1) EPFO gets Skoch Awards for Smart Governance Initiatives.
- The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been awarded SKOCH Award for Smart Governance for its initiatives on UAN Programme and Transformation of Social Security Agenda in India.
- It is the 5th Award won by EPFO in the last two years for its initiatives for the welfare of various stakeholders.
About Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO):
- EPFO is a statutory body of Union Government that comes under the aegis of Ministry of Labour and Employment.
- It administers a compulsory contributory Provident Fund Scheme (1952), Pension Scheme (1995) and an Insurance Scheme (1976).
- It is one of the largest social security organisations in India in terms volume of financial transactions undertaken and number of covered beneficiaries.
- Headquarters: New Delhi
2) Lucknow-based CSIR-CIMAP won CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development, 2014.
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow won the CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development (CAIRD) 2014.
- CSIR-CIMAP was awarded for enhancing incomes of farm communities through Vetiver based Technological Interventions.
- The award was announced on the occasion of CSIR Foundation Day by the DG, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Girish Sahni.
About CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development:
- CSIR had instituted the CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development in the year 2006 to recognize and honour S&T innovations that have helped transform the lives of rural people.
- The effort through this award, in a way, is also to give a boost to rural development through intrinsic innovation and its implementation at ground level.
- The award, which has emerged as a very prestigious one, carries a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh, a citation and a shield.
3) Dr. Jacob Tsimerman wins 2015 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize.
- The 2015 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize will be awarded to Jacob Tsimerman of the University of Toronto, Canada.
- The prize will be awarded during the International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University in Tamil Nadu’s Kumbakonam (Ramanujan’s hometown) where the prize has been given annually.
- The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005 and is awarded annually for outstanding contributions by young mathematicians to areas influenced by the mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.
- The age limit for the prize has been set at 32 because Ramanujan achieved so much in his brief life of 32 years.
4) Indo-British van driver Dee Patel honoured with Pride of Britain Award.
- Prince Charles will honour a British-Indian delivery van driver with the ``Pride of Britain Award`` after he risked his life to save others.
- Daily Mirror newspaper organised a ceremony at the Governor House in London where Patel was given the award in the outstanding bravery category.
- When Patel set off for his routine job on 18 May 2005, he noticed a car ahead of him that was dangerously out of control on the M25 motorway. Soon, he realised that the driver of the car, a young woman, slumped unconscious over the steering wheel. It was when Patel, without wasting any time, came for the rescue of the woman.
About Pride of Britain Awards:
The Award was Founded in 1999, the award is presented to the country`s unsung heroes. The winners are decided by a panel of distinguished judges and is jointly supported by the Daily Mirror, ITV, Daybreak and the Prince`s Trust.
5) Indian-American environmental engineer Kartik Chandran named MacArthur Fellow.
- Indian-American environmental engineer Kartik Chandran has been named as 2015 MacArthur Fellow and given a `genius` grant of $625,000 for working on a novel solution to the world`s need for food, clean water and energy.
- Chandran has won the prestigious accolade for his work in transforming wastewater from a pollutant requiring disposal to a resource for useful products, such as commodity chemicals, energy sources and fertilisers.
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Achievements of Kartik Chandran:
- Kartik Chandran is an IIT Roorkee graduate who uses microbes to turn wastewater into fertilizer, energy and potable water.
- His work on the global nitrogen cycle and engineered wastewater treatment has been recognized globally.
- Chandran received a 1.5 million US dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2011 to create a new model in water and sanitation in Africa.
- He has also won the Water Environment Research Foundation Paul L. Busch Award (2010), a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009) and a National Academies of Science Fellowship (2007).
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