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Indian Awards

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National Awards

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Sahitya Akademi Awards

The prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards for 1999 were presented to 22 writers in as many languages. The awardees include Nabaneeta Dev Sen in Bengali, Vinod Kumar Shukla (Hindi), Abdul Rahman (Tamil), Vallampati Venkata Subbaiah (Telugu) and C V Sreeraman (Malayalam). Three awards were given posthumously to A K Ramanujam (English), D R Nagaraj (Kannada) and Kuldeep Singh Jindharia (Dogri). Other awardees are Medini Choudhury (Assamese), Niranjan Bhagat (Gujarati). Rashid Nazki (Kashmiri), Saratchandra Shenoi (Konkani), Saketanand (Maithili), Lanchenba Meetei (Manipuri), Ranganath Pathare (Marathi), Bikram Bir Thapa (NepaIi), Hariprasad Das (Oriya), Niranjan Tasneem (Punjabi), Vasu Acharya (Rajasthani), Sriniwas Rath (Sanskrit), Vasudev Mohi (Sindhi) and Bashir Badr (Urdu). Each award comprises of a casket containing an inscribed copper plaque and a cheque for Rs 25,000.

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships

Twenty-six eminent artists, including the doyen of Kathak dance Birju Maharaj, playwright Vijay Tendulkar instrumentalist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Hindustani vocalists Rajan and Sajan Mishra, actor Soumitra Mukherjee and percussionist Karaikudi Mani received the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards. Among the others presented the awards were Hindustani vocalists Puttaraj Gavaigalu and Parween Sultana Lhan, tabla doyen Pandhrainath Gangadhar Nageshkar, Carnatic vocalist B V Subramanya Raman, Carnatic instrumentalists Ranganayaki Rajagopalan (veena) and M S Anantharaman (violin). For classical dance, Lakshmi Viswanathan (Bharatnatyam), Kottakal Sivaraman (Kathakali), Ningobam Madhabi Devi (Manipuri), Veeranala Jayarama Rao and Banashree Rao (Kuchipudi) and Kalamandalam Kshemavathy (Mohiniattam) were given the awards.

Rashtriya Samman

Prof K. Haridasa Upadhyaya, renowned Sanskrit scholar and former principal of S.M.S.P. Sanskrit College, Udupi , has been selected for the Rashtriya Samman (national felicitation) 1999 by National Sanskrit Samsthana of Human Resource Development Ministry.

National Awards For Child Welfare

The National Awards for child welfare-1999 were given to five institutions and an individual for their outstanding voluntary action in the field of child development and welfare. The awards instituted in 1979 carries a cash prize of Rs two lakh and a citation for institutions & Rs 50,000 and a citation for the individual. The institutions which were given the awards were SOS children's village, Balgran, Jammu, Anupama Education Society, Satna, Madhya Pradesh, Society for Rehabilitation of Spastic children, Aizawl, Mizoram, Jawaharlal Nehru memorial institute for the handicapped, south Sikkim and Dakshin Kalikata Sevashram, Calcutta. In the individual category, the award was given to J. Viswanathan who runs an orphanage in Thanjavur district,Tamil Nadu.

National Awards For Protecting And Preserving The Environment

Three prestigious annual national awards are given for protecting and preserving the environment -- the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshmitra Puraskar and the National Award for Control of Industrial Pollution.

Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award

The Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award was instituted by the Central Government in 1986 to recognise and encourage efforts by individuals, government agencies, NGOs, panchayats and schools engaged in promoting afforestation programmes. The Award consists of a medal, a citation and Rs 50,000 in cash. The 1997 Award went to Vikram Sarabhai Centre for Development Interaction (VIKSAT) in the voluntary sector category. VIKSAT has facilitated regeneration of over 11,500 hectares of degraded forest land through 50 Tree Growers Co-operative Societies (TGCS). In the individual category the Award was given to Mrs Saalumarada Thimmakka, for creating awareness among the people of Karnataka about afforestation.

Stree Shakti Puraskar

The Stree Shakti Puraskars, constituted by the Department of Women and Child Development of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, are named after eminent women in Indian history i.e. Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Rani Lakshml Bai, Mata Jijabai, Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang and Kannagi, to five individual women who have made an outstanding contribution in fields such as social development, education, empowerment of women for community and political participation, support and rehabilitation of women and children, environment protection, health, creating awareness and consciousness on women issues. One of the awards is to recognize the personal achievements by a woman in difficult circumstances. The evaluation and selection is done by a National Screening Committee specially constituted for the purpose which decides the Awards from amongst the nominations received from the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. Nominations can be made by the Members of the Parliament, Members of the Legislative Assemblies, academic professionals, non-Governmental organisations of repute and other eminent persons. The Award carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation.