Noted Telugu writer Prof. Kalakaluri Enoch was on 29 September 2016 conferred with Moortidevi Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith for the year 2015 at function in New Delhi. The award was given for his novel Ananta Jeevanam.
●    Born on 1 July 1939, Prof. Enoch is a former vice-chancellor of SV University.
●    He has been awarded the Padma Shri.
●    The noted Dalit voice, poet and academician was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2014 for his contributions to the field of literature.
●    He has credited over 180 poems, 180 stories, 9 novels and 30 plays.
●    Moorti Devi award was founded by Bharatiya Jnanpith and is given away to the authors who have contributed in the field of contemporary creative writing in modern Indian languages.
●    Books written in English and all Indian languages are considered for the Prize, which comprises a cash award of four lakhs rupees, a Saraswati statue and a citation plaque.

The 2016 Right Livelihood Award widely referred as the Alternative Nobel Prize was announced on 22 September 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. The laureates of this year’s Right Livelihood Award include Right Livelihood Award - Syria Civil Defence (The White Helmets), Egypt’s Mozn Hassan and Nazra for Feminist Studies, Russia’s Svetlana Gannushkina,Turkish daily Cumhuriyet
•    The laureates will share the 3.0-million-kronor (350000 dollar) prize.
•    The White Helmets of Syria was awarded for their outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement in rescuing civilians from the destruction of the Syrian civil war’. 
•    It is the first time that a Right Livelihood Award goes to a Laureate from Syria.
•    Mozn Hassan and Nazra for Feminist Studies from Egypt were awarded for asserting the equality and rights of women in circumstances where they are subject to ongoing violence, abuse and discrimination.
•    Russia’s Svetlana Gannushkina was awarded for her decades-long commitment to promoting human rights and justice for refugees and forced migrants, and tolerance among different ethnic groups.
•    The Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet was awarded for their fearless investigative journalism and commitment to freedom of expression in the face of oppression, censorship, imprisonment and death threats’

Visaranai, the Tamil docu-drama crime thriller, has been chosen India’s official entry to Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards to be held in 2017.
•    The national award-winning film, directed by Vetrimaran, and produced by actor Dhanush’s Wunderbar Films, documents four migrant workers who suffer police brutality and corruption after being jailed on false charges.
•    Part of the film is based on true events recorded in novel Lock Up, written by M. Chandrakumar, an autorickshaw driver from Coimbatore.
•    Dhanush said it was a proud and joyous moment for his production house and director Vetrimaran. 
•    The last Tamil movie that made it to the list as official entry to the Oscars was Hey Ram, directed by, and starring Kamal Haasan.
•    The film was simultaneously made in Hindi in 2000.
 

Two Indian forest officials, Sanjay Dutta and Ritesh Sarothiya, have been selected for the 2016 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards. 
•    Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards honours individuals engaging in exemplary law enforcement actions to protect wildlife.
•    Sanjay Dutta is the range officer of Belakoba Forest Range Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Ritesh Sarothiya is the assistant conservator of Madhya Pradesh State Forest.
•    The award ceremony will be held on 3 October 2016.
•    The Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards are named in memory of the late Chief of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Law Enforcement, who pioneered the Division's highly effective use of covert investigations and "sting" operations to uncover illegal wildlife trade. 
•    The awards have traditionally been presented by the Secretary-General of CITES during meetings of the Conference of the Parties.
 

Abraham Verghese, Indian-American physician-author, on 14 September 2016 was selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal.
•    Abraham Verghese is a physician-author, Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School.
•    He is also the author of three best-selling books, two memoirs and a novel.
•    In 2011, he was elected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine.
•    He was born in Ethiopia to parents from Kerala.
National Medal of Arts
•    Mel Brooks, Actor, Comedian and Writer 
•    Sandra Cisneros, Author 
•    Eugene O’Neill Theater Center 
•    Morgan Freeman, Actor 
•    Philip Glass, Composer 
•    Berry Gordy, Record Producer & Songwriter 
•    Santiago Jiménez, Jr., Musician 
•    Moises Kaufman, Director & Playwright 
•    Ralph Lemon, Dancer, Choreographer, Writer, & Visual Artist 
•    Audra McDonald, Actress & Singer 
•    Luis Valdez, Playwright, Actor, Writer & Director 
•    Jack Whitten, Painter
National Humanities Medal
•    Rudolfo Anaya, Author 
•    José Andrés, Chef & Entrepreneur 
•    Ron Chernow, Author 
•    Louise Glück, Poet 
•    Terry Gross, Radio Host & Producer 
•    James McBride, Author 
•    Louis Menand, Author 
•    Elaine Pagels, Historian & Author 
•    Prison University Project, Higher Education Program 
•    Abraham Verghese, Physician, Professor & Author 
•    Isabel Wilkerson, Journalist & Author
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984.

