Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, Dalai Lama was selected for the Templeton Prize, 2012. The Buddhist leader who lives in exile in India had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolent liberation for Tibet. The Dalai Lama is founder of the Mind & Life Institute for Research on Science and Buddhism.
Tamil writer A.A. Manavalan is bestowed with the 21st Saraswati Samman for his work Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalum (Ramakatha and Ramayanas) published in 2005. The K K Birla Foundation announced the award on 22 March 2012.
Legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee was on 21 March 2012 selected for India`s highest film honour - the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2012. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India`s highest award in film industry which is given for lifetime achievement in Indian cinema by the Central government.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on 11 march, announced a national award for sanitation and water in the name of Maharashtrian saint Sant Gadge Baba. The award was constituted in the name of the Saint who strove to serve the society through cleanliness. The award is to honour villages, individuals or organisations working in the field of sanitation and drinking water. Maharashtra`s Sant Gadge Baba Swachta Abhiyan (cleanliness scheme) encourages villages to be open defecation-free. Well performing villages are awarded through the Nirmal Gram Yojana.
The 59th National Film Awards were announced in New Delhi on 7 March 2012. The Chairperson of the jury, Rohini Hattangady, announced the awards.
The Best Feature Film award was shared by the films Deool (Marathi) produced by Abhijeet Gholap & directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and Byari (Byari language) produced by T.H. Althaf Hussain & directed by Suveeram. The Best Actor was given to Girish Kulkarni for the film Deool (Marathi) and Best Actress to Vidya Balan for the film The Dirty Picture (Hindi). Chillar Party (Hindi) won Best Children Film. The book titled R.D. Burman – The Man, The Music written by Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal won the Swarna Kamal for the Best Writing on Cinema category. Manoj Barpujari from Assam has been awarded Best Film Critic. Wang Shu of China won the Pritzker prize of this year, which can be called Nobel in Architecture.