1) Musicians, film-maker chosen for Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships.
- Sangeet Natak Akademi announced the names of recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships (Akademi Ratna) 2014 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) 2014.
The list of names selected for Sangeet Akademi Fellowships:
- R. Janakiraman (Musicologist)
- S. Sathyu (film-maker)
- Vijay Kichlu (Classical singer)
- Tulsidas Borkar (Musician)
- The fellowship of the Akademi is considered a rare honour and restricted to a small group at a given time. At present, there are 40 fellows.
- The General Council selected 36 artists from the fields of music, dance, theatre and puppetry for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2014.
About Sangeet Natak Akademi:
- Established in 1953, the Akademi is responsible for preservation and promotion of the performing arts in India.
- It recognizes the contribution of outstanding musicians, dancers and theatre artists by bestowing them the Fellowships and Awards on yearly basis.
- Its aim is to create benchmarks in the practice of the performing arts. It has been bestowing Akademi Fellowship since 1954 and Akademi Award since 1952.
2) Britain to award medals to over 3,000 Ebola fighters.
- Britain has created a new medal to recognise the bravery and hard work of people who have helped to tackle Ebola in West Africa.
- The medal is set to be awarded to over 3,000 people who travelled from Britain to work in high risk areas to stop the spread of the disease.
- This is the first time a medal has been created specifically to recognise those who have tackled a humanitarian crisis.
- The medal will be awarded to military and civilian personnel who have been tackling Ebola on behalf of Britain in West Africa, including members of the armed forces, doctors and nurses from the National Health Service (NHS), laboratory specialists, members of the civil service.
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3) Mani Ratnam to be honoured by New York museum.
- A prestigious museum will honour acclaimed Indian director Mani Ratnam with a special tribute, which has been ``long overdue`` for the ``important filmmaker``.
- Ratnam, 59, will make a rare appearance at the Museum of the Moving Image for the tribute from July 31-August 2 during which three of his acclaimed films “Roja”, “Bombay” and “Dil Se” will be showcased.
- The series has been named "Politics as Spectacle: The Films of Mani Ratnam", as the museum considers him a director who makes thought provoking movies on political and social issues.
About:
- Political and social messages have always been an integral part of Mani Ratnam`s movies.
- His movie Iruvar was loosely based on Tamil Nadu`s political icons M.G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, while his movie Aayudha Ezhuthu (Yuva in Hindi) talked about youth engaging in politics. His movies, Roja and Uyire (Dil Se in Hindi) were about terrorism, Bombay talked about religious tensions and Kannathil Muthamittal was about the Sri Lankan civil war.
4) Hindi writers Babusha Kohli, Upasana won 10th Navlekhan Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith.
- 10th Navlekhan Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith was awarded to Hindi writers Babusha Kohli and Upasana.
- They were awarded for poem Prem Gilhari Dil Akhrot and novel Ek Zindagi Ek Ek Script Bhar respectively.
- Navlekhan Award was instituted with an objective to award young authors writing in Hindi.
5) C.N.R. Rao conferred with Japan’s highest civilian award `Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star`.
- Eminent scientist C.N.R. Rao was conferred with Japan’s highest civilian award the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.
- He was presented with the award by Japanese Ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi for his outstanding contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science cooperation.
About C.N.R. Rao (Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao):
- N.R Rao is eminent scientist and world’s foremost solid state and materials chemists.
- He was first Indian scientist to reach the h-index of 100.
- He is also an elected member of almost all scientific academies across the globe and had served as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to Prime Ministers of India.
- He is also the Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research, Bengaluru and a former Chair of the Japan-India Science Council.
Awards of C.N.R. Rao:
- In 2014, he was awarded with India’s highest civilian award of India Bharat Ratna along with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
- He has been bestowed with about 70 honorary doctorates and also has received the highest civilian award from several nations.
- Note: h-index also called the Hirsch index or Hirsch number is a tool that measures the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar.