FAQ

The name of the winners of the first National Logistics Excellence Award 2021 was announced by the Government of India on 23 June 2022, which was dominated by the private sector.

The winners of the award were conferred the award in a ceremony organised by the Logistics Division of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT), Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry in a function in New Delhi.

The award was given by the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goel   and by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash Sharma in 12 categories. 

The National Excellence award is a recognition of change makers in the logistic sectors who have contributed in creating a resilient and efficient supply chain in the country to support the growth of both external and internal trade in India.

The awards are given in two categories, Service provider excellence awards and Industry excellence awards.

The partners for the awards are the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry , India Logistics, Arthur D Little (knowledge partner), and CII & FICCI (industry partner). 

Winner of the first National Logistics Award 2021 

The Union Ayush Ministry has announced the winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Outstanding Contribution towards the Development and Promotion of Yoga, 2021.

21 June is observed around the world as International Day of Yoga. 

The Prime Minister's Award for Outstanding Contribution towards the Development and Promotion of Yoga, was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the second International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh in 2016.

The award is given by the Union Ministry of Ayush 

Winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Outstanding Contribution towards the Development and Promotion of Yoga, 2021.                                          

The winners are felicitated with a Trophy, Certificate and a Cash Award each. The value of each Cash Award is Rs. 25.00 lakh.

Union Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy)

• The Ministry of AYUSH was set up on the 9th of November 2014 to revive  the knowledge of traditional Indian systems of medicine. 

• It focuses on education and research in the fields of Ayurveda, Yoga Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy. 

• Minister of AYUSH: Sarbananda Sonowal

The Ministry of Education initiative to use ICT (Information and Communication Technology) under the "PM eVidya" scheme during the Covid pandemic has won UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) recognition.

• The Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), a constituent unit of the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has been awarded with the UNESCO's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in Education for the year 2021,
• The PM eVidya programme was initiated as part of the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan' by the ministry on 17  May 2020 which unifies all efforts related to digital, online, on-air education to enable multi-mode access for imparting education by using technology to minimize learning losses.
• This award “recognizes innovative approaches in leveraging new technologies to expand educational and lifelong learning opportunities for all, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goal 4 on Education. 

UNESCO's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) 

•  It was established in 2005 by UNESCO with the support of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
• The prize rewards individuals and organisations that are implementing outstanding projects and promoting creative use of technologies to enhance learning, teaching and overall educational performance in the digital age.
• An international jury selects two best projects annually. 
• Each prize winner receives USD 25,000, a medal and a diploma during a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).

• It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, Science and Culture.
• It is also a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), a coalition of UN agencies and organizations aimed at fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Director General: Audrey Azoulay
• Founded: 16 November 1945 in London, United Kingdom
• The organisation has 193 members and 11 Associate members.

Professor Thalappil Pradeep of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has been selected as the laureate of the 10th edition of the prestigious ‘Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water’.

 He was selected for the award under the ‘Creativity Prize’ category, given for ‘breakthrough discovery’ in any water-related field.

Prof. Pradeep’s research group developed environmentally friendly ‘water positive’ nanoscale materials for the affordable, sustainable, and rapid removal of arsenic from drinking water.

Prof. Pradeep has been recognized earlier with the Padma Shri in 2020, and Nikkei Asia Prize 2020, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 2008 among many others.

 Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water

• The Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) was established in 2022 by Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
• The award is given every two years.
• The 11th cycle of the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water consists of one creativity prize and four specialized prizes.
• The Creativity Prize of US$266 thousand is made for pioneering and innovative research in any water-related field.
•  The four specialized prizes are given for research in surface water; groundwater; alternative water (e.g., desalinization, wastewater treatment, etc.); and water management and protection. Every award winner is given $ 133,000.

The Swedish satire film Triangle of Sadness, directed by Ruben Östlund, won the Palme d’Or award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival  on 28 May 2022 in France. It was the director’s second Palme d’Or, after his film The Square, won the award in 2017.

• The Palme d’Or also called Golden Palm is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the film industry. It is awarded to the best film at the Cannes Film Festival. 
• Cannes is one of the “big five” international film festivals. The other four being the Venice Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.

Main Award winners at the Cannes film festival 2022 :

Palme d’Or for Best Film: “Triangle of Sadness” by Ruben Östlund

 Grand Prix Prize:  It is the second most prestigious prize after Palmed ‘or. It was  shared between the Belgian director Lukas Dhont for his film Close,  and French filmmaking legend Claire Denis' for his film  Stars at Noon.

Jury prize:  It is considered to be the third most prestigious prize at the Cannes. It was shared by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen, director of the film The Eight Mountains, with the Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski for his film EO.

Best Director:  Park Chan-wook of South Korea for his film “Decision to Leave,”

Best Actor:  Song Kang Ho won of South Korea for the film “Broker,”

Best Actress: Zar Amir Ebrahimi of Iran for the film “Holy Spider.

Honorary Palme d ‘or: Forest Whitaker and Tom Cruise 

Special Prize for Cannes’ 75th anniversary:  French director, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes for their film “Tori and Lokita”

Short Film Palme d’Or: “The Water Murmurs”

History of Cannes film Festival 

• The first Cannes film festival was held in 1939 in France. The next festival was held in 1946 due to World War 11.
• The top prize in 1946 was called the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film and it was awarded to one film from each of the participating countries.
• Chetan Anand's film Neecha Nagar is the only Indian film to win a Cannes award in 1946.
• In 1955 the award was given to only one film and it was renamed as Palme d’Or ,which was  later changed to  Grand Prix du Festival International du Film in 1964 and again to Palme d’Or  in 1975.

