China has conferred its highest literary award on Prof. B R Deepak for his book, which is a translation of 88 classical Chinese poems into Hindi. Deepak, who is from Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU, was the first Indian to receive the "Special Book Award" for his contribution to Chinese studies, translation, publication of Chinese books and cultural exchange.
Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award for the year, 2010 was announced. The winners of this prestagious award are Mira Kagti (Assam), Dr. S.A. Thasleem Sulthana (Andhara Pradesh) and for Dr.Mallika Nadda (Himachal Pradesh). Mira Kagti established Shishu Sarothi in 1987 for providing education, rehabilitation and training services to the children suffering from Cerebral Palsy and persons with disability. Dr. S.A. Thasleem Sulthana renders service to the orphaned and mentally handicapped children and works for the welfare; rehabilitation of mentally retarded, hearing impaired, visually challenged and physically challenged children. Dr.Mallika Nadda is a leading social activist in Himachal Pradesh. She founded Chetna, at Bilaspur a civil society initiative with a vision to integrate physically and mentally challenged children. She provides voluntary services and, material in kind, equipments, surgery intervention support, clothing etc. to the children.
Six novels, five collections of short stories, seven books of poetry and one book of folk tales and plays in 24 Indian languages were selected for the 2011 Kendra Sahitya Akademi Awards for Children`s Literature. Five writers have been chosen for the Akademi`s Bala Sahitya Puraskar for lifetime contribution to children`s literature: Sailen Ghosh (Bengali), Shyam Dutt Parag (Dogri), Ramesh Parekh (Gujarati), Harikrishna Devsare (Hindi) and Maheswar Mohanty (Oriya).some of the short-story writers selected are Maheswar Narzary (Bodo), Mayanath Jha (Maithili), Dileep Prabhavalkar (Marathi), Harish B. Sharma (Rajasthani) and M. Bhoopal Reddy (Telugu).Bandita Phukan (Assamese), Siddhartha Sarma (English), Hundraj Balwani (Sindhi), N. D`souza (Kannada), Gajanan Jog (Konkani) and K. Pappootty (Malayalam) were the novelists selected for the award. Shantibala Devi (Manipuri) was chosen for her book of folk tales and plays.The awards comprise a prize purse of Rs. 50000 and a copper plaque.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for the year 2010 to recognize the achievements of persons in the fields of Adventure. The following four persons have been selected for the Adventure Awards for the year 2010:-
Ms. Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu - Land Adventure, the first Indian woment to ski 900 Kms. From coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.
Ms. Mamta Sodha - Land Adventure, scaled Mount Everst in 2010, she has scaled island Peak, 20589 fts., Shri Kanth Peak 20422 fts, Mun Peak 16000 fts, Phawara Rang Peak 21441 fts. She has also climbed Mount Everest- Eco Expedition- 29038 fts, Nepal.
Shri Dilip Donde - Water Adventure, sailed Solo on INSV Mhadei undertaking Solo Circumnavigation of the earth round the “Three Great Capes” in 273 days
Late Col. Balwant Singh Sandhu - Life Time Achievement (Posthumously)