Recent 6 months news in Awards

President Droupadi Murmu has presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the years 2024 and 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

A total of 115 eminent artists were conferred with the awards and fellowships during the investiture ceremony, including 7 artists who were awarded the Akademi Fellowship. It is to be noted that the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship is restricted to a maximum of 40 living individuals at any given time.

Prof. Deepak Dhar has been awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. He shared the award with Bernard Derrida, Marc Mezard, and Haim Sompolinsky.

He is the second scientist working in India to receive the Dirac Medal, following Ashoke Sen who won it in 2012. It is to be noted that Professor Dhar was also the first Indian to be awarded the Boltzmann Medal in 2022.

Gurcharan Das, an Indian author, has become the first Indian to be conferred with the ‘Lifetime Libertarian Award’ by the US-based Liberty International.

He received the award during the 40th Liberty International World Conference held in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is to be noedt that he is the author of the best-selling book titled “India Grows at Night”.

P Pechiyammal and Govindhammal from Tamil Nadu have been jointly conferred the “Dr. MS Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection 2026”.

Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, the Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru, has been awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Medal 2026 by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). The award was presented at the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Florence, Italy.

She is the first Indian woman scientist and the third woman globally to receive this international honour. She is also the fourth Indian recipient of the medal, following UR Rao (1996), Gurbax Lakhina (2014), and Anil Bhardwaj (2024).

Professor Karthikeyan Lanka from the IIT Bombay has been selected for the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) Young Scientist Award 2026.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia has conferred the 'Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Excellence Awards- 2025' to Amantya Technologies Pvt Ltd and Finaara for their contributions in telecom technology.

The awards were instituted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications to promote innovations in the telecom sector.

Prem K Vora, the President of the Electric Merchants Association (EMA) for 2025-26, has been honoured with the 'Rashtriya Ashok Samman' (Bharat Samman) at the National Leadership Conclave held in New Delhi.

The 2026 Fields Medals have been awarded to four mathematicians: Yu Deng, John Pardon, Jacob Tsimerman, and Hong Wang. It is to be noted that Hong Wang has become the third woman to receive this prestigious award.

Often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize of Mathematics', the Fields Medal is awarded every four years to researchers under the age of 40 for exceptional mathematical achievement. Each laureate receives a gold medal featuring the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes and a cash prize of $15,000 (Canadian Dollar - CAD).

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has been selected for the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026. The award will be presented to him by Union Minister Amit Shah on August 1.

Akanksha Choudhary from Ajmer, Rajasthan, has been crowned Mrs India 2026 at a ceremony held in Jaipur.

In another achievement, Dr. Priyanka Sharma has won the title of Mrs. Earth International Elite 2026.

Gujarat has been honoured with the 'Agriculture Leadership Award 2026' for its performance in the horticulture sector.

The award was presented by Union Minister Rajnath Singh at the 17th Agriculture Leadership Conclave-2026 held in New Delhi.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has announced the winners of the 72nd National Film Awards 2024. The Hindi film 'Article 370' won the Best Feature Film award, and Yami Gautam was honoured with the Best Actress (Leading Role) award for her performance in the same film.

The Best Actor award was jointly conferred upon Mammootty for 'Bramayugam' and Kartik Aaryan for 'Chandu Champion'. Rajkumar Periasamy won the Best Direction award for the Tamil film 'Amaran', and Randeep Hooda was recognised as the Best Debut Director.

Dr. Nandini Azad, the President of the Working Women's Forum (India) (WWF-I) and the Indian Cooperative Network for Women (ICNW), has been conferred with the Bharat Samman 2026.

India has won 4 gold medals at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026 held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The gold medallists are Debadatta Priyadarshi (Bhubaneshwar, Odisha), Harshit Singla (Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab), Kabeer Chillar (Delhi), and Sandeep Kuchi (Hyderabad).

India also achieved 1 gold and 3 silver medals at the 37th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) 2026 held in Vilnius, Lithuania. Bhavyaa Gunwal from Mahendragarh, Haryana, won the gold medal.

The Anti-Money Laundering Division (AMLD) of Taiwan has won the Best Egmont Case Award (BECA) 2026, which is one of the highest honours of the Egmont Group.

The Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) was named the runner-up.

Nita Ambani, the Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, has been honoured with the 'Fortune India Most Powerful Women (MPW)' award at an event held in Mumbai. Roshni Nadar, the CEO of HCL Technologies, has been ranked second in the list.

India achieved a perfect golden sweep at the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

The Indian contingent, comprising Kanishk Jain, Riddhesh Bendale, Rishit Garg, Shresth Suraiya, and Svarit Joshi, secured a joint No.1 World Rank alongside China, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been named the global winner of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2026. The award was conferred under Action Line C6 - Enabling Environment for its flagship project, 'Samriddh Gram: Integrated Phygital Service Delivery Model Enabled by BharatNet'.

The recognition was presented during the WSIS Forum 2026 held in Geneva. The WSIS Prizes, instituted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), honour Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects that advance sustainable development.

The Jestha Varna Mahavihar, a historic Buddhist monastery located in Lalitpur, Nepal (also known as Jyaba Bahi or Chakrabahil), has been conferred with the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award 2025. The award recognises the outstanding conservation and restoration work undertaken following the damage caused by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.

It is to be noted that the restoration project was supported by the Government of India (GoI) through its post-earthquake cultural heritage reconstruction grant, with financial assistance of NPR 13.78 crore.