Kindly also see 18 May 2022 post for India at Cannes 

Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize . Her Hindi novel ‘Tomb of Sand’ (रेत समाधि)  won the  International Booker Prize 2022 prize for her. Geetanjali Shree born in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh is a Delhi based author. 

For the first time a Hindi language work of fiction was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.

Geetanjali Shree’s book, which was translated into English by Daisy Rockwell, was competing with five other titles from around the world for the prestigious 50,000 pounds literary prize. 

The prize money will be shared between Geetanjali Shree and her translator Daisy Rockwell.

The other five titles which were shortlisted for the International Booker Prize were:

• ‘Cursed Bunny’ by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur from Korean; 
• A New Name: Septology VI-VII’ by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls from Norwegian; 
• ‘Heaven’ by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Samuel Bett and David Boyd from Japanese;
• ‘Elena Knows’ by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle from Spanish; and 
• ‘The Books of Jacob’ by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft from Polish.

Works of Geetanjali Shree

She has written five novels – Mai, Tirohit, Hamara Sheher Us Baras , Khali Jagah  and Ret samadhi .

Her collection of short stories are - Anuoonj ,Vairagya, Yahan Hathi Rahte The ,and Pratinidhi Kahaniyan.  

International Booker Prize 

• The International Booker Prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. 

Booker Prize for fiction 

• The  more famous Booker Prize for fiction is different from the International Booker Prize. 
• It is awarded to the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.  
•  The First Indian to win this prize was Arundhati Roy for her book: The God of Small Things, in 1997.
• Other Indian winners are; Kiran Desai for her book The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and Aravind Adiga for his book The White Tiger in 2008.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States of America has awarded the Dean’s Medal to Cyrus S Poonawalla, chairman, Serum Institute of India (SII), for his work in developing and delivering affordable vaccines and contributing to the Indian biosciences industry for decades.

• Dr Poonawalla founded the SII, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, in Pune in 1966.
•   It has the capacity to manufacture 4 billion vaccine doses per annum.
• The SII supplied the measles vaccine to the United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) and PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) from 1990 to 2016, preventing an estimated 22 million deaths.
• SII makes vaccines for Covid-19, diphtheria, BCG, measles, rubella and others.

Dr. Ashok Dyalchand, who has been campaigning against child marriages and for girls’ rights in India for more than four decades, was conferred with the prestigious Honorary Award at the World’s Children’s Prize (WCP) Child Rights Hero ceremony held in Sweden on 23 May 2022.

• He along with Ghana’s Kofi Anan and Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai were the eight nominees for the prestigious WCP Child Rights Hero of the Decade award given by the World’s Children’s Prize Foundation.
• While Dr. Dyalchand and Mr. Annan were conferred with honorary awards, Malala Yousafzai was voted as the WCP Child Rights Hero of the Decade.
• In 2019, Dr. Ashok was chosen by millions of children as Child Rights Hero of the Year and recipient of the World’s Children’s Prize, (WCP) also known as the “Children’s Nobel Prize”.
• Dr. Dyalchand works for the rights of adolescent women and works through his Aurangabad-based Institute of Health Management.

World Children Prize 

• The WCP program was founded in 2000 and is run by the World's Children's Prize Foundation (WCPF), based in Mariefred, Sweden.
• Every year, the WCP program begins with the selection of three Child Rights Heroes as candidates for the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child.
• Children who are 18 years or below 18 years of age vote to select their Child Rights Heroes.  

The first woman vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit was awarded the Shrimati Sushma Swaraj Stree Shakti Samman-2022, on 24 May 2022.

The award which has been constituted in the name of the former Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj is given by Re-Think India Institute.

She was given this award for rising the ranks to “assume the top academic leadership at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University as its first feminine Vice Chancellor.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced six awards to recognize outstanding contributions to advancing global health, demonstrated leadership and commitment to regional health issues. Dr Tedros himself decides on the awardees for the World Health Organization Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Awards.

WHO Global Health Leaders Awards 2022.

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist Workers)

ASHA are the more than 1 million female volunteers in India, honoured for their crucial role in linking the community with the health system, to ensure those living in rural poverty can access primary health care services, as shown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yōhei Sasakawa

Mr Yōhei Sasakawa for his work in leprosy eradication. He is the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, and Japan's Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by leprosy.

Polio workers in Afghanistan

Eight volunteer polio workers including four women workers who were shot and killed by Taliban in Afghanistan on 24 February 2022.

Ludmila Sofia Oliveira Varela

She is a youth sports advocate from Cabo Verde or Cape Verde who works to facilitate access to sports for all, provides a healthy alternative to risky behaviours among young people, and tackles the growing threat of non-communicable diseases. 

Dr Ahmed Hankir

A British-Lebanese psychiatrist, Dr Ahmed Hankir was chosen for his work on Muslim mental health, islamophobia and violent extremism.

Dr Paul Farmer

Dr Farmer was co-founder of Partners In Health, an international non-governmental organization established in 1987 to provide direct health care services, research and advocacy for those who are sick and living in poverty.

ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activist.

• They are trained female community health activists who are a key component of the National Rural Health Mission.
• They are selected from the village itself and accountable to it. 
• The ASHA are trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system.