January 2013

CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Award for Excellence

The Computer Society of India (CSI) on 22 November 2012 adjudged Ministry of External Affairs’ Passport Seva Project as the most significant e-Governance initiative of the Government of India undertaken during 2011-12. The final selection for the award was done after a multi-stage evaluation, which included field visits to Passport Seva Kendras. The Computer Society of India is the largest association of IT professionals in India. It joined hands with Nihilent Technologies in the year 2002 to institute CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards for recognising successful efforts in application of ICT for good governance. The Ministry of External Affairs is improving governance in Passport Offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency. The intended benefits to common man are service provisioning in a transparent manner within defined service levels, closer and larger number of access points for services, easy availability of a portfolio of on-line services with real-time status tracking and enquiry, availability of good public facilities at PSKs and an effective system of grievance redressal. The award is a clear recognition that enhanced usage of ICT as envisioned in the Passport Seva Project has brought about transformation in the functioning of the Passport Offices and delivery of public service to citizens.

Kyoto Prize

Renowned literary critic and educator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak on 10 November 2012 was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Kyoto. Kyoto Prize was instituted by the Inamori Foundation. It honours those personalities who had significantly contributed to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, is professor at Columbia University in the U.S. She won the award in the Arts and Philosophy category for her “deep thinking on humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to globalisation”. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak shifted the critical theory of “deconstruction” into political and social dimensions, and had applied a sharp scalpel to intellectual colonialism which is being reproduced in our heavily globalised modern world, said the Foundation.

Gayatri Chakravorty exemplifies what intellectuals today should be, through her theoretical work for the humanities based on comparative literature and her devotion to multifaceted educational activities. Also, U.S. computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, regarded as a father of computer graphics, won the Advanced Technology Prize while Japanese molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Basic Sciences Prize. Each laureate received a diploma, a 20K gold Kyoto Prize medal and a cash gift of ¥50 million ($630,000).

NETPAC Award at Kolkata Film Festival

The Chinese film, 11 Flowers on 17 November 2012 won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Award at 18th Kolkata International Film Festival. The film won the best film award in Asian Select category-the only competitive category in Kolkata International Film Festival. A total of 13 films from 12 12 Asian Countries were selected to compete for the award of this category. The film directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai describes the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution in form of a semi-autobiographical story of the rural Guizhou Province.

Wang Jinchun and Wenqing Liu are the lead stars of the film. The NETPAC award is now a part of 44 film festivals of 28 different countries across five continents.

13th Annual Greentech Environment Award

Indian Oil’s Mathura Refinery was awarded the Platinum Award in the 13th Annual Greentech Environment Awards. The award was felicitated on 31 October 2012. Mathura Refinery was awarded in regard to the company’s outstanding achievements and contribution to apt implementation of environmental friendly technologies and methodologies. Greentech Awards is a key component that values the need of environmental management in business sustainability.

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