Jagdish Bakan, Wildlife Warden and District Forest Officer (DFO) of Ramanathapuram district, has won the 2023 Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). He has been Selected for the award for his work in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. The 2017 batch officer of the Indian Forest Service is currently the director of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. ABOUT THE AWARD The $12,000 award is given once every two years in memory of Dr Michel Batisse for outstanding achievement in management of biosphere reserves across the globe. The award....Read More

President Droupadi Murmu was honoured with the Grand Order of the Chain of the Yellow Star, the highest civilian award in Suriname. She is the first Indian to receive this award.Read More

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations recently received the Dag Hammarksjold Medals on behalf of Head Constables Shishupal Singh and Sanwala Ram Vishnoi. The Dag Hammarksjold Medal is the highest honor awarded to UN peacekeepers. It is awarded posthumously to members of peacekeeping operations as a tribute to the sacrifice of those who have lost their lives in peacekeeping operations. The medal is named after the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold.Read More

Georgi Gospodinov’s novel, “Time Shelter,” translated by Angela Rodel, has been awarded the prestigious 2023 International Booker Prize. It marks the first time a Bulgarian novel has been awarded this literary honor.Read More

The Union Higher Education Ministry has discontinued the ‘Shiksha Puraskar’ and the ‘Hinditar Bhashi Hindi Lekhak Puraskar’. The decision is part of the Union Home Ministry’s move to rationalise various awards instituted by the Centre. ABOUT ‘SHIKSHA PURASKAR’ It was launched by the Centre in 1992 for encouraging original writings in Hindi. Under the ‘Shiksha Puraskar’, five awards worth ₹1 lakh each is given every year. The ‘Shiksha Puraskar’ is given to books originally written in Hindi by Hindi and non-Hindi-speaking authors in various fields of knowledge such as education policy, method of teaching, Social Sciences, Philosophy, political thought, culture,....Read More

Recently, Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Group, was bestowed with Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur award for his remarkable contributions in strengthening the trade relationship between India and France. National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur) is France’s highest civilian award. The Legion of Honour consists of five classes, representing descending ranks: Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, and Knight, or chevalier. The Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.Read More

Prof Jayant V. Narlikar, a renowned astronomer and founder director of IUCAA , received the inaugural Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award from the Astronomical Society of India (ASI). Narlikar is a past president of ASI and was the founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). Prof Narlikar’s notable achievements include his research on the Universe, his contributions to Astrophysics, particularly the Narlikar-Hoyle theory, and his pioneering work in cosmology research in India. About the award The Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award is an award given by the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) to recognize individuals who....Read More

Three imprisoned women journalists- Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi and Narges Mohammadi from Iran have been awarded the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2023 for their commitment to truth and accountability. World Press Freedom Day is observed on 3rd May, every year. The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997. It is presented annually to a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to press freedom, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.Read More

Maria Stepanova, a renowned Russian writer currently residing in Berlin, has been awarded the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding in 2023. It was her volume of poetry, Girls Without Clothes, that earned her the prestigious Leipzig Book Prize. Stepanova, a Russian-Jewish poet, novelist, and journalist born in Moscow in 1972, has been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin’s administration. About the Leipzig Book Prize The Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding is a prestigious literary award that has been awarded annually since 1994. The prize aims to promote a greater understanding between European cultures by recognizing outstanding works of....Read More

Wing Commander Deepika Misra has made history as the first female Air Force officer to receive a gallantry medal. She was awarded the Vayu Seva Medal for gallantry by the President of India on Independence Day in the previous year, and recently received the award from the Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force at an investiture ceremony in New Delhi. She was awarded for exhibiting exemplary courage while carrying out Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations following flash floods in northern Madhya Pradesh.Read More