Ramesh Raskar, 46, an Indian-origin scientist has bagged the Lemelson-MIT Prize worth $500,000 for his groundbreaking inventions. 
•    Raskar told MIT News that he has plans to use a portion of the prize money to launch a new effort using peer-to-peer invention.
•    Nasik-born Ramesh Raskar, 46, an Indian-origin scientist has bagged the Lemelson-MIT Prize worth $500,000 for his groundbreaking inventions to create solutions to improve lives globally. 
•    He is the founder of the Camera Culture research group at the MIT Media Lab and an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences.
•    He has more than 75 patents to his name
•    He has written more than 120 reviewed publications
•    He is the co-inventor of radical imaging solutions including femto-photography, an ultra-fast imaging system that can see around corners
•    He has developed low-cost eye-care solutions for the developing world
•    He has also invented a camera that allows users to read pages of a book without opening the cover

Actor Rishi Kapoor was felicitated at the opening ceremony of the first BRICS Film Festival for his and the Kapoor family’s contribution to the field of cinema.
•    The festival, which is an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, started in New Delhi on Friday. 
•    It will feature films from the five member countries and also has a competition section.
•    The five-day festival aims at providing a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine.
•    The idea of BRICS film festival has been conceived to build bridges and bring harmony amongst the BRICS countries, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
•    The opening film for the festival will be the world premiere of the Malayalam movie, Veeram.
•    The closing film will be the Chinese movie, Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan directed by Renny Harlin.
•    In the course of 5 days of the event, 20 movies will be screened in the competition section, 4 from each of the countries.
 

Recognising it’s efforts for developing football at the grassroot level, the ‘Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society’ (SMSES) has been bestowed with National Sports Award ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’, for ‘Sports for Development’ by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. The ‘Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society’ organises the famous Subroto Cup Football Tournament, and over last six decades has made significant contribution towards development of football in the country. 
•    The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, on 23 August announced the award of ‘Sports for Development’ to ‘Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society’ along with the other annual sports awards like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Dronacharya, Arjuna Award and others. 
•    Ever since its inception in 1960, the Subroto Cup Football Tournament, named after the first Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force, Late Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee OBE, has time and again ventured into unchartered territory to ensure every child is encouraged to play football in the country. Subroto Cup, conducted by the Indian Air Force, is the largest Football tournament for school children with over 35000 Indian and Foreign teams participating each year. The tournament has made a major impact on Indian Football in recent times with increased interest in football in the country. Subroto Cup Football tournament is now recognised as a ‘Game Changer’ and a ‘Bedrock’ for nurturing talent at junior and sub-junior level in the country. 
•    Air Marshal MK Malik AVSM VSM Air Officer-in-charge Administration who is also the Vice Chairman of ‘Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society’ received the ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ on behalf of ‘Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society’ from Hon’ble President of India today at a ceremony in Rastrapati Bhawan.
 

An Iranian man who has been detained at Australia's Manus Island detention centre for over three years was awarded an international cartooning award for courage by the Cartoonist Rights Network International. 
•    Ali, who goes by the pen name Mr Eaten Fish, has been detained in Australia’s offshore immigration processing centre for more than three years.
•    The man, under the pen-name 'Eaten Fish', has documented abuses he suffered at the centre through his cartoons, pushing "through the veil of secrecy and silence".
•    CRNI is an international human rights organization with a network of more than 600 illustrators. 
•    It seeks to support and defend cartoonists facing censorship, intimidation, imprisonment, violence and death.
•    It campaigns for protection and freedom of cartoonists, and its annual award seeks to honor an individual for expressing their freedom of speech rights.
 

The Minister of Culture and Communication, France, in the third week of August 2016 selected Kamal Haasan for the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres 
The distinction is in recognition of his high level of artistic excellence and his distinguished career achievements.
•    Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director.
•    He has won several Indian film awards including four National Film Awards and 19 Film fare Awards.
•    He has starred in the highest number of films submitted by India for the Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film.
•    His breakthrough as a lead actor came in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal.
•    He won his first National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless schoolteacher who cares for a childlike amnesiac in Moondram Pirai.
•    He was honored with the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.