Competition Commission of India (CCI) Nominated for GCR Awards 2013

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was nominated for the Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards 2013 in the category Agency of the Year-Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa in the last week of March 2013. This is the first time that CCI was nominated for internationally acclaimed award.
 
Other agencies that were nominated in Agency of the Year-Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa category include Pakistan’s Competition Commission, Turkey’s Competition Authority and Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.

About Competition Commission of India (CCI):-

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established by the Government of India with effect from 14 October 2003.
• CCI achieves its objectives through The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, which follows the philosophy of modern competition laws. The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A.
• It includes a Chairperson as well as the members who are appointed by the Government of India.
• The primary aim of Competition Commission of India (CCI) is to eliminate the practices which have adverse effect on competition. Its aim is to protect the consumers’ interests and make sure that there is freedom of trade in Indian markets.
• The purpose of CCI is to give opinion on competition issues, create public awareness as well as impart training on the competition issues.

About Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards:-

• Global Competition Review (GCR) is the leading antitrust and competition law journal and news service of the world.
• Every year Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards are given away with an aim of recognising achievements of competition authorities, economic consultancies, private practice firms, academic organisations and corporate legal departments in the previous year.
Winners of Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards 2013 will be announced on 9 April 2013 at GCR's 3rd Annual Awards Dinner in Washington, DC.

Madhya Pradesh bagged Awards for Best Civic Management of a Tourist Destination

Madhya Pradesh on 18 March 2013 bagged two national tourism awards. One for the best civic management of a tourist destination and other for the most innovative and unique tourism project in the 23rd National Tourism Award.

Madhya Pradesh which is known for tourism hotspots received the awards from President Pranab Mukherjee at a function held for National Tourism Awards 2011-12 in New Delhi, at Vigyan Bhawan.

The state received the award in category-‘B’ city for Municipal Council of Mandu in Dhar district. It also got another award for most innovative and unique tourism project-Air Taxi.

The state has pioneered in the country to launch the first intra-state Air Taxi services through MPSTDC, in a joint venture with M/s Ventura Air connect Pvt Ltd.

Madhya Pradesh Air Taxi Project

Madhya Pradesh was the first state in the country to offer air taxi services. The Madhya Pradesh Air Taxi project provided a boost to tourism sector and also for commercial activities. The wild life, sports, adventure, religious and leisure tourism have received a big boost with the Air taxi project. Air connectivity to remote areas has a direct impact on in its prosperity. It influences hotel occupancy, taxi usage and its allied activities. The Air taxi connections will provide easy accessibility to cities with tourist interest and business potential.

Toyo Ito, the Japanese Architect Declared As the Winner of 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Toyo Ito, the Japanese architect was declared as the winner of 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize on 18 March 2013. The Pritzker Architecture Prize is said to be the most prestigious and richest award of architecture. Often, this prize is also referred as the Nobel Prize of Architecture.

71-year-old Toyo Ito is the sixth Japanese architect to win this prize. Others who won the prize include late Kenzo Tange, the designer of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (in 1987), Fumihiko Maki (in 1993), Tadao Ando, the designer of Church of the Light (in 1995) and team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (in 2010).
 
He will win 100000 US Dollars as well as a bronze medal at the official Pritzker ceremony will take place on 29 May 2013 at John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

About Toyo Ito:-

• Toyo Ito was born in Seoul to the Japanese parents.
• He has a career spanning over duration of 50 years. His initial focus was on the minimalist residences. Later, his projects included Mikimoto in the glitzy Omotesando, flagship stores for Tod’s and Ginza districts.
• He is best renowned for Sendai Mediatheque, the public library as well as art gallery which was completed in 2001.
• His notable creation also includes Municipal Funeral Hall in Gifu in Japan, arch-filled Tama Art University library in suburban Tokyo as well as White O residence in Marbella in Chile.

Other honours received by Toyo Ito:-

• In 2010, the 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu
• In 2006, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal
• In 2002, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for 8th Venice Biennale International Exhibition

About the Pritzker Architecture Prize:-

• Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually in the month of May.
• Pritzker Architecture Prize was established back in 1979 in order to honour the best living architect who contributed towards the art of architecture.
• Late Philip Johnson won the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979.
• The prize is sponsored by Hyatt Foundation.
• This prize was established by late entrepreneur Jay A Pritzker along with his wife Cindy. The business interests of the Pritzker family were headquartered in Chicago.
• The winner receives an amount of 100000 US Dollars as well as a bronze medallion. The bronze medallion is based on the designs of Louis Sullivan.

Sugathakumari, the Malayalam Poetess Selected For Saraswati Samman 2012

Sugathakumari, the Malayalam poetess in the third week of March 2013 was chosen for the Saraswati Samman 2012 for the poetry collection Manalezhuthu, which means The Writing on the Sand in English. The Saraswati Samman is constituted by K. K. Birla Foundation.

79-year-old Sugathakumari was selected for Saraswati Samman by the 13-member jury. The head of this jury was former Chief Justice of India R. C. Lahoti. The jury considered works of the artists published in 22 different languages from 2002 to 2011. Saraswati Samman is awarded annually for outstanding literary work in any Indian language in past 10 years.

About Sugathakumari:-

• Sugathakumari has 15 volumes of poetry credited to her.
• She also has six collections of prose. Her career spans over a duration of five decades.
• The themes of her poems revolve around moral alertness, emotional empathy as well as humanist sensitivity. Her poems also include social themes such as women oppression, failures of the ideals which inspired India as well as ecological crisis.
• Sugathakumari is also the passionate environmentalist.
• She was also the head of Kerala’s State Women’s Commission.
• Manalezhuthu, the poetry collection for which she was chosen, is actually a collection of 27 different poems. This was published in 2006. The poetry collection is said to be a representation of best of contemporary Malayalam poetry.

About Saraswati Samman:-

• Saraswati Samman is constituted by K. K. Birla Foundation.
• The award carries cash prize of 10 lakh Rupees, a plaque as well as a citation.
• This award is given every year to the literary work in any Indian language which is the part of Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• Apart from this award, K. K. Birla Foundation also constituted other two awards which include Bihari Puraskar for Hindi and Rajasthani writers and Vyas Samman for Hindi.