Mahendra Nath Pandey conferred the 2019 National Entrepreneurship Awards:
The Union Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey presented the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 to Enterprises and Ecosystem builders on 9 November 2019. A total of 36 entrepreneurs and Ecosystem builders received the award. The fourth edition of the award ceremony was organized by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The day marks the completion of 5 years of setting up of the Ministry in 2014.
Aim:
The National Entrepreneurship Awards aimed to honour the outstanding young First-Generation Entrepreneurs, and Ecosystem builders. The award recognized their outstanding contribution to entrepreneurship development and provided support to the entrepreneurs. It also aimed to establish an entrepreneurial attitude among future generations and the Youth of India.
Prize winners:
A jury headed by Dr. R.A. Mashelkar constituting experts from industry, academics, and business selected the winners for the award. The winners were awarded under three categories:
♦ A1 category for initial investments up to Rs. 1 lakh
♦ A2 category for initial investments between Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 10 Lakh
♦ A3 category for initial investment between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 1 crore
Also, it included four special categories namely Women Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur from SC/ST Category, Entrepreneur from People with Disability category, Entrepreneur from difficult areas
Prize: The award Winners received a Trophy, Certificate, and a Cash Prize of Rs.5 lakh for enterprises and individuals and Rs.10 lakh for organizations and institutes.
Punjab CM presented the 2019 Achievers award:
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh presented the Achievers award to over 400 eminent Punjabi personalities on the event of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on 10 November. The award recognized their outstanding contribution in various fields.
Awardees:
Officers from Defence Services, namely former Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, Gen (Retd) J.J. Singh, Air Marshal Jagjit Singh, Brig. (retd) Sukhjit Singh, K.J. Singh, Lt. Gen (retd), Lt. Gen (retd) J.S. Cheema, Lt. Gen. (retd) Surinder Singh, Lt. Gen. (retd) NPS Heera, Lt. Gen. (retd), N.S. Brar, besides former Union Minister and eminent journalist Arun Shourie, were awarded.
Legal luminaries included Justice Gurdev Singh, Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, Justice G.R. Majithia, Justice Amarbir Singh Gill, Justice S. S. Saron, former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar, and Advocate KTS Tulsi.
From the field of art, culture, music and literature, the awardees included Surjit Patar, Hans Raj Hans, Puran Chand Wadali, Malkit Singh, Dilip Kaur Tiwana, Gurmeet Bawa, Bhai Baldeep Singh, Beenu Dhillon, Jaswinder Bhalla, Balbir Rishi, Mohammad Sadique, Sardool Sikander, Puran Shah Koti, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, Preeti Sapru, Babu Singh Mann Savita Bhatti the wife of Jaspal Bhatti and Manmohan Singh.
Other awardees include Baba Sewa Singh, Singh Sahib Giani Ranjit Singh Gauhar Jathedar Takht Sri Patna Sahib, Baba Balbir Singh Budha Dal, Sant Baba Mahinder Singh, Sant Avtar Singh, Sant Baljinder Singh, Mahant Raminder Dass, Baba Iqbal Singh, Sant Kulwant Ram Bharomajara, Sant Nirmal Dass Baba Jaure, Sant Gurdeep Giri, Sant Makhan Singh, Sant Baba Mahinder Singh Lamiya Wale and Sant Baba Nihal Singh Harian Belan wale.
Other NRIs who were awarded the Achievers Award included Harbhajan Singh Virdi, Lord Raj Loomba, Lord Swaraj Paul, SPS Oberoi, and Kamaljit Bakshi, among others.
From sports category, Padam Shri Balbir Singh Senior, Harmanpreet Kaur, Pargat Singh, Kartar Singh, Avneet Kaur, Manjit Kaur, and Mann Kaur were awarded.
Cyrus Poonawalla was conferred with the ABLF Lifetime Achievement Award:
Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, founder and chairman of Serum Institute of India, was conferred with the ABLF Lifetime Achievement Award in Dubai, UAE, on 14 November 2019. The award was presented by the 12th edition of the Asian Business Leadership Forum (ABLF). The award recognized visionary leaders from across Asia, who inspire and set high standards in leadership excellence.
Poonawalla was acknowledged for his unparalleled and continuous mission of global immunization and his path defining philanthropic initiatives.
Other awards:
♦ Dr. Poonawalla also received the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa by the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, in June 2019.
♦ He was also presented with the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, in 2018. The award recognized his outstanding contribution to improving public health for all communities.
♦ Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla was felicitated with the first-ever Vaccine Hero Award by Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI). He was awarded for his focus on public causes and underserved communities.