Year Ender 2019: From Abhijit Banerjee's Nobel Prize in Economics to Ravish Kumar's Ramon Magsaysay in Journalism, Personalities Who Made India Proud

The year 2019 will go down in history as one of the years when distinguished Indians won world renowned awards and made the country proud. From Nobel Prize in Economics to Ramon Magsaysay in Journalism, Indians were recognised for their excellence in various walks of life. As the year comes to an end, one of the pleasant lookbacks for Indians is going to be the honour bestowed on their fellow countrymen and women.

The article is in no way an exhaustive list of winners and is only intended at recalling some of the milestone moments from 2019, when it comes to awards won by Indians.

Below are Five Remarkable Awards Won by Indians

1. Abhijit Banerjee Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

The 2019 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences was jointly conferred upon Indo-American Abhijit Banerjee, French-American Esther Duflo and Mechel Kremer of the United States. The trio were honoured with the 'Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel' for their research on the methods to alleviate global poverty. They were chosen for the top award "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty," the jury said.

2. Ravish Kumar Wins Ramon Magsaysay

Journalist Ravish Kumar was awarded with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019 for "harnessing journalism to give voice to the voiceless". NDTV's Kumar is among the five recipients of the 2019 Magsaysay award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel.

The award citation said Ravish Kumar, 44, who is NDTV India's senior executive editor is one of India's most influential TV journalists. It further describes Kumar as a sober, incisive and well-informed anchor who has been most vocal in insisting that the professional values of balanced, fact-based reporting be upheld in practice. "If you have become the voice of the people, you are a journalist," it said.

3. Amitabha Bagchi Wins DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019

Amitabha Bagchi won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019 for his novel "Half the Night is Gone". The book beat "99 Nights in Logar" (Jamil Jan Kochai), "The Far Field" (Madhuri Vijay), "There's Gunpowder in the Air" (Manoranjan Byapari, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha), "The City and the Sea" (Raj Kamal Jha) and "The Empty Room" (Sadia Abbas) for the USD 25,000 prize.

The $25,000 award went to Amitabha Bagchi for his 2018 novel, Half the Night is Gone. It was presented by Pradeep Gawali, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nepal, in the presence of Surina Narula, founder of the DSC Prize, and the four-member jury, headed by Harish Trivedi, former Professor of English at University of Delhi.

4. Narendra Modi Awarded With Global Goalkeeper Award’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the 'Global Goalkeeper Award’ for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by the government. The award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was presented to PM Modi by Bill Gates in New York. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or the Clean India Mission, was one of the first projects that PM Modi launched after coming to power in 2014.

5. Narendra Modi Honoured With Bahrain and UAE's Highest Civilian Award

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with "The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance" in Manama. Here's a list of awards PM Modi has been conferred with by Muslim-majority countries, 1) The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance, Bahrain - August 2019. 2) Order of Zayed, UAE's highest civilian award - August 2019. PM Modi was honoured with the 'Order of Zayed', the UAE's highest civilian award, as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 31, 2019 11:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).