs.4 lakh, a citation and a plaque.

♦ Suryabala was born in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh in 1943.

♦ Besides the Vyas Samman, the KK Birla Foundation has also instituted Saraswati Samman and Bihari Puraskar.

♦ The Saraswati Samman, which carries a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh, is given to an outstanding literary work by an Indian citizen in any of the languages included in Schedule VIII to the Constitution of India and published during a period of 10 years.

Jamsetji Tata Award

♦ Biocon Group Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was conferred the prestigious Jamsetji Tata Award by the Indian Society for Quality (ISQ) on 14 December 2024 for pioneering the biosciences movement in India. She received the award from Janak Kumar Mehta, President of ISQ and Chairman and Managing Director, TQM International.
♦ She has previously been awarded two of India's highest civilian honours - Padma Shri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005). 
♦ The Jamsetji Tata Award, established in 2004, has previously been presented to notable industry leaders including Nandan Nilekani of Infosys and TV Narendran of Tata Steel.
♦ Indian Society for Quality (ISQ) is a not-for profit society established in 1996 to fill the need for a national forum for interaction among quality professionals, leaders, practitioners and academicians. ISQ is a nonpartisan, independent body that attracts and invites individual members from business organizations, health care and educational institutions, government agencies and NGOs.
 

Energy Conservation 2024 winners

♦ Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar honoured the Energy Conservation 2024 winners at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on December 14. To raise awareness about energy efficiency and its conservation, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the guidance of the Ministry of Power, recognizes and encourages the efforts of industrial units, institutions, and establishments in reducing energy consumption by felicitating them with Energy Conservation Awards on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day (December 14).
♦ A total of 752 applications were received across sectors, including Industries, Transport, Buildings, Institutions, Appliances, and Innovation. This year’s (2024) awards include 23 first prizes, 19 second prizes, 25 certificates of merit, and 4 certificates of eecognition for innovation awards.
♦ Andhra Pradesh bagged first prize in the State Energy Efficiency Performance Award (Group 2) sec-tor category for the National Energy Conservation Award-2024.  Andhra Pradesh comes under a Group-II State, with total final en-ergy consumption (TFEC) in the range of 5 to 15 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe). The State was chosen as the best performer in Group II and achieved 87.25 points in SEEI 2024. 
 

Global Sustainability Film Awards (GSFA)

♦ Indian film “The Kumbaya Story” has bagged a trophy at the 13th tve Global Sustainability Film Awards (GSFA) held at the iconic BAFTA venue in London.

♦ The movie clinched the award in the Transforming Society Short Film category.

♦ The Founder's Award in the Feature category went to the Kenyan film "NAWI", which sheds light on the harrowing global issue of child brides.

National Panchayat Awards 2024

♦ The President of India, Droupadi Murmu conferred the National Panchayat Awards 2024 at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on 11 December 2024.

♦ A total of 45 Panchayats from diverse regions were honoured in recognition of their exemplary work in rural development.  

♦ The primary objective of these awards was to promote and acknowledge the contributions of Panchayats in the socio-economic development of rural India, and to motivate other Panchayats to adopt best practices for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

National Panchayat Awards 2024 List:

Champions of the Earth

♦ Veteran ecologist, Madhav Gadgil (82) was named ‘Champions of the Earth’ for 2024 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 10 December 2024. This is the UN's highest environmental honour, for his seminal work in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot. 

♦ Gadgil is the only Indian on this year's (2024) award recipients list. Gadgil chaired the government-constituted Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel to study the impact of population pressure, climate change, and development activities on the ecologically fragile region in India.

♦ Since 2005, the award has recognized 122 laureates for outstanding and inspirational environmental leadership.

♦ Gadgil was honoured in the “lifetime achievement” category.

♦ The other awardees are Sonia Guajajara, Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous Peoples in the Policy Leadership category; Amy Bowers Cordalis, an indigenous people’s rights advocate from the US in the Inspiration and Action category; Gabriel Paun, a Romanian environmental defender, also in the Inspiration and Action category; Lu Qi, a Chinese scientist in the Science and Innovation category; and Sekem, a sustainable agriculture initiative in Egypyt in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.

International Social Security Association (ISSA)

♦ India was honored with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific 2024.

♦ This was presented by Mohammed Azman, President of ISSA, at the Regional Social Security Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

♦ Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) received five Certificates of Merit for Communication channels, E-proceedings: A case on use of information and communication technology in justice delivery, Massive district outreach programme (Nidhi Aapke Nikat), Multilingual call centres and Prayaas initiative.

♦ The awards were received by Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, DG, ESIC on behalf of EPFO.

Maria Victoria Juan

♦ Nurse Maria Victoria Juan from the Philippines received the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2024 at a ceremony held in Bengaluru. She was awarded Rs.2 crore.

♦ Maria Victoria Juan is currently a consultant at Philippine Army Health Services, served as the Chief Nurse of the Philippines Army, she was responsible for initiating the first aeromedical evacuation system in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

♦ The Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award was launched by Aster DM Healthcare in 2021, with an aim to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of nurses to patients across the world.

♦ Nilima Pradeepkumar Rane, a nurse from Goa was among the top 10 finalists chosen for the award from an astounding pool of over 78,000 nurses from across 202 countries.

Jasleen Kaur

♦ Scottish artist Jasleen Kaur (38) won the prestigious Turner Prize, a major UK contemporary art award. Kaur was recognised for her exhibition Alter-Altar, which features a unique installation of a Ford Escort car decorated with a giant doily.

♦ The announcement was made at a ceremony held at the Tate Britain gallery in London.

♦ Kaur received 32,000 US Dollars.

♦ The Turner Prize was established in 1984. This is awarded annually to a British artist for exceptional exhibitions or projects. 

♦ Previous winners include well-known artists like Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst, and Steve McQueen. In 2023, Jesse Darling won for sculptures reflecting societal breakdown.