June 2012 • Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received her honourary degree from Oxford University. The leader of Myanmar's opposition is being honoured on 20 june at the university's Encaenia ceremony, in which it presents honourary degrees to distinguished people.Suu Kyi, who is making her first visits outside of her native country in 24 years, was awarded the honourary doctorate in civil law in 1993 but was unable to collect it under house arrest in Myanmar.She studied philosophy, politics and economics at St. Hugh's College in Oxford between 1964 and 1967. • Bulu Imam of Jharkhand and Binayak Sen of Chhattisgarh has been invited to receive the Gandhi Foundation International Peace award 2011 at a function to be organized at the House of Lords in the UK on June 12.While individual letter of invitation has been sent to both of them, the citation released by the Gandhi Foundation on its website reads that the duo have been selected for the international peace award for their humanitarian work and their practice of non-violence. The Foundation honours individuals or groups annually based on their work in the field of promoting or practising Gandhian philosophy. Hazaribag-based Bulu Imam has been selected for the award in the wake of his non- violent approach in protesting coal mining and environmental damage to Upper Damodar Valley (Karnapura) because of open cast coal mines. • Israeli scientist Daniel Hillel won the World Food Prize 2012 on 13 June 2012. The work and motivation of Daniel Hillel built the bridge between the divisions and to promote peace and understanding in the Middle East by advancing a breakthrough achievement. His works contributed to agriculture-dominated economies. He applied the method of micro-irrigation, which maximizes the efficiency of water usage in agriculture. World Food Prize is an international award. This award recognizes the importance of water for agricultural purposes. Dr. Hillel will be formally presented with the cash prize of 250000 dollar award in October 2012 at United States. The World Food Prize award is chaired by M.S. Swaminathan. He is Indian agricultural scientist Professor and the first World Food Prize laureate. • Sachin Tendulkar was conferred upon the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award for completing a century of 100 international hundreds, in Dubai on 11 June 2012. Tendulkar was presented a trophy at an event organised by FidelisWorld. Tendulakar achieved the incredible feat while playing against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in March 2012. He has total 49 One-Day International centuries and 51 Test centuries to his credit. July 2012 • Vandana Shiva to receive Fukuoka Prize in Japan this year: The Government of Japan on 23 July 2012 decided to honour renowned Indian Environmentalist Vandana Shiva with Fukuoka Prize 2012. She enlightens people about the ideas for the love of nature. She is the director of The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. Dr. Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, an NGO which was established in the year 1991. She commenced her work in the field of conservation of traditionally used seeds, organic farming and fair trade. In 1993, she had received Right Livelihood Award that is known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. Fukuoka Prize is the prestigious award and given to those people who contribute to the academy, arts and culture in Asia. Earlier, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Padma Subrahmanyam, Romila Thapar and Ashis Nandy were the famous personalities who were honoured by this award. She penned several books including, Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace, The Violence of the Green Revolution, Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology, and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India. She also set up an international college for sustainable living in the year 2001. • Magasaysay award for TN activist Kulandei Francis: Indian social activist Kulandei Francis, who gave up being a priest to devote himself entirely to social work in Tamil Nadu, is among the six individuals from across Asia who has been chosen for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards for 2012. Kulandei Francis is being recognised for "his visionary zeal, his profound faith in community energies, and his sustained programmes in pursuing the holistic economic empowerment of thousands of women and their families in rural India. The others chosen for the prizes, announced by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) in Manila today, are Ms Chen Shu-Chu from Taiwan, Mr Romulo Davide from the Phillipines, Ms Syeda Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh, Mr Yang Saing Koma of Cambodia and Mr Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto from Indonesia. Established in 1957, the Award is Asia's highest honor and is widely regarded as the region's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine