Updates Awards October 21-23, 2009
President Prathiba announced the Presidential awards for Tamil scholars for the year 2005-06, 06-07 and 07-08 in recognition of their contributions in Classical Tamil. Prof Adigalasiriyar has been selected for the 2005-06 Tholkappiyar award, while Tamil Scholar Goerge L Hart was chosen for the Kural Peedam Award for 2006-07. R Asravendan, Y Manikandan, S Kalaimagal, Va Mu Se Muthuramalinga Andavar and K Palanivelan were selected for the Young Scholars award for 2005-06 and S Chandra, Aranga Pari, Mu Elangovan. M Bhavani and R Kalaivani were chosen for the award for the year 2006-07. The award for the year 2007-08 would be given to A Selvarasu, P Velmurugan, A Manavalagan, S Chandrasekaran and S Simon John.
October 21, 2009: Legion de Honor to Dr Asha Pandey,
Dr Asha Pandey, Head of the Dramatics Department in Rajasthan University, has been conferred with highest French civilian award Legion de Honor. She heads Centre for French and Francophone Studies in the university, has been honoured for her contribution in expansion of French language.
Update: (December1, 2009)
Lata Mangeshkar, who is better known as the ‘Nightingale of India’, will be decorated with Insignia of Officer de la Légion d’Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour) during an official ceremony hosted by Mr. Jérôme Bonnafont, Ambassador of France to India, on 2nd December 2009, on the occasion of the opening of the French Film Festival held from 2nd to 6th December in Mumbai and part of the French cultural Festival “Bonjour India”.
October 22, 2009: Dada Saheb Falke award to Manna Dey
President Pratibha Patil honoured eminent singer Manna Dey with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema. Dey, who received a standing ovation from the audience, was felicitated with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a shawl, and a golden lotus.
October 23, 2009: Lal Bahadur Shastri award – Sunil Mittal
Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises was chosen for the prestigious ”Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management. Earlier recipients of the award included Dr E Sreedharan, Dr M S Swaminathan, Dr Naresh Trehan, Dr R A Mashelkar, Dr C P Srivastava, Ms Ela R Hatt, Mr N R Narayana Murthy, Mr Sam Pitroda and Prof C K Prahlad. The nine-member Jury led by former Home Minister Shivraj Patil in recognition of his quality business leadership chose him for this award to be presented on December 15, 2009.
