Recent 6 months news in Awards

Roger Federer, a Swiss tennis professional, has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF).

Mary Carillo, a tennis journalist and broadcaster, was also inducted into the ITHF under the “Contributor Category” for her contributions to tennis media and storytelling. The induction is considered one of the most prestigious honours in the sport.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has been selected for the special “Rajbhasha Utkrishtta Sammaan” for the 2025-26 period. The award is conferred by the Department of Official Language (DoL) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

It is to be noted that DARPG secured the first position in the category of Ministries and Departments with a personnel strength of fewer than 300 for its efforts in promoting Hindi as the Official Language.

Ashutosh Parida, a renowned Odia poet and former scientist, has been selected for the 47th edition of the Sarala Puraskar for his poetry collection titled “Bishwas De Pruthwi” (2024). The award carries a cash prize of ₹7 lakh.

The Publications Division under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has won seven awards for excellence in book production at the 46th edition of the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) Awards 2026.

The accolades secured by the division comprise four Second Prizes and three Third Prizes across various categories.

Dr Jal Ratanji Patel (a physician) and Dr Jal Dhaybho-Koo (a radiologist), Mumbai-based Parsi doctors, have been nominated for the “Nishan-e-Imtiaz”, the highest civilian award of Pakistan.

The nomination is given recognising their role in maintaining the confidentiality of the terminal illness of Muhammad Ali Jinnah prior to the Partition of India in 1947.

Kaziah Liz Mejo, a 19-year-old from Kerala, has won the Miss Universe India 2026 title at an event organised by the Glamanand Group in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

With this, she has become the first woman from Kerala to secure the title.

It is to be noted that she will officially represent India at the 75th Miss Universe pageant, scheduled to be held in November 2026 in Puerto Rico.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has presented the 9th National Anubhav Awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The awards were conferred alongside the 60th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop.

A total of 15 awardees were honoured, including 5 Anubhav awardees and 10 Jury Certificate winners. The recipients of the National Anubhav Awards received a medal, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹10,000. It is to be noted that the ‘Handbook on Pension Mitra’ and the operational guidelines for the ‘Nationwide Digital Life Certificate (DLC) Campaign-5’ were also released during the event.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the National Sports Awards 2025. The winners were selected based on the recommendations of a committee chaired by Arun Kumar Mishra, a former judge of the Supreme Court.

A total of 17 athletes have been selected for the Arjuna Award, including Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Treesa Jolly (Badminton), and Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton). I Arumainayagam, a former footballer and 1962 Asian Games gold medallist, was honoured with the Arjuna Award (Lifetime) for his long-term contributions.

The Dronacharya Award (Regular) was presented to Parveer Singh (Athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing), and Neha Nandkumar Chavan (Shooting), while the Lifetime category recognized Dharmendra Singh Yadav (Boxing) and Virender Kumar (Wrestling). Additionally, the Army Paralympic Node in Pune, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

Lakshmanan Meyyappan, an Indian-origin finance professional based in Dubai, has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the youngest male Chartered Accountant (CA) in the world. He achieved this milestone at the age of 16 years and 141 days.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has conferred the “Gaj Gaurav Awards 2026” during the national celebrations of World Elephant Day in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

7 Mahouts and Elephant Handlers from Jaldapara National Park in West Bengal were honoured with the award. They were recognised for their exceptional bravery during severe flash floods.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has organised the “PMIS Industry Awards 2026” in New Delhi to recognize partner companies participating in the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS). Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd was named the “Overall Industry Champion” during the ceremony.

HDFC Bank was conferred the “Pre-Internship Excellence Award”, and Shriram Finance Ltd received the “Internship Management Excellence Award”. Additionally, IBM India Pvt Ltd was recognized for “Innovation in Program Implementation”, while Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (POWERGRID) was honoured for “Innovation in Exit Pathways”.

Dr Padma Gurmet has been conferred the Ladakh State Award for the year 2025 in recognition of his contributions to the preservation, promotion, and development of the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine.

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.