President, and is given every year to individuals or organizations in Asia who manifest the same sense of selfless service that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader. • Sridevi Vedula Sarma gets US Prez award: US President Barack Obama has named four Indian-American scientists among 96 researchers as recipients of the prestigious presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers on 23, July. The awards bestowed on Sridevi Vedula Sarma, Pawan Sinha, Parag A. Pathak and Biju Parekkadan is the highest honour given by the US Government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Established in 1996, the awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach • Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik won double Gold medal at Spain: Indian Sand Artist Sudarshan Pattnaik(Orissa) won People's Choice Gold Medal Award in Moscow on 18 July 2012. It was the Second World Sand Sculpture Championship. He sculpted the copy of the face of The Showman of the Millennium Raj Kapoor, while the theme of the competition was WORLD CINEMA. Sudarshan Pattnaik had also won Berlin World Championship 2008. He had also won his first Prize in Copenhagen Sand Sculpture Championship in Denmark. He also won two gold medals and a trophy in Solo International Sand Sculpture contest 2012. • Manipal University has bagged the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for 2012. Karan Singh conferred the award at the 14th World Congress on environment management in Delhi on 8 july. Dr Ramdas M Pai, chairman, Manipal Education and Medical Group earlier had received Golden Peacock Lifetime Achievement Award for 2011 in recognition of his contribution in fields of education and healthcare on January 22, 2012.A jury chaired by Justice PN Bhagwati, former CJI and member, UN Human Rights Commission selected Manipal University for the award. • Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation in New york on 27 june for innovation in philanthropy.Tata was honored by the foundation for incorporating public good into the business model of the Tata Group. Aug 2012 • Aditi Mukherjee, a Delhi based scientist, won the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award in Field Research and Application. Mukherjee was picked for the award for her work in transforming access to water for thousands of farmers in West Bengal. The award will be formally presented to Mukherji on 17 October 2012 in Des Moines, Iowa, US. Mukherji, 37, is a senior researcher at the Delhi office of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The international award is conferred by the World Food Prize Foundation, which was started by Norman Borlogue, the father of Green Revolution in India. The award carries 10000 dollar cash prize. The Borlaug Award is restricted to scientists under 40. • The Castrol awards for cricketing excellence honoured the players, as Ajit Wadekar, who bagged the lifetime achievement award, and Unmukt Chand, who topped the ‘Junior cricketer’ category. The other awards are- Indian cricketer of the year — M.S. Dhoni, special award for- Yuvraj Singh. Test-cricketer-of-the-year award - Rahul Dravid , while the limited-over category honours went to Suresh Raina and Sachin Tendulkar took the batsman-of-the-year trophy and the best bowler award - R. Ashwin. Other awards: Performance in the World Cup: Yuvraj Singh; 100th hundred: Tendulkar; Extraordinary double century in ODIs: Virender Sehwag; Performance under pressure: Gautam Gambhir (World Cup final); Stand-out performance under pressure: Virat Kohli. • Physics professor of Johns Hopkins University, Charles L Bennett, was awarded with the Gruber Cosmology Prize 2012 in Beijing at the opening ceremony of the 28th Conference of the International Astronomical Union on 22 August 2012. This award was given to him acknowledging his immense contribution to the world of physics. Bennett, a prominent physicist, led a 26-member team that worked on NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The findings of the study helped astronomers refine their understanding of the age, shape and makeup of the universe. • Dr PKB Patnaik has bagged the Damien-Dutton Award for 2012. He is now working as the State Leprosy Officer , Odisha. Dr Patnaik has been selected for the award in recognition of his more than 25 years of concern and dedication to the victims of leprosy in India and for his direct involvement in making the multi-drug therapy available to the people affected by leprosy and goal to eliminate leprosy from the State, which has been achieved. The Damien-Dutton Society for Leprosy AID INC was founded in the year 1944 by the Staff Sgt Howard E Crouch, Medical Corps US Army.Dr Patnaik is also Honorary Secretary, Hind Kustha Nivaran Sangh, Odisha State Branch appointed by the Governor since 1996. • In a rare honour, eminent Urdu litterateur, Padmabhushan award winner, Professor Gopi Chand Narang’s(81) name figured in the list of civilian honours announced by Pakistan on the eve of its Independence Day.