General Awareness Updates – December 2009

Awards & Honours

Moortidevi Award

Union Law Minister and accomplished writer, Veerappa Moily (right), has been declared the winner of the prestigious Moortidevi Award for his book ‘Shri Ramayan Mahaniveshanam’, which is considered as the best Ramayana in Kannada after Kuvempu’s.

The Moortidevi Award is considered the most prestigious literary award in the country after the Bharatiya Jnanpith. This award is presented every year for a contemplative or creative work, which expresses, underlines and illumines human values rooted in the broad vision of Indian philosophy and cultural heritage. The objective of the Award is to foster social and individual commitment to higher values of life through the medium of literature in its larger sense.

While Mr. Moily received the 21st edition of the Moortidevi Award, the 20th edition of the award went to Krishna Bihari Mishra for ‘Kalpataru ke Utsav Leela’.

Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration

Balraj Puri (left), noted journalist, writer and human rights activist, has been honoured with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration. He has been conferred the award for his contribution to peace, national unity, communal harmony and human rights, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.

The award was instituted by the Indian National Congress party in 1985, its centenary year, to give recognition to outstanding contribution to national integration and understanding by individuals or institutions.

Born in 1928, Mr. Puri began his career in journalism in 1942 and since then has worked in or edited several publications. As Director of the Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, he has focussed attention on social and economic issues facing the state through seminars and research.