Current Affairs June 2020 - Awards

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1 - Major Suman Gawani wins Military Gender Advocate award from UN

Major Suman Gawani of theIndian Army, who served as a women peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in 2019, has been awarded with the prestigious - United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the year Award. She received this award along with a Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.

Major Suman served as a Military observer in United Nations Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS from November 2018 to December 2019. She encouraged participation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions.

2 - South African scientist Quarraisha Abdool Karim won Christophe Merieux Prize

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, the Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), was awarded with the prestigious Christophe Mérieux Prize for 2020. The Institut de France, which runs the prize, praised her work tracing "the cycle of transmission" of the virus, with "young women generally getting it from men 10 years their senior".

Abdool Karim is best known for a study that found that a gel of the anti-retroviral drug tenofovir was effective in reducing the risk of women catching HIV and genital herpes during sex.

3 - Socio Economic and Educational Development Society of Patna won World No Tobacco Day 2020 award

Every year, WHO recognizes individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. This recognition takes the form of WHO Director-General Special Recognition Award and World No Tobacco Day Awards. Socio Economic and Educational Development Society of Patna, Bihar was one of the awardees in South-East Asia Region.

The WHO Director-General Special award was given to Dr Mom Kong, Executive Director, Cambodia Movement for Health, Cambodia.

4 - Javed Akhtar became first Indian to receive Richard Dawkins Award

Poet, lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar became the first Indian ever to receive the Richard Dawkins Award. Dawkins award honors a distinguished individual every year from the field of science, scholarship, education, or entertainment for upholding scientific truth, critical thinking, advancing human progress and humanist values.

Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. Previous recipients include American TV host Bill Maher and English-American writer Christopher Hitchens.

5 - Indian-American soil scientist Rattan Lal named for 2020 World Food Prize

Eminent Indian-American soil scientist Rattan Lal has been named as recipient of the World Food Prize 2020. He was awarded for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production that conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.

Lal, a native of India and a citizen of the United States, serves as Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and founding Director of the Carbon Management & Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University (OSU).

6 - Renjith Kumar awarded “NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal”

Indian Aerospace entrepreneur, Renjith Kumar was honoured with “NASA Distinguished Service Medal” for his administration to NASA. He worked for NASA for over 30 years and contributed to updating the International Space Stations (ISS). Presently, he is CEO Emeritus of the Virginia based Analytical Mechanics Associates (AMA).

The NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal is an award similar to the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, but awarded to non-government personnel. This is the highest honor NASA awards to anyone who was not a government employee when the service was performed.

7 - Chef Angad Singh Rana won Quality NZ Culinary Cup 2020

Chef Angad Singh Rana won the New Zealand’s first ‘Virtual’ Chef competition – the ‘Quality NZ Culinary Cup SEAFOOD CHALLENGE’ held in India. Chef Vaibhav Bhargava won the QualityNZ Culinary Cup MUTTON/LAMB CHALLENGE.

The panel of judges included the heads of the Culinary Association, Chef Davinder Kumar, Chef Salil Fadnis, Chef Jugesh Arora and former cricketer Stephen Fleming. The QualityNZ Culinary Cup 2020 is supported by the South India Chef’s Association, the Indian Culinary Forum and the Western India Culinary Association.

8 - Hyderabad’s Deccan Development Society won Monaco Foundation Award

Hyderabad-based Deccan Development Society has won the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Award, one of the most coveted environmental awards in the world for the year 2020. The award of 40,000 Euros has been given to the society “in recognition of the work of DDS women to rehabilitate degraded lands and promote biodiversity”.

The prestigious award is given to organisations with a “deep commitment to preserving the planet”. The award was announced by Olivier Wenden, Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

9 - Amartya Sen to be awarded the 2020 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade

Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen has won the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade 2020. He was granted the peace prize for addressing questions around social inequality in education and healthcare. The award carries a cash prize of €25,000 euros ($28,000).

The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has been awarded annually since 1950. Its aim is to honor individuals "who have made an outstanding contribution to the realization of the idea of peace primarily through his activities in the fields of literature, science and art."

10 - Folk artist Gulabbai Sangamnerkar to get lifetime honour

The Maharashtra government announced to honour folk artist Gulabbai Sangamnerkar with the Vithabai Narayangaokar lifetime achievement award. The Sangeetacharya Annasaheb Kirloskar musical theatre lifetime achievement award will be conferred upon veteran theatre actress-singer Madhuvanti Dandekar.

Sangamnerkar will receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a memento. She has been performing since the age of nine. Dandekar will also receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a memento. Her career in theatre spans more than five decades.