Dec 2011 Awards

World renowned architect and Goa’s Charles Correa was bestowed with Goa's highest civilian honour, the Gomant Vibhushan, on the eve of the Golden Jubiliee of Goa's Liberation. The award was presented to him by Goa governor K Shankaranarayanan. Correa is the second recipient of the Gomant Vibhushan, the first being eminent nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar, who was awarded the Gomant Vibhushan in 2010. Correa has earlier been conferred with India's Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

Twenty-two writers were selected for the prestigious Sahitya Akademi awards for2011. Eight books of poetry, seven novels, three essays and one each short story, narrative history; biography and play were selected for the awards. Writers in 23 languages are recongised every year by the Akademi. The awards that are given every year and contain an engraved cooper plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh. Tamil novelist Su Venkatesan's , debut novel Kaval Kottam earned him the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil section. The book is about the 600-year old history of the city of Madurai and a security system that prevailed there. Hindi novelist, Kashinath singh was also selected. Lalit Magotra (Dogri), Grace (Marathi) and Samala Sadasiva (Telugu) received the award for their books on essays. Historian Ramachandra Guha was chosen for the award for his book of narrative history - India after Gandhi.

The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences on 21 December 2011 chose Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to be posthumously honoured with a Grammy award for his contribution to music technology. Jobs is to be honoured as a creative visionary. He is one of 11 people who will be honoured with special awards. Jobs, who died on 5 October 2011 of pancreatic cancer, will receive a Trustees Award on 13 February 2012 for helping create products that transformed the way music, TV, movies and books are consumed.

Hema Malini, Veteran Bollywood actress, was named the person of the year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA named her the Person of the Year for raising her voice to oppose cruelty to animals and her staunch commitment to a vegetarian diet.The Dream Girl on behalf of PETA had recently appealed to the minister of Environment and Forests to take immediate steps to end the cruel tradition of jallikattu. Jallikattu is a sport event in Tamil Nadu in which terrified bulls are kicked, punched, jumped on, dragged to the ground and otherwise tormented.

Jamil Ahmad was declared the winner of the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his book The Wandering Falcon at the British Council in New Delhi on 21 December 2011. The Wandering Falcon, is a narrative about the lives of tribal people along the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. The book contained personal sights, sounds, actual faces and conversations. The book that has won critical acclaim worldwide was written decades ago . He started writing the book in 1971, it was completed by 1973 .Born in Jalandhar in 1933, Jamil Ahmad is a Pakistani national. The prize is set up in memory of writer and editor Shakti Bhatt.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Hamid Ansari released two books Expression of Thoughts (English) and Izhar-e-Khayal (Urdu) authored by K.Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on 19 December 2011.The books in English and Urdu are compilation of his selected speeches on various subjects like Parliament, democracy and governance, economy and business, besides issues of equity, justice and secularism, women empowerment and development.

The Forbes' 30 under 30 list was prepared by selecting young turks from 12 diverse fields including energy, finance, media, law, entertainment, science, design and technology. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, human rights activist Ronan Farrow and pop stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are also included in Forbes magazine's list of top-achieving people under age 30.The list released in December 2011 included 10 people of Indian origin.Some of the the Indian-origin people on the list is 17 year old Param Jaggi, a student and inventor at Austin College. Jaggi created algae-filled device that fits over a car's tailpipe and turns carbon dioxide into oxygen. Vivek Nair, Chief Executive of Damascus Fortune, who is developing a technology that transforms industrial carbon emissions into carbon nanotubes was also named in the list. Manvir Nijhar, Co-Head of European Equity Derivatives Sales at Citigroup was named as well. Kunal Shah, the youngest Managing Director at Goldman Sachs was also included in the list.

Lord Swraj Paul, leading NRI industrialist was conferred with the Life Time Achievement award for his outstanding contributions in various fields. The award, instituted by an Indian company Powerbrands, was presented to Lord Paul on 12 December 2011 by Subrata Roy, chief of the Sahara Group. Paul was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1983. He was elevated to the British Peerage in 1996.Raghupati Singhania of J K Tyres was earlier given the Powerbrands Hall of Fame Award.

S.R. Nathan, former President of the Republic of Singapore presented the Sangita Kalanidhi M.S. Subbulakshmi Award to Trichy Sankaran at the inauguration of the 85th annual conference of the Music Academy in Chennai on 15 December 2011. Trichy Sankaran is the mridangam maestro.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, the Indian origin American physician who won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, has added another literary accolade by winning the Guardian First Book Award for his “biography” of cancer. Mukherjee is assistant professor of Medicine at Columbia University.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh presented the K. Karunakaran Foundation Best Administrator of India Award- 2011 to Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee at a function in New Delhi. Pranab Mukherjee has been selected as the first person to receive this award.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the National Energy Conservation Awards 2011 in New Delhi. Prominent winners from Andhra Pradesh are GMR Hyderabad International Airport, KCP Cement and South Central Railway, Secunderabad received awards.

18-year old Jyoti Amge from Nagpur, Maharashtra received Guinness World Record as the shortest women in the world with the height of 62.8 cm

Akkineni International Foundation announced ANR National Award 2011 for Bollywood actress Hemamalini. The award will carry Rs.5 lakh cash prize. ANR Award was first awarded to Devanand in 2005

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented the Justice P.N. Bhagwati Award to O.P. Jindal Global University chancellor and managing director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Naveen Jindal on 6 December 2011. The award was conferred upon Jindal for his outstanding contribution to legal education and corporate philanthropy. Justice P.N. Bhagwati Award has been instituted by the Capital Foundation. The Bhagwati Award was also given to Arun Mohan, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to access to justice.

The 42nd edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held in Panaji, Goa from 23 November to 3 December 2011. Film star Shah Rukh Khan inaugurated the 42nd edition of IFFI. The inaugural ceremony was marked by presentation of Life Time Achievement award to french filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier by Shah Rukh Khan.

The Golden Peacock Award for the Best Film was given to a Columbian Film Porfirio.

The Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Female) category was given to the actor Nadezhda Markina for her role in the Russian film Elena. Whereas, the Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor (Male) category was won by Sasson Gabey for his role in an Israeli film Restoration.

The Special Jury Award was presented to Salim Ahamed for directing Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu meaning Abu, Son of Adam.

Three girls, Sangeeta Bauri, Bina Kalindi and Mukti Majhi from Purilia village in West Bengal were honoured by President of India Pratibha Patil with Rs.10,000 cash prize each for opposing the forcible marriage arranged by parents.

The Karnataka State government on 1 December 2011 announced its decision to confer the prestigious Basava Sri Award for the year 2010 on noted environment activist Medha Patkar. Social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was chosen for the Basava award for the year 2010 for excellence in service in the social sector.