Dr. Ch. Srinivasa Rao, the Director and Vice-Chancellor of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), has been conferred the 9th “Prof. MS Swaminathan Award” for the 2024-25 period in Hyderabad. The award carries a Gold Medal and a cash prize of ₹2 lakh
N Alim Yusuf, a botanist from Kerala, has been honoured with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) National Award. The award was presented during the National ECHO Youth Innovation Summit 2026, held as part of the International Youth Biodiversity Conference in Hyderabad.
He was recognised for developing ‘NeophyteID’, an AI powered mobile application that identifies 100 invasive plant species in Kerala. The application uses the YOLOv11 Machine Learning model for detection. WWF has also provided a seed grant of ₹1.5 lakh for the further development and scaling of the project.
Sayani Gupta, a Bollywood actress, has been designated as the South Asian ‘Person of the Year’ by the Harvard University South Asian Association (SAA). The honour recognises her contributions to the fields of film, storytelling, and representation.
The global media brand TIME has released the 23rd edition of the “TIME 100 Most Influential People 2026” list. Three Indian nationals featured in the publication include Sundar Pichai (the CEO of Google and Alphabet), Chef Vikas Khanna, and actor Ranbir Kapoor.
It is to be noted that the list also recognized Zohran Mamdani (the Indian-origin Mayor of New York City) and Balendra Shah (the 35-year-old PM of Nepal) as prominent young leaders.
The Indian Express Group has organized the Chetak Screen Awards 2026 in Mumbai, marking the resumption of the event after a gap of 7 years. The ceremony honoured excellence in Indian cinema and Over-the-Top (OTT) content released during the 2025 calendar year.
The spy thriller “Dhurandhar” was the most successful production, winning 14 awards from 24 nominations. Aditya Dhar was named the Best Director for the film, while Ranveer Singh won the Best Actor (Male) award and Akshaye Khanna won the Best Supporting Actor (Male) award.
It is to be noted that “Homebound”, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, won the Best Film award. Shalini Vatsa won the Best Supporting Actor (Female) award for the performance in the film, and Yami Gautam Dhar won the Best Actor (Female) award for the role in the film “Haq”.